Children want to learn; their natural curiosity should be encouraged. Instead, our public schools stifle curiosity in favor of uniformity. We should replace our current pre-K through junior high school system in favor of a Montessori system - because it works.
We also have a state education curriculum that desperately needs to be overhauled so that teachers can teach and students can learn. I tutor math, and I have been in classrooms observing how math is "taught". I have seen firsthand just how abysmal the state curriculum is, and how disastrous are its effects on the state of education in New York.America is addicted to oil, but the man who said it on national television seems to think that the solution is more oil. Nationally, we must work toward energy independence, reduce our addition to oil and other fossil fuels, and stop sending our money to countries that sponsor terrorism. Here in New York, we need a statewide, comprehensive "smart energy" plan that combines greater use of clean, renewable (and often less expensive!) energy sources with far more efficient use of energy. We can pay lower utility bills and breathe cleaner air at the same time.
Under the current "matching fund" system in New York City, rich candidates just get richer, and rich donors and fundraisers get special access, leaving the rest of us out of the loop. New York State has no public campaign finance system at all! We need to implement a "Clean Money, Clean Elections" system that reduces the effect of money on politics and restores power to the voters.
In December of 2005, we had to deal with a three-day transit strike. That strike might have been averted if our so-called "public" authorities were actually open and accountable to the public. Additionally, opening up the authorities to public scrutiny will almost certainly save several billion dollars a year in waste and fraud -- money that can be better spent on education, energy, and many other areas that demand our attention.
Open Government
In 2005, for the first time in two decades, lawmakers in Albany finished the budget on time. (Well, sort of.) The primary reason for the decades of delays is that most lawmakers are shut out of the process. The Assembly has taken the first steps toward opening up the way our state government does business, but the Senate has gone backward. By opening up the process, we can get more done in less time.
There isn't enough affordable housing in New York City, and despite Mayor Bloomberg's press releases very little is being done to change that. We need a new approach to creating and maintaining affordable housing, an approach that provides truly affordable housing to a mix of income levels, allows landlords to run a decent profit while maintaining their buildings, and creates stability.Health Care
Almost two million New York City residents have no health insurance. Half of them have full-time jobs. Medicaid costs are skyrocketing, seriously crimping the state's ability to help. We must get away from the model where employers pay the bulk of insurance costs, lowering our ability to compete in a global economy, and switch to a single-payer system that can reduce administrative costs by one-sixth, and use the savings to cover all Americans. We need to open up New York's Medicaid system to expose and eliminate billions of dollars in fraud and waste, and provide coverage for all New Yorkers.
Retirees
Property rates in New York City are going through the roof. For those people selling their homes, this is a good thing. But for elderly homeowners on a fixed income, this only means crippling property tax increases. Meanwhile, the federal government's Medicare Part D (prescription drug coverage) program is a mess, and other Medicare costs are exploding. The state needs to provide property tax relief for our most treasured citizens, and the federal government must replace Medicare Part D with a program geared not to help drug makers but to relieve the pain of the elderly, so they can enjoy their retirement, instead of dreading it.
Local Control
If New York City had been allowed to have budget surpluses through the boom of the 90s, we could have created a "rainy day" fund that would have allowed us to weather the post-9/11 budget shortfalls without tax increases and service cuts. Additionally, the city's affordable housing crisis is being exacerbated by the "Urstadt Law", which gives the state total control over rent regulations. The state controls our local taxes, budgets, and operations. This must end.
