By Avi Lesches
In 2018, New York City’s budget was $85 billion for all of the City’s programs and expenses for a population of about 8.5 million residents. The Crown Heights Jewish community consists of about 10,000 people. If we were treated as equals with the rest of the City’s inhabitants, the average member of our community would have received benefits of about $10,000 per citizen, which is $100,000,000 (one hundred million dollars) in benefits for the whole community. (This money is exclusive of Food Stamps, Social Security, or the military, which are federal programs). Does our community receive benefits in that amount? Not even close!
Instead, our community is marginalized and disregarded. We are treated like we hardly matter. While we do receive some benefits from the City, it amounts to mere pennies on the dollar.
In almost every local election, even those who are considered ‘good’ candidates do not offer to help our community in a substantial way. They may offer us an extra police car in front of 770, a sympathetic tweet in favor of Israel (though they have almost no influence over foreign policy), and perhaps they may even come to Simchas Beis Hashoeva for a photo op, but nobody pays as much as lip service to our most important issues. For example, school vouchers, which is the most important issue in our community, is not even in the conversation.
In the upcoming Democratic primary, there are a number of candidates with a fair chance of winning who have explicitly stated that they will enact policies that will directly harm our interests, including many self-declared socialists who are vocally anti-Israel, some even bordering on antisemitism and are in favor of defunding the police, higher taxes, and are anti-business. There is even a Republican, who should be our friend, who openly says that he intends to investigate the yeshivas.
The most effective thing we can do is to come out strong and vote. That is the only way we can force them to recognize us. If we don’t show up in force, we will experience more of the same. Partially due to our low turnout we don’t have much clout. The more we vote, the more influence we will have. If we show up in droves along with the other frum communities, we might be able to make headway towards more significant policies that can help our community substantially.
Please go out and vote and encourage your friends and relatives to do the same. In the past, other communities did not take voting seriously and they are paying for it now. Let’s not make the same mistake.
Avi, you are a great asset to our community. Time for you to be elected the CHJCC. We need more like you!
just wanted to add:
jj step in alongside AVI
both would make a great team and would be very effective
Sadly, the author is 100% correct. There is still time to organize transportation to the polls – communities all over America offer this. The elderly, or parents with young children – particularly if it is very hot or raining, would come out to vote much faster if there was transportation/ shuttle busses to and from the polling places all during voting hours .Frankly, registering voters for this crucial Primary Election should have started many months ago and could have been much more creative and aggressive. Let’s at least make it easy for all those who are registered to actually get… Read more »
If anyone needs a ride to the polls, email [email protected] and they will gladly provide one
Maybe we just make more money on average
We don’t. You could have just looked it up btw.
Here is a map of income by zip code: https://data.cccnewyork.org/data/map/66/median-incomes#66/39/6/107/62/a/a
Is this a modern form of anti-Semitism? I think that’s a possibility about why they treat us this way.
Our local community activists told us that we needed to vote for Lourie Combo, Tish James, Jesse Hamilton and others because these were friends of the community.
If Lourie Combo did nothing for us why should I think her staffer Crystal Hudson will be any better?
Some politicians are our friends because generally their policy positions are good for the community.
Some politicians are our friends because they actively support causes that will benefit our community.
Some politicians are terrible for our community because they will actively pursue policies that are terrible for us.
So while politicians like number two are the best, at the very least we need to have politicians like number one or we will end up with politicians like number three
Because if you dont vote for her, you get a socialist antisemite. Should be reason enough.
Thank you Avi
A. They are a state and federal issue
B. If they were ever approved , they would necessitate govt involvement in chinuch
The largest category of government spending (28%!!) in NYC is education. It’s not the city’s fault that we send our kids to Jewish schools. Another third of total budget pays for pensions, government costs and debt service.
The benefits the community gets from roads, parks, garbage service, transportation and all the city social services (18% of the total budget!) is equal to its population.
It is the City’s fault that they don’t have public schools that cater to the Orthodox Jewish population. Jewish schools are required for our community. If they don’t provide us with our needs, we shouldn’t have to pay for it. Your numbers are way off!
Even if all you say is correct (which it isn’t), that still 28% for education, plus 33% for costs, plus 18% for services, that’s still just 79%.
In any event, how do these costs, pensions, and debt services help our community?
https://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us/iboreports/understandingthebudget.pdf Here is the source. There is an easy to read chart on page 9. I didn’t include all the expenses in my comment
Imagine the city taxed us for our food and then offered us ham and shell fish for free. But then said that it’s not their fault that we didn’t want it? Would that also be justified? For us, the public schools in this city are pork. They are not an option. Requiring us to pay taxes for it is completely unjustified.
Do you want to pay for Muslim education? For catholic school education?
I love how “government costs” is a category in government spending.I can’t wait to see the headline: Vote for _______ s/he supports “government costs”
the total budget for NYC is 98 billion from which the city needs to pay NYPD, FDNY, schools, infrastructure… and government programs from which the community council gets grants.
they don’t just write a check equally dividing the total NYC budget between all its residents
Visit saveourshchuna.com to find your polling place.
If we don’t vote, we can’t complain if we aren’t heard or if we don’t receive any benefits, (affordable housing, education benefits etc). But if we go out and vote in numbers, we may make a difference in how are community is represented. Even if you don’t believe anything will come of it, your deciding not to vote, may make room for another HAMAN like candidate y”s, to become a member in the NY government and rule against us and create an anti-Jewish or anti-Israel agenda.
Why don’t they learn coding or nursing or some other in demand well paid skill, and earn their own money.
If a 20 year old gets a job with city as a subway booth worker, he will be well paid to justly dir around.
After 20 years at age 40 he can retire at half pension.
Then he can get a job as a city bus driver and retire at 60 also at half pension.
Between tbe two, he will be paid a full salary for life, and can spend it doing anything he wants.
The way it works is that you qualify for goverment assistant depending on how many kids you have. So you can make 70,000 dollars a year, have four kids and still get goverment assistance.
There were no lines when I went to vote today Wednesday. The ballot is a little more complicated, little more time consuming to fill in the small circles. That translates to — the average person is probably going to take a little more time to complete their ballot, and therefore somewhat longer lines. So vote early. Early voting is reasonably close at the Brooklyn Armory on Bedford and Union. And another place is Downstate Hospital. Questions to the community: 1) Is there any organization of volunteers to drive our people to the polls? 2) Is there any organized funding… Read more »
Let’s lose our way in a forest bc of a tree. This is not the fundamental issue which is it’s not who votes that counts but those who count the votes. Our elections are completely rigged in numerous ways and until that’s cleaned up we are just serfs that fund our slavery. Going to vote just gives the ruling crooks more votes to adjudicate and manipulate. See Dr. Frank and more on Mike lindell’s documentary. The evidence is irrefutable down to the algorithms per state, internet connections to the voting machines etc… We are in a big mess… Time to… Read more »
You can register to vote online, very simple
So social programs aren’t “socialist” anymore when the money goes to our community? You can’t scream “socialism” and then run to government officials with your hand out begging for more.
You missed the point entirely.
We get taxed up to our noses and get back pennies on the dollar.
As long as the govt forces us to pay taxes, then yes – we have every right to complain when we don’t get our money’s worth.
That as long as everyone is more concerned about getting something out of the corrupt tax and spend system, it will not be dismantled as it needs to be.
Instead of voting for liberal politicians, we should be voting for Constitutional conservatives, who will roll back the liberal tax policies, so that we keep our money in our own pockets, in the first place.
If it were up to us, we would reduce the taxes, the regulations, and the welfare, and other services. But at this point, they tax us on everything, property, sales, income – wherever they can, and they still don’t give us our fair share. Then they accuse us of being poor and they use it as an excuse to interfere with our schools. If they’re going to impose socialism on us, the least they can do is be fair about it, but they don’t even do that.
Yes vote. OK, got your point about that CH doesn’t get its fair share of $. But, the punchline fades after that. None of those who anyone elects is going to change the disproportionate lack of $. True, maybe someone elected might be more or less anti-Semitic, but that wasn’t the headline of the article. It was about that CH doesn’t get fair share, and it won’t no matter who is elected.
Thank you Avi!
Hope every CH resident understands that this time he/she has a real chance to make a difference by getting up and going to vote.
This is a mitzva שבגופו, you cannot hire someone to do it, do it yourself!!!
Looking forward to a better and more productive CH with people like Avi who will stand up show leadership and make a difference.
Our community leaders encourage voting for horrible candidates. Whomever they say, please do the opposite. Democrat candidates are like poison in our current political climate. Being anti-semitic, pro-groups who vandalize,attack, etc are what is “in” these days. Wake up and access your values, and who best represents you.
I agree that everyone should vote, but the “pennies on the dollar” argument left me wanting to know how you made these calculations. When figuring out if the City spends $10k per resident of the CH Jewish community, did you include all the money that the City spends on police, fire, water, garbage, and all other services that are provided to everyone?