Centrist Dems dodge labor bill...

Well, bummer.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19918.html

Asheville Citizen-Times article: Asheville to get early stimulus money

City to get early stimulus cash

$842,000 in homelessness and other aid

By Joel Burgess

The city will get one of its first doses of federal stimulus money with an $842,000 infusion meant to combat homelessness and help with community-building projects such as affordable housing, officials have said.

The City Council tonight will hear an update on how the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act will benefit Asheville. President Barack Obama signed the $787 billion stimulus measure last month.

In anticipation of the legislation, state and local governments including Asheville drew up wish lists for federal taxpayer aid. The city came up with more than $120 million in projects, such as a $40 million solar power plant and $15 million to widen Victoria Road.

This month, U.S. Housing and Urban Development announced the city would receive one of its first chunks of stimulus cash, and that most of it — $509,000 — will go to a homelessness prevention fund. The remainder of the aid will go to community programs selected by the council.

The money could signal the end of a trend of declining federal aid for such community programs, city officials said. Specifically, the homelessness money could mean fewer families end up on the streets relying on the public dole and private charities, said City Homelessness Initiative Coordinator Amy Sawyer.

“We're excited about prevention programs because it costs less to help someone maintain their housing than to help someone find new housing and address all the new things that come along with that,” Sawyer said. “It's more cost effective and it's less destructive to the families and the community.”

About 635 homeless people, or 28 per 10,000, residents lived in Asheville and other parts of Buncombe County in 2007, according to a national once-a-year count supported by federal housing programs.

That was well above the state average of 13 per 10,000 and the national average of 22 per 10,000, a 2007 study by the National Alliance to End Homelessness said. Since then, the number of homeless in Buncombe County dropped by 13 percent to 555 this January.

Sawyer credited the decrease to local programs meant to prevent homelessness and to quickly find housing for those who have lost their homes. The city and Buncombe County allocated more than $500,000 for the programs this fiscal year.

City staff is not yet sure of restrictions on how the money can be spent and hope to know more by April 1, Sawyer said.

Some of the best ways to use the funding would be to aid people with the greatest risk of losing their homes and who have children, said members of the NAEH. The Washington-based nonprofit suggests the money be used for people who have mental illness, have been homeless before or have other high-risk conditions.

The city's Community Development Block Grant will receive the remainder of the federal aid — $332,942. The council gives block grant funds to groups with programs who support the elected official's social goals, including building and maintaining affordable housing.

Last year, the block grant got $1.2 million, most of it federal money. But that money has been declining for the last several years, said John Sanchez, who helps administer the block grant for the city.

“With the new administration we have some hope that they can revisit those allocations. At least we are hoping that we will get the same amount of money that we got last year,” Sanchez said.

Other stimulus money that the city is set to receive includes:

$2.5 million for public transit.

$265,000 for police.

Additional Facts

Want to go?

The regular City Council meeting will be 5 p.m. today on the second floor of City Hall, 70 Court Plaza. For information, go to www.ashevillenc.gov or call 259-5601.

Citizen-Times article

This article was sent courtesy of Sarah Osmer.

March 5, 2009

Group formed to advocate for paid sick days

By Leslie Boyd

A coalition of more than 30 groups kicked off a campaign Wednesday morning to get paid sick days for workers in North Carolina.

The group, the NC Paid Sick Days Coalition, was created to push for passage of the Healthy Families and Healthy Workplaces Act (HB 177).

Sarah Osmer, executive director of Just Economics, a member of the coalition, said the bill would offer workers time to recover and keep them from infecting coworkers and customers.

“It's not just a human rights issue, it's a public health issue,” she said. “More and more people are having to make tough decisions about whether they should go to work sick. We know of people who have been fired for staying home sick. It's really a basic workers' right.”

Gregg Thompson, state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, said a mandate for paid sick days could devastate some of the 7,000 North Carolina small businesses in his group.

He said businesses adjust employees' work schedules or otherwise help them deal with illness without penalty, but not all can afford to pay them for days off.

“With the economy the way it is, this is probably the worst timing that a piece of legislation like this could be passed, particularly on small businesses,” Thompson said, “because if you have five employees, that's 35 days a year that you're going to be paying for employers that aren't there and aren't being productive.”

Under the act, employers with fewer than 10 workers would have to provide four sick days; others would have to provide seven paid sick days.

But Rep. Alma Adams said the recession makes it even more critical to protect workers.

“In this economic climate, workers are just trying to hold on to their jobs,” Adams, a Greensboro Democrat who has introduced the bill, said at Wednesday's news conference. “They're under a lot of pressure to not lose that day's pay and to not risk unemployment.”

The N.C. Justice Center says 42 percent of the state workforce lacks paid sick days.

No other state has moved to mandate paid sick days, said Louisa Warren of the Justice Center, a progressive group that advocates for the poor and is coordinating this coalition. Washington, D.C., Milwaukee and San Francisco all have adopted such requirements, she said.

Diana Hatch, president of AARP North Carolina, said a growing elderly population will put more responsibility on their working children.

“Working people need a basic workplace standard of paid sick days so they don't have to choose between keeping their job and caring for an ill parent or relative,” Hatch said.

Jeff Shaw, a spokesman for the NC Justice Center, said more than 75 percent of hotel and food service workers, 75 percent of low-wage workers and 42 percent of private sector workers don't get paid sick days.

“That means the person who cooked or served your food could be sick but not able to afford a day off,” Shaw said.

Greg Borom of Children First of Buncombe County/Communities in Schools, another partner agency, said the bill also would allow parents to stay home with a sick child.

“It's best for children if a parent can stay home and take care of them,” Borom said. “Since our mission is to improve the lives of children, youth and their families, we signed on.”

Can Marx be considered in America?

While I might bring this up at one of our meetings, I will post these ideas below.

While I admire Marx's skepticism of an industrial economy and his rigorous analysis of "Das Kapital" (Capitalism), I wonder if his theories can be applied, or even considered, in America.

We (this is not say our group, rather a general we) have already established that Adam Smith (On the Wealth of Nations -- the bulwark of Capitalism) has been well received in our American experiment. But has Marx been equally considered? Should he?

While We (this is to say America, "We the People") are in some ways an industrial nation --and Marx's preoccupation was industry-- our unique heritage would seem to me unfit for application of Marx's theories.

There are certain traditions in America, political, cultural, social, that I believe would prevent any application of Marx's economic model. These being in no particular order and by no means standard:

Individualism-- While some might consider this to be a negative feature, I intend to cite individualism as a positive aspect of our national culture. Within individualism, there is a flourishing of creativity and spontaneity.

Vague industrialism-- Though there are industrial centers throughout America (less these days), our history is less industrial than most European countries that captured Marx's tradition. Marx doesn't account for Our American variety.

An undercurrent of community-- This is to me the most important piece of our American tradition. This feature would seem the point where Marxian theory could be introduced, but I might argue that it is also the point where Marxian theory would be most rejected.
This American communitarianism is different from Marx's communism. I imagine this community consisting of mutually respected and respectful individuals who are too stubborn and too creative to believe in any one philosophy (Marxism, Capitalism).

What this has to do with our Issue Workshop, I am not quite sure. I thought I would try laying a few things down for discussion.