This morning we brought you the story of the NYC non-profit group, Housing Works, which fights for the rights of low-income people living with HIV, and their protest of NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s severe cuts to their budget. Well, turns out that even on World AIDS Day, in front of a mayoral annual World AIDS Day Bagel Breakfast, it doesn’t take that much to get arrested.
From the Housing Works blog:
“In 2008, despite a city budget surplus, Bloomberg forced City Council to enact a $6 million cut to AIDS services, including needle exchange and HIV prevention. In 2009, he proposed $10 million in cuts. More than $6 million were enacted, largely to AIDS housing.
“And this year, he proposed crippling cuts to the HIV/AIDS Services Administration, the agency that oversees housing, nutrition and other benefits for 45,000 poor New Yorkers with AIDS and their families. A Housing Works lawsuit stopped him.”
The good folks at Housing Works do an amazing job. They run a small chain of thrift stores and businesses that contribute more than $13 million annually to the organization. I have a beautiful antique poster-sized photo of Manhattan I bought from them a few years ago, and my friends and I have donated clothing and furniture to them. If you’re in NYC, I hope you’ll stop by. Oh, and their coffee shop in Soho has Wi-Fi and is an small oasis in a crowded touristy shopping district.
The New Civil Rights Movement
<!–
google_ad_client = “pub-6759057198693805”;
/* 468×60, created 10/21/10 */
google_ad_slot = “8507588931”;
google_ad_width = 468;
google_ad_height = 60;
//–>