The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
June 15, 2011

New Yorkers Erect "Bloombergville" Tent Camp Against Budget Cuts 
-----------------------------------------------------------------



New Yorkers are escalating protests against austerity measures contained
in Mayor Michael Bloomberg's latest budget. In a major protest Tuesday,
thousands of New York City union members rallied at City Hall demanding
an end to layoffs and cuts to social spending. Sam Coleman is a third
grade teacher at a public school in Brooklyn.

Sam Coleman: "I'm here today to let the city council know, the mayor
know that these budget cuts and the layoffs they're proposing are
totally unacceptable. I teach in a low-income neighborhood, mostly
immigrants, and my school is going to lose funding, that's going to
eliminate after school programs, going to eliminate are programs, going
to eliminate materials that we badly need as well as teachers getting
laid off. And my message to the mayor is very simple: You can find the
money. There are many, many wealthy New Yorkers who do not pay enough
taxes and the revenue is there, the money is there. And our schools need
the money and you cannot balance this budget on the backs of our
children or our parents or our teachers."

More than 100 members of the group New Yorkers Against Budget Cuts have
erected a tent camp next to City Hall and vowed to remain until
Bloomberg reverses his proposals. Activists have dubbed the encampment
"Bloombergville," recalling "Hooverville," the popular name for the
shanty towns for the homeless during the Great Depression.



.