News Channel 13 – WNYT
Albany
http://wnyt.com/article/stories/S2043643.shtml?cat=300
Lawmakers worked late into the night on Wednesday passing budget bills in a race against Friday’s deadline. While the Senate and assembly chambers were filled with legislators, the Capitol corridors were jammed with angry, boisterous, and very determined protesters.
The energy level was sky high, the chanting was sporadic and spontaneous, and at times the decibel level was deafening. The hundreds of men, women, and children who were protesting, and representing at least fifteen diverse activist groups including teachers, students, and renters, were furious over a state budget that cuts more than one billion dollars from education spending.
“The vast majority of New Yorkers disagree with this budget,” asserts Billy Easton, Executive Director of the Alliance for Quality Education in Albany. “Overwhelmingly three-quarters of New Yorkers think we should continue the millionaire’s tax and three-quarters of New Yorkers are opposed to these dramatic school cuts.”
“What we’re hoping for,” says Andrew Pallotta, Executive Vice President of New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), is for both the governor and the legislature to see the outcry of the people, making sure that they know that the people are against these cuts and they’re pro-education.”
Long before the protestors arrived, 70 pizzas were prepared and pulled from the ovens at nearby Paesans Restaurant. Delivery at the Capitol was initially refused, but when protesters prevailed, a perfect metaphor was in place.
“it’s really an irrational and immoral way to divide the pizza,” says Karen Scharff, Executive Director of Citizen Action. “People who need the pizza are not getting any and people who don’t need it are getting it in our state budget.”
Not only aren’t there enough slices of pie to go around, it may be too late to place an order.
“In terms of changing the budget, there’s no go back,” says Assemblyman Jim Tedisco (R – Glenville). “We’ve got an adult in the room now and Andrew Cuomo is not going to be taxing, or spending, or borrowing.”
“The abstraction of the Albany budget will roll down to real cuts to the classroom, real pain, and also the cost will go to local taxpayers,” says Bill Easton.
If no restorations are made, Andrew Pallotta says their message will “keep coming” and “get stronger”
As of 11:15 p.m. Wednesday night lawmakers were still at work and demonstrators were still outside their respective chambers, lining the corridors, and camped out on the Million Dollar Staircase and beyond.
The event, billed as a Wisconsin-type protest, was planning an overnight of chanting, folk singing, and marshmallows.
