Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Andy Bowen, Founder of Popular Front Project
3:18:40
·
3 min
Andy Bowen, founder of the Popular Front Project, testified about the urgent need for action against federal funding cuts affecting vulnerable communities. He criticized the lack of urgency from government bodies and emphasized the importance of immediate response to protect vital services.
- Stressed the impact of funding cuts on nonprofit providers and vulnerable populations
- Called for aggressive advocacy from city council members to engage state government and wealthy individuals
- Highlighted the importance of institutions showing bravery in the face of challenges, citing examples from healthcare and education sectors
Andy Bowen
3:18:40
Hi.
3:18:41
Andy Bowen here.
3:18:42
I haven't worked for the Adams administration for five whole days now, and I'm reporting for duty to my comrades.
3:18:47
Thanks for taking me late.
3:18:49
Thank you to council chairs, Ressler and Brennan, council member Schulman, for this hearing and fire budget response, acknowledging the unprecedented nightmare of these cuts.
3:18:59
Just for a little bit of background, I'm three days into my new thing, is starting a new new organization called the Popular Front Project, which is a trans led organization dedicated to fighting the fascist destruction of social, medical, and other material resources that our vulnerable communities need to survive and thrive.
3:19:19
And see the lack of urgency from blue government bodies, like, nationwide, but also, like, the state government, yourselves excluded, is morally appalling.
3:19:30
For anyone who's like, the shoe must we need to wait for the shoe to drop, which I've heard from some, areas.
3:19:36
The shoe dropped.
3:19:38
Like, the January the the weekend of January 31, letters were given to our nonprofit providers saying, like, your federal funding streams will be cut.
3:19:49
So, like, I don't know why anyone waits.
3:19:50
So, again, thank you for getting a moral moment.
3:19:54
And, again, it doesn't appear that, anybody in Albany is prioritizing.
3:20:00
And so, you know, I I appreciate you all for taking this on because, like, even if there is no yeah.
3:20:07
There's probably no way for city and state government to fully cover the gap that's gonna exist.
3:20:12
But, like, council and city hall need to get caught trying.
3:20:15
Something's better than nothing.
3:20:18
We need to have precedents for other cities and states to follow.
3:20:23
And I'm gonna say, like, council members, I I would love to know, and this is maybe an offline conversation, like, how you can use your power to aggressively advocate beyond what I'm sure you've done with your powers in the governor's office and state legislature.
3:20:39
Because, like, the idea that a contingency fund for, queer orgs and others, would be a dead letter right now in the budget is morally appalling.
3:20:50
A couple last things.
3:20:51
It's not lost on anyone that while, like, NYU Langdon and Mount Sinai canceled their gender affirming care appointments like last month, HNH never did.
3:20:58
So what I'm saying is, like, people showing bravery really matters.
3:21:03
We're seeing that now with Harvard.
3:21:04
Like, Harvard said no.
3:21:06
And suddenly, like, a bunch of, like, university universities who are, like, bitch, like, to Trump were, like, what?
3:21:14
On that point, like, getting to, like, other institutions being brave, I wanna give a shout out to council member Schulman.
3:21:23
And so far as, the comment about, like, we gotta reach out to rich people.
3:21:26
And, again, this is, a call to council members.
3:21:29
Happy to talk offline.
3:21:30
Like, you have to organize the rich, between supporting tax increases, massive private giving.
3:21:37
Like, it's that plus government funds plus changing the nature of our government to actually be high tax and high service is, like, the way out.
3:21:47
You know, I I hate to be glib.
UNKNOWN
3:21:48
You test me.
3:21:48
You have expired.
Andy Bowen
3:21:51
Okay.
3:21:52
One last one last thing.
3:21:54
We're kind of reliant on the hyper wealthy to backstop civil society, so we just, like, need to create a new private we need to rethink the public sector and get these folks on board who actually have the money also.
3:22:06
Alright.