Liz Krueger's Blog entries

Last Friday, the 21st, Senator Liz Krueger joined Assemblymember Deborah Glick and City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer as speakers at the workshop “Working with Government: How Nonprofit Organizations Get Their Voices Heard,” an event hosted by the Arts and Business Council of New York and the Foundation Center.

At the event, the speakers offered suggestions on how to effectively target and educate local elected officials on the importance of arts programs in the community and how to then work with these elected officials to expand these programs.

The urbancanvas Design Competition is an innovative contest to develop creative artwork for construction fences, sidewalk sheds, supported scaffolds and cocoons in New York City. The designs will be used for these different types of temporary protective structures located on City-owned property.

To vote for your favorite design and learn more about the urbancanvas project please visit: nyc.gov/urbancanvas.

This year New York State will introduce a new voting system in which voters will mark their choices on a paper ballot using a pen or ballot marking device, and will insert their marked ballot into a scanner. To ensure that voters have an opportunity to learn how to vote using a paper ballot, the Board of Elections in the City of New York will be holding demonstrations to teach voters the new voting system. Below you can find the dates & locations of demonstrations given in the 26th District, or to find out more information please visit: http://www.votethenewwayny.com/en/default.aspx

Date: 29 Aug, 2010

Time: 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM

Organization: Big Apple Performing Arts

Recently, I sent an open letter to President Obama expressing my concern over abortion restrictions to the high-risk insurance pools established through the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act.

When the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act (PPAHC) was passed, I felt that we, as a nation, were establishing the beginning of a caring, and needed, response to a serious abuse inherent to the health insurance delivery system. But, the recent announcement applicable to this Act by the Obama administration, prohibiting abortions excepting cases of rape, incest and life endangerment to the mother, carves out a legal medical procedure that has serious implications for a population that is already medically compromised.

File: 
Letter to Obama RE High Risk Pools.pdf

I am very happy to announce that our first ever Senior Spotlight award has been given to Mr. Lou Stallman.

Our first Senior Spotlight Shines on Grammy nominee songwriter, Lou Stallman. Mr. Stallman is a special Upper East Side senior who has recorded over five hundred songs, including “Treasure of Love,” “Round and Round,” “It’s Gonna Take a Miracle” and the New York Yankees official theme song. Lou is very active in the community and attends many senior and community events. In addition he has mentored a number of young artists including Jerry Potente with whom he is currently working on a cartoon project called CARHEADS™. He is also currently working on writing a broadway musical Mr. Potente. We are honoring Mr. Stallman for his commitment to the arts and his community.

Today we on the East Side, who have been underserved by public transit, have something to celebrate: Select Bus Service along First and Second Avenues in Manhattan. This is a huge first step toward creating a real Bus Rapid Transit alternative to serve the communities far east of the Lexington Avenue subway line.

Over the past several months, through a budget survey offered online and mailed to my constituents, I have been collecting feedback on how New Yorkers think the budget should be dealt with. More than 1,900 people provided informative responses, sharing many different perspectives on the budget while also highlighting the difficulties we face in trying to bring together so many diverse opinions.

File: 
budget survey results.pdf

Last week Arizona passed a State law which poses a serious threat to the safety and prosperity of all Americans, calling attention to the great need for national immigration reform.

Arizona’s new law puts many Americans’ basic freedoms at risk by promoting the use of racial profiling as a method for determining reasonable cause. Such policies will not only lead to unnecessary harassment based on skin color but will also erode the trust between law enforcement officials and the communities they serve.

As I am sure you know, New York State, like much of the nation, faces an insecure financial future. We have high unemployment, inadequate tax collections, and a structural budget imbalance. As Vice-Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, my main responsibility for the first part of this year is to evaluate proposals to address the State’s budget deficit. I recognize what a critical responsibility this is, and have been immersing myself in budget hearings and testimony from groups and individuals around the State to help me better understand our options.