A New Deal for New York

In the 1930s, in the immediate wake of the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt set the country on a bold new course known as the New Deal. The programs enacted under the New Deal provided relief and recovery for millions of Americans and put the country back on solid fiscal ground for generations to come. The strength and success of the New Deal is a tribute to the guiding principal of its programs: that the American people are our greatest resource and that by investing in the worker, we are building a strong, sustainable economy now, and into the future.

More recently, we have had to navigate the choppy waters of a stagnant, sluggish economy in the wake of the Great Recession. In the past three years, under the leadership of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, we have put New York back on track and been able to get New York working again.

As part of that effort, this year New York received $5 billion in settlements and fines from big banks and financial institutions who committed crimes against the hardworking people of this state. And make no mistake, these settlement funds are taxpayer money, and as such, should be reinvested in the very people and pockets they came from.

Under that guiding principle, the Independent Democratic Conference is offering a New Deal for New York. Modeled on the spirit of FDR’s New Deal, our New Deal has two key parts: first, a program aimed at creating jobs through large infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, rail, transit, water and sewer and parks projects; and second, a program aimed at reconnecting today’s unemployed workers with good-paying jobs.  

The purpose of the first part, the Empire Public Works (EPW) Program, is to build, upgrade and repair New York’s infrastructure to a 21st-century standard. The EPW would finance projects through a bidding process to private contractors and, in doing so, create thousands of private sector jobs in construction. A number of today’s current infrastructure projects would be eligible for financing through EPW, including the Tappan Zee Bridge and MTA projects. By investing $3.5 billion dollars into this revolving loan fund, we could potentially create up to 97,000 jobs.

The second program, the Community Jobs Program (CJP), offers those who have suffered job loss or been unable to find work a bridge to employment. CJP aims to give jobless New Yorkers not only good-paying jobs, but the training and skills they need to be successful. Simply put, CJP would be a shot in the arm for local communities. Through smaller work projects like parks, libraries, community arts facilities and town halls, and with the allocation of $1.5 billion, CJP has the opportunity to create more than 40,000 jobs — putting countless New Yorkers back in the saddle. 

More than 80 years ago, Franklin Delano Roosevelt made clear that the New Deal was a “call to arms.” How New York State chooses to invest this $5 billion dollar settlement money presents us with the same charge. These settlement funds offer us an extraordinary opportunity to make significant and lasting change in the fiscal health and future stability of New York State, and the Independent Democratic Conference believes that the best way to do this is through job creation. By reinvesting the money to rebuild New York, we’ll be building up all New Yorkers.

Jeffrey D. Klein is the state Senator for the 34th district, which includes Riverdale, and leader of the Independent Democratic Conference.