Tony Talks Poverty... Again...

At the Oshkosh Common Council meeting tonight, Councilor Tony Palmeri went off on a rant about the problems of poverty in Oshkosh. He declared the money for the Grand repairs would be much better spent helping people in poverty rather than supporting the Grand... and then voted to deny this money to people in poverty by spending the money on the Grand.

Now, I am as dedicated to poverty reduction as any elected official (and if anyone would like to discuss my record, I am open). But Palmeri, in his 2.5 years as an elected Oshkosh Common Council Member has done little or nothing to reduce poverty in Oshkosh.

Because Mr. Palmeri is very good at self-promotion, let's look at his major tool for this to evaluate his record: www.talktotony.blogspot.com (the link takes you to a Google search of his blog for the word 'Poverty').

You will find that he has 10 results about poverty on his blog. Tony was first elected in 4/2007. Of these 10, 6 are from before he was elected. Including:

In this post, he calls for the creation of a blue-ribbon panel on poverty consisting of former mayors (mind you, he would not be part of this panel) as a campaign promise.

In this post, he calls for "a jobs summit and/or create an Economic Development Commission to come up with real strategies for maintaining, attracting, and creating family supporting jobs in the community" - another opportunity for talking (but not doing anything) about poverty.

In this post he calls for "a living wage ordinance for the city of Oshkosh" - an item he has had 2.5 ears as a council member to introduce, but has not.

In the posts since his election, he has recorded:

A move by then Mayor Frank Tower (not Palmeri) to create a commission.

A post featuring a Kennedy quote.

A post comparing the war on Drugs with the War on Poverty.

A post complaining how the new ambulance rates will hurt the poor (he voted for it):

We approved new ambulance rates (I was part of the 6-1 majority), but we completely dropped any discussion of how increased rates affect those least able to pay. We gave lip service to that topic at the August workshop, and it did turn out to be just that: lip service. The painful reality is that this council or city government in general does not have in place any coherent anti-poverty program, nor do we seem particularly interested in developing one. We are all responsible for that; I am not trying to blame anyone.

Once again, Mr. Palmeri complained about the neglect of the poor, while continuing to neglect them.

Here is the rub. As a member of the Oshkosh Common Council, he has the opportunity to introduce any resolution at any meeting. The way I see it, he has been in office 52 months, and at 2 meetings a month, that is 104 opportunities to do something on this issue squandered.

Tonight, Mr. Palmeri called once again for more than lip service for Oshkosh's residents in poverty. I hope this time he actually means it.

His record does not look promising.

NYTimes: Lottery No Good for Poor People

The Super Lottery Is No Prize

Lawmakers pretend that lotteries make new taxes unnecessary. But lotteries are a tax, an inefficient, badly targeted one that is having a devastating impact on poor communities and beyond.
...
These new super lotteries are especially dangerous. One study in Texas showed the more expensive tickets selling best in the most poverty-stricken ZIP codes, ones heavily populated with Hispanics and blacks. Money that should be used for food and housing goes up in a whiff of hope instead.
...
They can dress it up all they want in slogans about buying a ticket and a dream. But the states are encouraging behavior that is too often addictive and ruinous for people who can least handle the burden.

Povery Rising in the Valley

Poverty levels rising in Valley

Federal report shows 9.5% of population have lower incomes

Federal poverty statistics released Tuesday show the number of working poor in the Fox Valley continues to climb despite the country's rebounding economy.

The U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey for 2006 indicates an estimated 34,863 residents in the Appleton-to-Oshkosh area, or 9.5 percent of the population, had incomes below the federal poverty level in 2006.

The number was up from 29,325, or 8 percent, in 2005 and 21,729, or 6 percent, in 2004.

Of those residents living in poverty, 14,478, or 3.97 percent, could be considered working poor, up from 11,948, or 3.3 percent, in 2005 and about 7,600, or 2.1 percent, in 2004.

"This is sad news," said Debra Cronmiller, executive director of the Emergency Shelter of the Fox Valley, "but I'm not surprised. It's what we've been telling people for five years now."

The rest is here.

Thought for the Day:

What we should be doing is paying attention to the common and omnipresent threats to our health and welfare. You know what really hurts young people in America? Drugs, alcohol, vehicles, and relatives. Oh, and poverty. The poorer a child is, the more likely that drugs, alcohol, vehicles, and relatives can do serious damage to them. If poverty kills or maims millions of American children and video games kill and maim exactly zero, why do we see more stories about video games than poverty? If children tend to get hurt at home and almost never get hurt at school, why are we so obsessed with school violence and pay so little attention to home and family violence?