Austerity Kills
When we say that Eric Adams is trying to force an austerity budget on New York, we mean that the cost of defunding schools, libraries, CUNY, hospitals and social services is being paid with human lives. By stripping New Yorkers of desperately needed resources, treating policing and jails as catch-all solutions for social problems, and ruthlessly criminalizing poverty, the Adams administration is escalating its war on working-class New Yorkers.
On June 30, amid skyrocketing rents and a growing cost-of-living crisis, the New York City Council passed the budget for the 2024 fiscal year. The final budget reflects months of pushback from left and progressive organizations against Mayor Eric Adams’s austerity agenda – but still slashes vital agencies and programs, mandating cuts to social, mental health, and homeless services, programs for Rikers inmates, and more, leaving New Yorkers underserved across the board.
NYC-DSA is fighting back. During June 2023, we collected over 1000 letters to City Council members opposing Eric Adams’s disastrous cuts. But the fight isn’t over. We’re continuing to organize to pass the Secure Jobs Act, get a New Deal for CUNY, and win the care, resources, and protection we deserve.
