Why is the Bloomberg administration making it so hard for people who need emergency food stamps because of Hurricane Sandy to get them?
Connect With Us on Twitter
For Op-Ed, follow @nytopinion and to hear from the editorial page editor, Andrew Rosenthal, follow @andyrNYT.
The city dutifully applied for the emergency aid — the Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or D-SNAP — and the federal government agreed to provide a one-time benefit for qualified applicants.
The program is not aimed at the city's 1.8 million or so regular food stamp recipients, whose normal benefits continue, but at a smaller group of low-income people in storm-ravaged areas who lost power, ran short of food and suddenly needed temporary assistance.
Unfortunately, the city has set up only two centers to accommodate those who need this aid — one in Downtown Brooklyn, the other a part-time center in Staten Island. Applications must be made in person, which means a long and difficult trek from the Rockaways and other storm-damaged areas. The city could easily dispense these stamps from relief centers that already exist in those parts of the city.
There were other management decisions that seem miserly. The city elected to send aid to areas it thought were hardest hit, but that inevitably shortchanged many needy people in other areas affected by the storm. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Human Resources Commissioner Robert Doar should rethink this. The city also set a Dec. 18 deadline for applying. That's too soon; many people have not even heard about the program.
Ten members of Congress have questioned Mayor Bloomberg's approach. His response was disappointing. He said Thursday that his agencies have been working "around the clock" to help victims of the hurricane and that it is "absolutely critical" that they use federal resources judiciously. Fine, but they should not make those resources almost impossible to get.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Editorial: Stingy City Hall
Dengan url
http://opinimasyarakota.blogspot.com/2012/12/editorial-stingy-city-hall.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Editorial: Stingy City Hall
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar