He’s been in office all of 17 days, but Mayor de Blasio is already kicking off a new campaign — a drive to build support for taxing the rich to finance universal pre-kindergarten.
Our Jennifer Fermino reports (
as we mentioned earlier in Wake-Up Call
):
Hundreds of volunteers were scheduled to descend on streetcorners and subway stops Friday, signing up supporters to back the plan and handing out brightly colored flyers in Spanish and English.
“For over 15 years, Albany has promised funding for these programs — and rarely delivered,” the flyers said. “It’s time for a new plan.”
At the same time, dozens of labor unions and nonprofit organizations planned to blast hundreds of thousands of emails into the inboxes of New Yorkers on Friday asking them to get behind the campaign.
De Blasio wants to hike taxes on city residents earning more than $500,000 to finance the expansion of pre-K and after-school programs, but he needs Albany’s permission to do so.
His decision to launch a massive, political-style campaign to win support for the tax increase underscores how central universal pre-K is to his agenda.
The campaign will be run by a newly formed nonprofit organization called UPKNYC, which stands for “universal prekindergarten in New York City.” It has registered with the state so it can begin receiving donations to carry out its mission.
Josh Gold, of the politically influential New York Hotel Trades Council, has taken a leave of absence from the union to quarterback the operation.
Stephanie Yazgi, a former director with the Walmart Free NYC campaign, has signed on as the chief organizer. She works for Hilltop Solutions, a political consulting firm that worked on de Blasio’s campaigns for public advocate and mayor.
And the firm Berlin Rosen is handling the tax-the-rich campaign’s public relations, just as it did for de Blasio’s mayoral bid.
Two of de Blasio’s top City Hall staffers — Director of City and Intergovernmental Affairs Emma Wolfe and Budget Director Dean Fuleihan — will coordinate with the group, similar to how former Mayor Bloomberg had staffers who worked with his nonprofit Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
A coalition of labor leaders representing 1.3 million New Yorkers has pledged to support the campaign.
A new poll released Thursday shows a majority of New Yorkers — 74% — support de Blasio’s plan, which would raise the city tax rate on high earners to 4.41% from 3.87%.
Gov. Cuomo has said he doesn’t want to raise taxes, setting up a potential clash with de Blasio. Cuomo has suggested funding pre-K with existing state revenues, an idea de Blasio has rejected.
