Bloomberg’s gift to moms

Mayor Bloomberg yesterday announced his gift to New York City’s moms: an $170 million cut in funding for child care and after-school programs.

The Mayor’s $69 billion executive budget somehow couldn’t be configured to help thousands of low-income mothers who can’t afford to pay for expensive, private care.

His decision to eliminate thousands of child care slots remains extremely troublesome for another reason. This latest hatchet jobs seems more like an agenda to do away with the city’s child care network, which for decades has served thousands of working class families.

Over the past five years, Bloomberg reduced the city’s child care capacity by 60% – a whopping 40,000 slots.

And while the Mayor, to his credit, spared public schools, his other steep cuts-including to libraries, early education programs and supportive school activities-undermine his own commitment to improve options for our children.

City Hall’s war on critical public services is a serious mistake. Among other consequences, it will push many hard-working women to quit their jobs to take care of their children, encouraging them to rely on costly public benefit programs.

This approach -added to his stubborn vow to block the recently approved living wage bill- makes it clear that after 10 years at the helm of this city, Bloomberg is still disconnected from the bread and butter needs of struggling families.

In the upcoming weeks, New Yorkers will witness the typical protests to get the Mayor to overturn these cuts. Bloomberg should completely restore the funds to ensure New York’s moms have a happy Mother’s Day.