By NANCY SHIELDS
May 19, 2010

ASBURY PARK — Community members supporting a planned rally against Gov. Chris Christie's proposed funding cuts this Saturday in Trenton held a press conference here today to show how those reductions could hurt different segments of life in the city.

Leaders said the planned cuts will hurt the schools, Latino programs, AIDS support programs and senior citizens.

The coalition group was organized by the Asbury Park Parent Listening Project, a parents group that is a chapter of the statewide Education Organizing Committee, formed to fight for improvement in urban and low-income school districts.

Carla Larsen, an Asbury Park parent and president of the state group, said the district has a new superintendent in place, a new director of curriculum and a multicultural school board.

"We're starting in a new direction and I hate to see us lose ground," Larsen said.

Beatrice Oesterheld, the new director of the Hispanic Affairs & Resource Center, said that her organization's budget this year is $419,000 for its three centers in Asbury Park, Freehold and Red Bank.

The proposed cuts would reduce that budget by half with a $152,000 reduction from the state Division on Women, a $36,320 cut from the Division of Youth and Family Services, and $48,000 from the Department of Community Affairs.

Bill Holland, executive director of the NJ Working Families Alliance and coordinator of the Better Choices for NJ Campaign, a coalition of 67 community, environmental and labor organizations, said Christie's proposed budget is a "disastrous step backward" and said one example to offset the deep cuts is to restore last year's tax rate on the wealthy, which Christie opposed but would raise $903 million.

Those higher rates, Holland's organization said, are 8 percent instead of 6.37 percent on incomes of $400,000 and $500,000; 10.25 percent instead of 8.97 percent for those making between $500,000 and $1,000,000; and 10.75 percent instead of 8.97 percent for those making more than $1 million.

Buses to the rally are leaving at 8 a.m. Saturday from city hall on Main Street. People interested in going to Trenton should call organizer Todd Stoner at 732-995-5418.


Originally available at: http://www.app.com/article/20100519/NEWS/5200308/Asbury-group-details-harm-of-state-aid-cuts-to-city-programs