Daily Gotham 6/5/2007

From the Daily Gotham:

A Shortage of Time, but Not of Ideas

Elana from DMI has a great post over at The Albany Project, pointing out that while New York's legislators are debating ticket scalping and whether sweet corn should be the official state vegetable, quite a few more weighty concerns -- from welfare policy to predatory lending to to family leave (see also Steve WFP's excellent report from the Family Leave Roundtable in Schenectady) -- are waiting to be addressed. She also puts in a plug for DMI's new report:

Some of the issues New York is struggling to handle -- subsidy reform, what to do with criminals when they are released from prison, providing universal access to preschool and the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs -- are real challenges but they aren't insurmountable. In fact four localities around the country did tackle these battles with great success. Want to know more?

Our new report "Lessons from the Marketplace: Four Proven Progressive Policies from DMI’s Marketplace of Ideas
(And how New York can do them even better)" reveals how it all was achieved.

This should be a fruitful time for New York's progressives, with the political wind at our backs. But that means we have more responsibility than ever to stay informed about innovative new policy ideas and opportunities to address longstanding problems. If you haven't already, you should also read the Fiscal Policy Institute's "One New York: An Agenda for Shared Prosperity," which offers a comprehensive analysis of how to make New York's economy fairer and more productive.

We're already late in the 2007 session and there will be a lot of bills competing for attention as the window closes. All the more reason to get our priorities in order -- and also to come back with a clear wish list in the next session.