Between five and ten of New York City’s job centers, where those eligible can get food stamps and other benefits like Medicaid, have lines so long that people are missing mandatory appointments. Or as one woman put it, “It’s like everybody is running around with their head cut off, and no one cares.” The mayor is not too concerned:
>On Friday, during his weekly radio show, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said advocates for the homeless and low-income New Yorkers tend to focus on the negative: “‘Oh, it’s terrible. The economy is terrible,’” the mayor said, mimicking critics.
Mr. Bloomberg defended his administration. “New York, as a compassionate society, does a better job of taking care of the less fortunate than virtually any other city,” he said.
But Steven Banks, the attorney-in-chief for the Legal Aid Society, says the disorder at the centers couldn’t be more nefarious. “At worst, it’s like the English poor laws, in which the aim was to make the seeking of assistance so miserable that people wouldn’t seek it,” he said.
