5-01-08, 7:19 pm

NEW YORK - Trade unionists, housing activists, and residents of New York City public housing gathered at City Hall today to protest the Bush administration's proposed budget cuts to the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA).

Over the last eight years, the Bush administration has slashed the budget for NYCHA by $611 million. Bush's latest cuts could force NYCHA to lay off 190 more employees. According to the Teamsters Local 237, 'Local 237/NYCHA members are stretched to the point of collapse, and residents of public housing – 500,000 citizens of NYC – are threatened with destruction of core services.'

So today, Teamsters Local 237 staged a rally in front of New York City Hall to raise awareness about the public housing crisis in New York City.

James, a retiree with Local 237, told the PWW that 'The Bush administration has cut the budget, and the people that do the work in the project, like the maintenance guys and the caretakers, they're not making any money. They [the Bush administration] are taking the money from us and putting it in their pockets.'

Pastor Samuel Washington, a preacher from Pennsylvania and founder of World Balance, a global interfaith organization struggling for social equality, gave a speech to the crowd about the importance of public housing, and his experiences growing up living in public housing.

Later, in an exclusive with the World, Pastor Washington told us that 'this is about raising awareness - President Bush has issues, and those are important and we're concerned about those too, but he needs to know about our issues and the struggles we're facing.'