Cuomo Disputes Report Saying his NYS Initiative Favors White Communities

A new report shows that a Governor Cuomo inititative awarding state funding to competing New York regions favors white communities.

The program designed to stimulate economic growth allocates relatively equal funds to 10 regions around the state, but does not take into account residents per capita. The Fiscal Policy Initiative and Make the Road New York found communitites with predominately white residents received about 23 times more funding than communitites with mostly non white residents.

The Executive Director of the Fiscal Policy Institute Ron Deutsch said that how the money is distributed needs to be fixed.

A state spokesman called the report a politically motivated hit piece, as Make the Road New York's sister organization, Make the Road Action, has endorsed Cynthia Nixon, Cuomo's opponent in the upcoming democratic primary. The spokesman argues it cherry picks data to fit a misleading narrative.

Deborah Axt, Co-Executive Director of Make the Road New York, said "the Regional Councils are the Governor's signature economic development initiative, handing out $5.4 billion over the last 7 years. To call their damning record cherrypicked is absurd. If the Governor wishes to engage in this debate, he can publish a complete database of past, current, and future deals. Moreover, because of the administration's lack of transparency, no one knows the secret offers he has made to corporate giants like Amazon."