ALERT! The City Council Veteran’s Committee will be having a hearing on:
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Time: 1:00 PM
Location: Committee Room – City Hall
Chairperson: Hiram Monserrate
Details: Oversight – Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs (MOVA)
All veterans are asked to attend this hearing. This will be one of the most important hearings the Veteran’s Committee will have this year.
According to it’s website, the Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs is mandated by Local Law 53 of the NYC Charter of 1987. Its mission is to advise the Mayor on issues and projects impacting on the veterans’ community. They offer information and make referrals for veterans and members of the military to various agencies as well as supporting veteran and military initiatives that are produced throughout the city.
At the last MOVA oversight hearing, Ms. Joynes testified that the office saw and made referrals to 300 individuals per month. This will probably be the ONE and ONLY chance we will have as a community to speak to the City Council about what kind of job Ms. Joynes has done as the MOVA director and how Mayor Bloomberg and his administration have failed MOVA (lack of funding, resources, no voice, no veterans advisory board, a move out of 346 Broadway that was not made public to the community, etc.) while claiming to be pro-veteran.
Below is what I wrote in January when the Mayor moved MOVA from 346 Broadway to Gold Street. Please come to this hearing and make your voice heard!
Joe Bello
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For the past couple of year's discussions have been ongoing as to the job Clarice Joynes has done as the current Director of the Mayor's Office of Veterans Affairs (MOVA) here in New York City. I, along with many others have made comments and statements regarding the poor leadership within the office.
However, the Mayor's Office of Veterans Affairs - the office (even when consistently under funded) has always been a vital office and with our country at war, this office is still vital and can work to do great things with the proper leadership.
Last Friday NIGHT (January 5th) the Mayor's Office of Veteran's Affairs (with no notice to the veteran's community) was moved from 346 Broadway, Room 819 to the following new address:
100 Gold Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY
The only way you would know of the new address is if you went to the MOVA website and looked at the address and I have been informed that the new office is nothing more than three cubicles and a table.
This cannot be understated as a dramatic and unsettling move by Mayor Bloomberg and his administration. Besides vacating the location the office has been for years, they have also left behind ALL the veteran organizations that are in the hallway.
MOVA has been the anchor to the veteran organizations at 346 Broadway. Many veterans are now concerned that with the anchor gone, this may mean the end of the office's there, including the United War Veterans Council, organizers of the annual NYC Veterans Day Parade and other events.
It is important for the ENTIRE veterans community to keep an eye on this issue. Taken in conjunction with the many issues currently on-going (the veterans advisory board, the Extended Benefits Package, Veteran Vendors, Homelessness) this is no BS and should be taken as a real wake-up call.
While the Mayor's Office of Veterans Affairs listed as a mayoral office in the city charter, we cannot allow Mayor Bloomberg to marginalize the office beyond what it already is.
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