• Why I was on the steps of City Hall yesterday
Three Benefits Counselors Lost. In the first months of Mayor de Blasio’s administration, three veterans benefits counselors who had been working in the Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs (MOVA) were unable to continue their work because the City budget did not include funding to keep them.

• A Year of Action Lost. Mayor de Blasio took 9 months to appoint a new Commissioner for MOVA, who then was given a 90-day “review” period—thereby losing one full year of taking action on behalf of veterans.

• No Future Plan. The MOVA Commissioner has yet to release the final report of her 90-day “review,” or any other comprehensive vision for serving NYC’s veterans.

• Lobbying Against Veterans. Mayor de Blasio lobbied Governor Cuomo to veto a bill last year that would expand the designation of veterans eligible for pension buy-back to include those serving in Afghanistan and other locations and eras—a bill that passed both the NYS Assembly and Senate—due to projected costs. (Article on this is here:

• Recommending Against Veteran-Owned Businesses. A NYC Small Business Services report last fall recommended against including veteran-owned businesses as competitive with businesses owned by women and minorities in bids for City contracts.

• MOVA: Underfunded, Understaffed, Under-delivering. MOVA’s small budget remains the same, and only a handful of individuals are on staff to address the specific needs and issues of NYC’s 220,000+ veterans.

• Excluding Known Advocates. No representation of important VSOs like the VFW, American Legion, or IAVA were included among the new members of the Veterans Advisory Board appointed by Mayor de Blasio and Speaker Mark-Viverito. Vocal advocates who have spoken up on behalf of veterans in City Council hearings were nominated, but not chosen for appointment to the VAB.

~ Jim Markson, Vietnam Veteran and author of www.VietnamAndBeyond.com
New York City