From the NY Post:A private, members-only park in Queens has been getting a lot of public assistance lately.
Sunnyside Gardens Park, a 3-acre oasis created in 1926, has steadily received more taxpayer-funded grants under the watch of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and local Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, records show.
Friends of Sunnyside Gardens Park, the all-volunteer nonprofit that funds the park, is set to receive $47,600 worth of council member items in fiscal year 2012.
That's on top of $25,000 it got this year and $20,000 in 2010.
"It's an incredible resource and important place where a lot of people go and a lot children play," Van Bramer said, adding that he secured $2.4 million for public parks in his district.
Van Bramer has known Quinn for decades and worked for her in 1999, during her first council campaign. Quinn approves all member items.
Sunnyside Gardens Park members pay $335 a year, plus a one-time $150 initiation fee for access to the groomed grounds and ball fields.
20 comments:
The park does serve the community in many ways, too. It's not like we're a country club.
Yet another piece of living proof in 3D technicolor to all of you anti-landmark throwbacks....
that LANDMARK districts receive better delivery of NYC services and more money poured into their nabes!
P.S.
The "Sunnyside Foundation", set up years ago, deserves credit for being a good steward and most effective watchdog for the neighborhood.
So....organize or be invisible!
"Queen" Quinn is running for mayor so she's taking a page from the Bloomberg playbook and buying her votes by doling out cash in the appropriate nabes.
She's also granting long awaited audiences to her subjects hoping they will take her "generosity" as genuine caring and throw her their needed votes.
LOL....
Didn't Queens Civic Congress just have a pow wow with "her highness"?
Meanwhile,
on the opposite end of the borough the story is quite different.
Poor Poppenhusen Institute in College Point....which has been effectively serving the community since 1868....has just lost a lot of its funding!
How about helping them out Speaker Quinn so they don't have to close their doors to a needy community?
Are there enough votes in College Point to make it worth your notice in opening up NYC's coffers for a life saving bail-out?
If it gets even ONE dollar of public money, then make it a public park. case closed.
Jimmy hangs with developers in one part of his district then with the Gardens in the other.
What would ever happen if the PEOPLE in both halves ever talked to each other?
In any case, once Jimmy moves on in a few years the park will be left to rot again.
Hey Jeremy,
I live in Sunnyside. Since I won't pay the $335 a year and $150+dollar application fee, then the park does me not one iota of good. It is nice that my taxdollars are going to improve the nice, private park for the well-to-do in Sunnyside Gardens though.
I'm part of a members only non-profit that pays dues. We are able to apply for funding and have gotten it on most occasions. I'm not sure that this is "Crap" worthy. When membership dues and fund raisers don't meet operating costs, non-profits can apply for help in the form of grants and loans. The forms are lengthy and usually have a lot of "checks and balances" along with followups that make sure the money goes to what it was asked for.
"The squeaky wheel gets the grease."
Its unfortunate that wealthier neighborhoods have the ability to fill out the forms and apply for the grants while poorer neighborhoods either don't care enough to file for money or don't care enough to look into it. I hate to say it but poorer neighborhoods just want it done without having to work to keep it up.
"$335 a year and $150+dollar application fee" helps keep the riffraff out. It's a very subtle form of racism.
Sunnyside Gardens Park members pay $335 a year, plus a one-time $150 initiation fee for access to the groomed grounds and ball fields.
How does Van Bramer do it, yet Halloran, Avella and the rest of our useless politicos cant get the old CYO property?
Jimmy is spending $250,000 for the kids room at the Woodside Branch of the library.
Kinda explains why some think the library board is a bit short on scholars and educators and a bit heavy on developers.
Well Jimmy couldn't get the owner of Woodside Triangle to sell to the city after raising the money to purchase it. Sunnyside Gardens Park has been privately owned since 1926, so it's not that big of an accomplishment and not a fair comparison to the situation in Whitestone with the CYO property.
And the groups in poorer neighborhoods don't get funding because their members don't have the means to bribe elected officials in the form of campaign contributions in return for pork funding.
Let's be honest here, ok?
Sunnyside Gardens Park has been privately owned since 1926, so it's not that big of an accomplishment and not a fair comparison to the situation in Whitestone with the CYO property.
True.
However, it can be done if the electeds step to the plate (pun intended). Instead of just grandstanding, and 335$ a year is nothing in the grand scheme of things.
Who was it that secured $ 4 mill for the Jackson Heights Garden School purchase to expand the park? How did he do it, and why cant they do it in Whitestone?
Thank you
Well now there's another interesting comparison. Danny Dromm, favored council member by the speaker, got the money. But the sale hasn't happened. So once again, perhaps this is a bad example to aspire to.
Well now there's another interesting comparison. Danny Dromm, favored council member by the speaker, got the money. But the sale hasn't happened. So once again, perhaps this is a bad example to aspire to.
///////////////////////////////////
The reason the sale hasn't happened is due to the fact that the Garden School does not want to wait for the beuracracy of the City when the sale is approved etc...
They were able to get Helen Marshal to kick in a cool Mil, and they were also able to close down 78th street during the summer for the second year in a row.
I give these people credit, and admire what they are doing for the community. I just hate when the politicians say it can't be done. That to me is an excuse to not try. They are not our "Lawmakers" they are our "Representatives" and should represent the community.
Public monies should not be used to help private groups. Is this little more than vote getting?
If my taxes goes to support a place, then I should be able to go into it with impunity.
There is a good chance that this might be illegal.
And the groups in poorer neighborhoods don't get funding because their members don't have the means to bribe elected officials in the form of campaign contributions in return for pork funding.
GROUPS IN POORER AREAS HAVE NOT MASTERED BLOGS AND CELL CAMERAS AND THE LIKE TO EMBARRASS THE SHIT OUT OF THEIR SLIPPERY POLS WITH THEIR EMPTY PROMISES.
ONCE THAT HAPPENS POLITICS WILL START TO BE FUN AGAIN.
Jimmy's "hangin'"?
Let's not discuss the little councilman's "package"....please....
LOL!
Setting this kind of illegal precedent,
NYC should fund private beach clubs too.
PUBLIC MONEY SHOULD NOT BE SPENT ON A PRIVATE ASSOCIATION'S PROPERTY!
Pay for your own upkeep landmark district spoiled brats!
But you ARE IN FACT set up like a private country club and should not be getting city money....Jeremy!
Holding a babe in arms doesn't get my sympathy for your "plight".
Post a Comment