Sunday, October 9, 2011

Where'd the park dough go?


From the Times Ledger:

Warren Schreiber, president of the Bay Terrace Community Alliance, told Community Board 11 Monday night he was investigating a combined $5.42 million he claims has not been used by the city Parks Department after being allocated by U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Bayside) and then-City Councilman Tony Avella for improvements in Little Bay Park more than seven years ago.

He said he would call on City Comptroller John Liu to audit Parks to find out what happened to the funds that were intended to expand a parking lot and build a comfort station at the park.

“Seven years have passed and there’s not a shovel in the ground. It’s not unreasonable to ask what happened to the funds,” Schreiber said. “We want this money to come back to the community and used in the locations it was intended for.”

A spokeswoman for Parks wrote in an e-mail that the department is currently working to bring the projects to the construction phase.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Be happy East Queens.

Those kinds of monies don't go to people or parks but developers in western Queens.

Anonymous said...

Give them time. They just have to steal the money from someone else's project.

Anonymous said...

Why do we always need to ask, were is the money?!. I overdraw on my personal checking account and my bank informs me within seconds. Time to clean house and just have a PC run things.

Alfredo said...

So all this bickering back and forth, and the money should have been there all this time? Our neighborhood kids play soccer on uneven, patchy fields, with some spots as hard as a concrete sidewalk and other spots with standing water and mud.

Meanwhile when I met with our Councilman at the Little Bay Fields site, the Parks department people suggested we reach out to the Boro Presidents other elected officials, as well as local gardening companies, in order the get the fields up to par.

The two women from the parks department gave quotes of over 1 million per field all the while there is money that was allocated for the area that has not been used. $5.4 MILLION ???? Way to go Warren!

Anonymous said...

Just curious - any library projects in the area?.

They are great at taking parkland and giving back to the community a money pit.

neversleep said...

Allocated, schmalocated. Did the money ever actually get delivered? Pols (Ackerman particularly)have pulled this stunt before. Press release an allocation that gets cut in the final budget negotiations. (LIRR grade crossing at Little Neck... Ackerman took credit for $250K that never appeared.)

Anonymous said...

Looks like Al Centola did it again. Im sure his meeting there with Halloran and Parks along with the discussion that folloowed, triggered some questions.

Way to go Al. Great job Warren!!!

Anonymous said...

So all this bickering back and forth, and the money should have been there all this time? Our neighborhood kids play soccer on uneven, patchy fields, with some spots as hard as a concrete sidewalk and other spots with standing water and mud.
---------------
You should go to Astoria - 2 soccer fields out of 4 million in taxes.

Now if you let the Vallones into N E Queens you can have soccer fields too.

Of course with them, the Steinway Mansion is rotting, but what the hell, why spend a dime on something that is over everyone's heads ...

Anonymous said...

you must investigate if this alleged money went to the bankrupt Planyc2030 Doomsberg GREEN DREAM, to convert concrete school playgrounds into tree covered ,bench filled, $1 million to$ 3 million parks. reducing the play spaces for teens.

see I.S.25 Q,f.l.blvd/35 avenue and P.S.159 Q,33 avenue/ 205 st. look for the sewer drains on the track and half court B/B space.

Anonymous said...

btw , North Queens really has plenty of soccer fields.O'connor Park,Alley Pond Park,Crocheran Park,Bayside field north, Fort Totten, Golden field, etc.

but still, what happened to the money ? it probably was spent for make work-job, salaries for public union workers who support the dem. party .

Alfredo said...

Lets not make this about who triggered what,its about what is right. Warren has done a wonderful job and hopefully it will be investigated and the money will be used for what is was intended.

Thank you Warren for looking out for the park and the kids that usilize it.

Ms. Tsouris said...

Let me not get started about the ballfields in northeast Queens. Not one of them has lights, so the kids can't play past twilight. My husband was a Bayside Little League manager for many years and he had to go countless times to fix up the fields so the pitcher's mound was actually a mound and help the guys put down Chemdry so the kids didn't have puddles to play in a day after a rain. Of course, the Little League would get ticketed and fined if the garbage cans were full....even if it wasn't Little League garbage. Don't get me started!!!!! Bloomberg hates people, especially children!!! If he and all his "Commissioners" weren't so corrupt, we wouldn't have this conversation. As much as I couldn't stand him, Giuliani did a great job of improving facilities, such as playgrounds and playing fields, for kids. Bloomberg is really a dismal epic failure.

Missing Foundation said...

The problem Ms Touris is the the political establishment of NYC and its media elite stands behind the mayor even at overturning term limits.

Until you change them, there is precious little that can be done.

Anonymous said...

If you want to change the political climate, write in your candiate in the next election and ignore the party crooks. Break the backs of political parties and their money donors, write in!

Write In for America said...

If you want to change the political climate, write in your candiate in the next election and ignore the party crooks. Break the backs of political parties and their money donors, write in!

./././././././././././././././././

Might I make a sugestion? Look up who he is and what he has done then decide for yourself. I for one am going to write in Al Centola in the next local election, and suggest the Bayside Whitestone citizens do the same. If you don't agree, then write in whomever you feel will do the best job for the voters.