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| Photo from Times Ledger |
Of the 51 Council members, at least three — the Democrats Charles Barron of Brooklyn, Peter Koo of Queens and Annabel Palma of the Bronx — gave no money to parks in the past three fiscal years. Another three — the Democrats Gale A. Brewer of Manhattan, and Albert Vann and David G. Greenfield, both of Brooklyn — allocated $8 million to $9 million each over the same period.
The amount of money they have to disburse is determined, in part, by the speaker of the City Council, Christine C. Quinn, who is now running for mayor (and who has been a major supporter of parks). Some members may perceive more pressing demands, like affordable housing or public safety.
Some City Council members chafe at the requests to finance basic park infrastructure. “Why should we be paying for it?” said Mark Weprin, a Queens Democrat, who recently designated money for protective netting at a public golf course. “They come to us with a list of projects, and I always find that offensive. These are the basic needs of an area. It shouldn’t be up to the local councilman to fix up parks.”
Agreed.
5 comments:
Quinn has been a "major supporter of parks?"
Here she suggests yanking $50 mil. from its budget.
Here Geoffrey Croft cites that the waste transfer station she is gunning for sits on (or at least right adjacent to) parkland.
Here Quinn "declines to comment" on the proposal for the MLS stadium in FMCP.
Maybe someone else can point out more encouraging examples of the speaker's demonstrated support for parks where it counts. I just can't find it.
A lot of stuff should not rely on discretionary funding starting with culture.
One of the reasons that Queens is a cultural wasteland is that, as is the case in one party societies, culture serves the needs of the the party not the community.
Geoffrey Croft appears to be another one of those extremely well meaning advocates, who has no real power to implement meaningful or lasting change in the status quo.
But he speaks impressively.
FMCP-- ash to ash, dust to dust...sad how this once beautiful parkland is withering back to its original form.
Damn our politicians!
the "park ave.at 42av./204 st. ,Auburndale /Bayside median" is still a swamp after rainfall at the intersections. yet the powers to be in nyc government managed to afford to install asphalt speed bumps and many signs, at 42 ave.....203 st.....204st....side streets ..no school,church etc.who in city gov. has a share in the asphalt and sign business ?
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