At Budget Hearing, DMs Call For 1996-Level Funding
BY LIZ GOFF

"It's time for the city to give back some of what they took from us during the fiscal crunch of the 1990s," Community Board 1 District Manager George Delis said.

More than 200 people, including district managers, community activists and representatives of Queens cultural institutions, packed Room 213 at Queens Borough Hall to testify before Borough President Helen Marshall and the Queens Borough Board in public hearings on Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed $57.1 billion budget last Thursday. Marshall and members of the board, which consists of the Borough President, the borough's City Council delegation and the chairs of each of the borough's 14 community boards, were joined at various times by City Councilmembers Melinda Katz, Joseph Addabbo, Tony Avella, John Liu, Peter Vallone, Dennis Gallagher, Helen Sears and Tom White. "We will hear testimony all day long and this will help to formulate the Borough Board's budget priorities for the fiscal year beginning July 1," Marshall said.

District managers from community boards throughout Queens seemed to have one thing in common as they presented budget requirements for Fiscal Year 2008. "It's time for the city to give back some of what they took from us during the fiscal crunch of the 1990s," Community Board 1 District Manager George Delis said. "We would like to see the city restore $18,000 it cut from our budget in 1996.

"The city is in great financial shape right now," Delis added. "The City Council just got a 25 percent salary increase and the Borough President's Office got a 22 percent increase. We aren't looking for any funding that is not owed to us."

Delis also called for increased funding to support cultural programs and institutions and parks in the Astoria/Long Island City communities and services to the elderly, and youth programs, including funding for the construction of a roller blade park in the Astoria area.

"I've been advocating this for more than 10 years," Delis said. "It's time to build a place for these kids to take their boards and do whatever they do, without putting pedestrians, children and seniors in danger of being struck by a skateboarder in one of our parks or on the sidewalk."

He also asked for an increase in school construction funding, telling Borough Board members, "It's time for us to tear down and rebuild some of the decrepit school buildings where we teach our children."

Delis called for funding for an all-out war against graffiti in Community Board 1, citing statistics that show police at the 114th Precinct in Astoria make more graffiti arrests than any other precinct citywide. "We need funding that will enable us to make a strong effort to combat graffiti in neighborhoods in Astoria and Long Island City," Delis said.

Additional funding for public safety measures rated No.1 on the list of priorities in most community boards, with district managers calling on the city to provide funding for youth, crime prevention and other programs and for equipment needed by Queens cops in their war against crime. Speakers also requested funding for firefighting gear and equipment, and called on the city to renovate or restore firehouses throughout the borough. District managers at community boards encompassing Maspeth, Middle Village, Woodside, Astoria, Long Island City and Bayside also called on the city to provide additional funding for trees in the communities, along with tree pruning and maintenance services- items that have suffered severe cutbacks in recent years.

Representing Jackson Heights, with more than 200,000 residents, Community Board 3 District Manager Giovanna Reid also called for a broader traffic study to include 69th to 114th Streets. Community Board 4 District Manager Richard Italiano renewed recent calls for a greater police presence in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. His call for a new police precinct was echoed by Sally Martino-Fisher, district manager of Community Board 13, who also reiterated a longstanding request for a new precinct for the southern portion of the vast area covered currently by the 105th Precinct.

Meanwhile, Community Board 14 District Manager Jonathan Gaska said that his board is concerned about the three eastwest thoroughfares that could be needed at some future time to evacuate residents from the peninsula in the event of a hurricane.

Representatives of cultural institutions throughout Queens also called on the city to increase funding. Marilyn Hoyt, president of the New York Hall of Science, which set a record for attendance last year as it welcomed 395,595 visitors, told the board that if more than $139,000 is not restored to the Hall's operating budget, layoffs will be required that will then result in further service reductions. Jeff Rosenstock, executive director of the Queens Theatre in the Park, thanked Marshall for her steadfast support for the theater's expansion, but said $80,000 in expense money is needed to leverage additional support for an expanded facility. Tom Finkelpearl of the Queens Museum of Art thanked Marshall for providing the lion's share-$24 million- of the $37 million needed to double the size of the museum.

Other requests were more modest, including that of Sheila Lewandowski of the Chocolate Factory Theater, who asked for money to improve lighting equipment, and Susan Brustman of the Poppenhusen Institute, who asked for $1 million to continue the everburgeoning costs of installing an elevator in the 1868 building- a project supported by Marshall- and to do exterior work on the building. Representatives of Socrates Sculpture Park, P.S.1, the Queens Borough Public Library and of employment, training and ESL (English as a second language) programs and services also sought funding.

Other requests included funding for maintenance and improvements at Queens' two major airports, development of affordable housing, programs to protect the environment, and beachfronts and to provide quality health care.

The budget priorities of the Borough Board, which will be submitted to the mayor, will be developed, in part, from the testimony heard last Thursday.

"I know that Mayor Bloomberg and the members of the City Council share my commitment to our borough," Marshall said in opening the hearings. "Together, we must shape a budget that meets the needs of our citizens within the constraints of sound fiscal policy. Because we have done so, we have moved significant projects ahead and invested in our parks, libraries, CUNY facilities and cultural institutions and commercial thoroughfares. However, our challenge for the coming year should not be underestimated because on the surface the mayor has increased funding to some agencies and instituted initiatives in others. Most of the funding allocated in the 2007 adopted budget by the City Council has been eliminated. These funds provide vital services including the Housing, Preservation and Development's Community Consultant Program, the Neighborhood Preservation Consultant Program, the Borough President's funding in the Department For the Aging and the Department of Business Services' funding for local development organizations as well as many other programs.

"This year, for the first time, Mayor Bloomberg and Council Speaker [Christine] Quinn have established an agreement that establishes a base level of annual funding for the Department of Cultural Affairs, Parks Department and Administration for Children's Services. Although this agreement will result in a welcomed increase in funding, and the agreement eliminates the annual 'budget dance', there is no guarantee that Queens will get its fair share of the allocation- and frankly, that concerns me a great deal."