16 THE QUEENS COURIER • APRIL 25, 2013 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com PAY TO PARK: Unhappy NYCHA residents offered payment plan for new parking spots BY MELISSA CHAN [email protected] The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is offering an installment plan to ease parking rate hikes on burdened drivers. “Increases are a way of life, but if it’s falling on the residents, at least give us ample time to prepare for this increase,” said Craig Kinsey, president of the James A. Bland Resident Association. “Not to give these residents enough time to pay — it was totally unheard of, insensitive and immoral.” NYCHA increased parking costs this year for residents paying for unreserved spaces. Costs went up to $265 for most drivers, $212 for seniors and a whopping $500 for on-site employees. NYCHA spokesperson Zodet Negrón said the agency is getting rid of unreserved parking lots and changing them to reserved ones starting May 1. She said the shift, which will designate a specific spot for each driver, will improve safety and make enforcement easier. Conversion plans were released last December, with notifications reaching residents in March and April, according to the agency. But residents in the borough’s two NYCHA houses said authorities did not give them enough time to make payments. “My son is going to college. I’m paying deposit fees for tuition, deposit fees for room and board,” said Monica Corbett, president of the Pomonok Residents Association. “I’d be stuck if I had to choose between my son’s education and parking fees. I’d be parking on the street.” Drivers in 43 developments throughout the city now have the option to pay in four installments instead of in full. The first payment is due April 30. The installment plan is only available this year for residents who have not yet paid the lump sum. “It’s better than paying all at once,” Corbett said. “It’s a new avenue for the Housing Authority. But sometimes when you don’t include the major stakeholders, things get lost in translation.” NYCHA began a new partnership with Greystone Parking Services in March. The payment plan was offered “in response to concerns expressed by many residents,” a spokesperson said. Kinsey lambasted the agency, saying NYCHA should have included residents in earlier discussions. “You put a band aid on the wound, but the wound is there,” he said. “We’re working check by check like every other individual who is two checks away from being homeless. These are not objects. These are people that you’re dealing with.” Sequestration hits home Federal budget cuts affect Head Start programs BY MATT SURRUSCO Five classrooms at a Head Start center FURLOUGH FRUSTRATION BUDGET CUTS AND FEWER AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS CAUSE DELAYS By Cristabele Tumola [email protected] Weather is not the only thing delaying travelers this week. U.S. government spending cuts forced the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to ax $637 million from its budget this year and to furlough it staff, the FAA confirmed. Air traffic controllers are now required to take one day off without pay for every 10 days of work. That will come to 11 days of furlough per employee by the end of the year. With fewer eyes on the skies, the FAA estimates the furlough could delay as many as 6,700 flights per day at 13 of the country’s largest hubs, including John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport. On Monday, April 22, the first weekday of the furloughs, JFK already experienced delays. “I didn’t know about the furlough, but I’ve been waiting for my flight for over an hour now. I’m flying to Tampa and it’s been delayed,” said Matt Frankel. “My flight has been delayed for almost two hours. This is ridiculous,” said one traveler. But Joan Lamercka said she had no issues with her flight. “My flight actually went pretty smoothly—no delays. But I can see how this would cause problems,” she said. The FAA said there were 1,200 delays throughout the counrty as a result of the furlough on Monday. The body attributed an additional 1,400 delays to the weather and other factors. Senator Charles Schumer said the FAA estimates there could be delays of up to 80 minutes out of LaGuardia and 50 minutes at JFK. He called on the Senate to repeal the cuts and is pushing to make up the revenue by closing tax loopholes. “These furloughs will turn every day into a blizzard as far as flying is concerned,” said Schumer. “These delays can and must be avoided by passing a balanced budget to repeal the sequester through both closing tax loopholes and by making smart cuts.” -Additional reporting by Luke Tabet in Woodside are filled with young children learning to read, write and count. In one classroom, students sing in English, Spanish and Bengali and dance to “La Bamba.” The coming months could see fewer low-income families in the area receive childcare and early childhood education services because of federal budget reductions. Many of the families include immigrants from Latin America and South Asia. The cuts are part of sweeping federal budget reductions known as the sequester. They could bring about a shorter program year, employee furloughs or fewer spots for three- to fiveyear olds at the Child Center of NY’s Roosevelt Avenue Head Start program. “We have really been looking at where we would absorb these cuts because overall, the number of federal dollars that you have is never enough to run the program to begin with,” said Linda Rodriguez, director of early childhood programs at the Child Center. “We’re kind of in limbo at this point as a program.” The cuts, which went into effect March 1, included a five percent reduction in federal Head Start funding. That came out to a $406 million decline. The Department of Health and Human Services said up to 70,000 children nationwide could lose access to Head Start and Early Head Start services as a result. The city’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) is preparing for an estimated $9 million decrease in federal funding for local Head Start programs, spokesman Michael Fagan said in an email. He added that the cuts will take effect July 1. Local programs, which serve 3,000 youngsters in Queens alone, will have to tighten their fiscal year 2013 budgets. According to city and Head Start data, 268 children in Community Board 2 were in Head Start last February. The district includes Sunnyside and Woodside. More than half of the children were in the Child Center of NY’s Head Start program, which had 170 slots at the time. The Woodside center currently offers 85 slots, but space could shrink again in September because of the cuts. Selina Akter, 35, of Woodside, said she is not sure how she and her husband will manage if their four-year-old son does not get access to Head Start. Akter and her spouse both work full-time. “I don’t want to leave my job, because I need my job,” she said. “When my son is in school, I don’t worry about him.” To be eligible for the free Woodside Head Start program, families must live within a 10-block radius of the center and earn no more than $23,550 a year for a four-person household, as per federal poverty guidelines. If ACS, which doles out federal Head Start funds, tells the Woodside center to reduce its number of slots, staff will have to make some difficult decisions. Educational director Marie Mason said with a waiting list of more than 100 students, the center is already unable to accommodate every Woodside family that wants to enroll children in Head Start. “If we had another center this size, or twice this size, I could fill it tomorrow,” she said. Rodriguez said the coming drop in funds could mean reductions to a wide array of services, including nutrition and health counseling as well as parenting courses. The agency might also need to end the program early this summer, start up again later or move some children to a less expensive homebased program in which a teacher visits the family once a week for 1.5 hours. Last month, 30 Woodside mothers with children in Head Start visited Congressmember Joseph Crowley’s district office in Jackson Heights to express their concerns. Ruth Campos, 42, said she worried about missed educational opportunities if her four-year-old daughter and other children from low-income families lose access to Head Start. THE COURIER/File photo Flyers at area airports may face delays after furloughs mean fewer air traffic controllers.
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