22 The Queens Courier • november 28, 2013 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com QUEENS HELPS WITH TRANSITION BY CRISTABELLE TUMOLA [email protected] Queens is taking part in Transition NYC. Mayor-Elect Bill de Blasio announced the appointment of 60 leaders and experts to his transition committee on Wednesday, November 20. “My charge to the transition team is to identify women and men from every part of our city and walk of life that share a commitment to progressive and competent city government,” said de Blasio. “They will be advising me based on their wealth of experience and knowledge of specific issue areas and government agencies.” The Transition NYC team members, who will be volunteering their time during the transition, include several leaders from Queens organizations and institutions. They are Hoong Yee Lee Krakauer, executive director, Queens Council on the Arts; Udai Tambar, executive director, Bloomberg leaves de Blasio balanced budget BY CRISTABELLE TUMOLA [email protected] Along with the keys to his office, Mayor Michael Bloomberg will be handing Bill de Blasio a balanced budget. Bloomberg released the city’s first quarter budget modification on November 21. It maintains balance in the current fiscal year, FY2014, and the upcoming one, FY2015. The achievement is “the first time in documented city history that an incoming administration will inherit a budget that is already balanced for the fiscal year that begins six months after inauguration,” according to the mayor. “This historic accomplishment is the result of New York’s continued economic growth, our administration’s fiscal discipline and the significant savings we have achieved in recent months. And let me add that we have reached a balanced budget without proposing any tax increases or cutting essential services,” said Bloomberg. The mayor said a series of cost saving initiatives helped reduce a $2 billion budget gap for FY2015 down to zero. According to Bloomberg, some of those initiatives included lowering employee health care expenses resulting from the decision to competitively bid the city’s health plan for the first time in more than a decade; the sale of two underutilized, city-owned buildings; and the first public bidding of school bus contracts in more than 30 years. Added revenue from continued economic growth also helped balance the budget. De Blasio spokesperson Lis Smith said the mayor-elect remains “concerned about the continued impact of sequestration, high uncertainty around the flow of Sandy recovery aid, and the liabilities from unresolved labor contracts.” “We will continue to review this new budget information closely in the coming days and weeks,” she said. Photo Courtesy of York College Dr. Marcia Keizs, president, York College Pol: Report crime stats for more parks BY CRISTABELLE TUMOLA [email protected] Here in the largest city in the country, crimes are only reported in 31 parks. Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr. wants to fix that problem. Vallone, chair of the City Council’s Public Safety Committee, held a hearing on November 22 in connection with his proposed law that would require the NYPD to submit to the Council crime reports for all city parks and playgrounds larger than once acre. The councilmember said the amendment will close a “loophole” from a bill he passed in 2006. That legislation originally required the crime reporting of 20 parks, but was supposed to be extended to hundreds more over three years. But, according to Vallone, the NYPD didn’t need to make those increases if the technology wasn’t available to do it. “We can no longer allow the NYPD to hide behind a claimed lack of technology to avoid providing the public with this vital information. This bill will improve upon my original bill and increase the amount of parks covered from 31 to over 870, and publish this information on the web,” said Vallone. Geoffrey Croft, president of NYC Park Advocates, doesn’t believe Vallone’s legislation goes far enough in “closing the loopholes” because it doesn’t cover the majority of the city’s recreation and green spaces. According to the Parks Department, there are more than 1,700 parks, playgrounds and recreation facilities in the five boroughs. “If passed this law would continue to endanger the lives of the public, the police and PEP Parks Enforcement Patrol officers by not requiring the city track crimes on all park properties,” said Croft. Vallone said he is also “looking for ways to include playgrounds and other areas smaller than an acre, but larger than a patch of grass.” South Asian Youth Action; Elsie Saint Louis, executive director, Haitian- Americans United for Progress, Inc.; Dr. Marcia Keizs, president, York College, The City University of New York; and Jukay Hsu, founder, Coalition for Queens. “I am honored to be contributing to the creation of a new administration, a team New Yorkers can be proud of,” said Krakauer in a post on the Queens Council on the Arts website. “And to do that I will look to you, the creative citizens of this amazing borough, for your ideas and thoughts to bring back to the big table.” Queens also took part in the new administration’s transition through two panel discussions that were held at the de Blasio Talking Transition Tent in downtown Manhattan on Friday, November 22. “Thrive in Queens,” hosted by The Noguchi Museum, the Queens Economic Development Corporation and Long Island City Partnership, focused on the creative sector of the borough. According to The Noguchi Museum Director Jenny Dixon, who moderated the first panel, they also spoke about “the need for greater marketing dollars and better public transportation,” and requested that the de Blasio administration “affirm the borough of Queens through an inclusive agenda weighted equally for all of the five boroughs.” “A great gathering of Queens folks were in the audience and similarly a great group of Queens’ economic drivers were represented on the panel,” said Dixon. “We hope what we have to say will be heard.” Photo Courtesy of Coalition for Queens Jukay Hsu, founder, Coalition for Queens Photo Courtesy of Queens Council on the Arts Hoong Yee Lee Krakauer, executive director, Queens Council on the Arts Photo Courtesy the Long Island City Partnership The “Thrive in Queens” panel was held at the de Blasio Talking Transition Tent on November 22.
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