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7 • TIMES, THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 2015 TALK SCHOOLS & SHELTER Local Council Member, City Comptroller Visit Queens Board 4 City Comptroller Scott Stringer updated the members of Community Board 4 on their plans for the coming year last Tuesday, Jan. 13. impact on current services should have been assessed before opening the shelter. “I, as a council member, now must look at those residents there as my constituents,” Dromm explained. “I must support them to the extent that I possibly can.” Dromm also stated that he did not like some of the things that were said at the protests against the shelter, and wanted to let the people living in the shelter, especially the children, know that, “this was not an argument about the validity of the people who live there ... but it was more by Anthony Giudice Hot-button topics including schools, a local homeless shelter and the city’s new ID program topped last Tuesday’s (Jan. 13) Community Board 4 meeting in Corona. City Council Member Daniel Dromm came to the session at Flanders Field VFW Post 150 to update the community and board members on things he has been working on and his plans for the future. Dromm was recently elected the chair of the City Council Education Committee and has been focused on improving the state of schools. “I want to focus ... on money the state owes New York City,” Dromm said. Under the administration of former Gov. George Pataki, and then subsequent governors, a settlement was reached to pay the city $1.7 billion a year. When Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration took office, Dromm noted, the payments stopped. “We estimate that we’re owed $2.2 billion in the city, and around $5 billion state-wide for education,” he explained. “Imagine what we could do with $2 billion if we had it in our city school system.” He noted that the funds could go towards hiring more teachers, getting new and better supplies for students and teachers, improving school buildings and many other necessary upgrades for the school system. Dromm plans on letting Cuomo know that, “we need those dollars desperately down here to improve our public schools,” he said. Another major point of concern for Dromm was the proposed lifting of the charter school cap. One of the main reasons Dromm is opposed to lifting the cap is because New York City and State have remaining charters that are still unused under the current cap. According to the New York City Charter School Center’s website, 23 charter schools will open for the 2015-16 school year, with 11 more approved for the 2016-17 year; after such expansion, the city can still permit another 25 charter schools under state law. “Why would we lift the cap when ... nobody has taken advantage of” the charter schools already in place, Dromm asked. Dromm also pointed out that he, as Education Committee chair, has, “very little oversight over these charter schools,” and their policies. This has lead to a creation of, “two school systems, one is the charter school, the other is the regular public school system,” in Dromm’s opinion. Dromm addressed the hotbutton issue of the shelter at the former Pan American Hotel in Elmhurst, which falls inside of his district. “I opposed ... the way in which the city went about opening the Pan Am shelter,” Dromm said. He believed the process to open the shelter should have gone through the community boards, and the -SEE BOARD 4 ON PG. 29- 6600--6688 MMeettrrooppoolliittaann AAvvee..,, RRiiddggeewwoooodd,, NNYY •• 771188--882211--11111111 WWEEBB: wwwwww.ppnnaaaauuttoosppoorr tt.ccoomm BLOWOUT SALE! GGIIFFTT CCEERRTTIIFFIICCAATTEESS AAVVAAIILLAABBLLEE •Car Stereos •Car Alarms • Car Accessories •Car Rims •Mobile Video •DVD Players •Professional Tinting •Navigation Systems •Cellular Phones • Beepers Car Electronic Installation Center Bring all your own auto electronics and we will install them for you. Pioneer AVH-5000 NEX $749.99 •Navigation Receiver With 6.1” LCD •Touch Screen Monitor •Built-In Bluetooth •iPod / iPhone Control •Am/Fm + Internet + Sirius XM Radio •Disc / Micro SD / USB Player (With This Ad) (With This Ad) (With This Ad) (With This Ad) (With This Ad) (With This Ad) (With This Ad) (With This Ad) DEH-150MP CD Receiver AM/FM - CD - iPod - WMA & MP3 Ready Lay-A-Way Available ©Times Newsweekly - 2014 - P&A $24999 $9999 AVH-X4700BT $$114499..9999 AVITAL 5303


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