TIMES, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015 • 4 TALKING THE BUDGET Addabbo & Miller Address Woodhaven Block Association “Most of the things we look to do are for people,” Miller told the crowd at American Legion Post 118. One of the concerns for Miller is the money Governor Cuomo has set aside for education. Cuomo has between $370 million and $390 million in the budget for education, Miller explained. If the lawmakmers agree to Cuomo’s proposed changes to the educational system, he will boost that amount to $1.1 billion. “If you have the $1.1 billion, let’s give it to our schools and let’s talk about what you want to do,” Miller said. “Don’t hold that money and our children hostage.” “Community-wise, I introduced a few bills,” Miller stated. One of those bills was the out-of-state plate bill, which bans cars with out-of-state license plates from parking overnight on city streets from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. “I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from people. 95 percent were positive,” Miller said.A lthough he has received positive responses from the bill, he admitted that it was not perfect and he is listening to what his constituents are saying. With these suggestions Miller plans on making amendments to the bill. Addabbo also came up and addressed the audience on local matters that he is working on. One of Addabbo’s main concerns for the Woodhaven area is getting the Woodhaven-Richmand Hill Volunteer Ambulance Corps. up and running again. “Our goal is to get the ambulance corps. back so that the seniors can go back. That’s the game plan,” Addabbo said. The collapsed building at 78-19 Jamaica Ave. has been given extensions on fixing the building. “When you do that, like I said to the judge in a letter and to the Buildings Department, it puts another nail in the coffin of our ambulance corps.,” Addabbo told those in attendance. After a meeting with the contactor and the ambulance corps., they found substantial leakage coming from the building into the ambulance corps. building. The senator said he plans on making phone calls to see if the owner will “stray a little bit from his schedule and seal up that leakage.” Another point of concern is the new electronic recycling program put forth by the Department of Sanitation (DSNY). Addabbo believes that this ban will lead to television sets, computers and other electronics being dumped on the streets and in parks. “I can’t picture my seniors lugging these TVs ... to a Best Buy or to a Salvation Army spot and dumping these things off. It’s not going to happen,” Addabbo stated. Addabbo is asking the DSNY to consider adding more features to the program and not just have drop off points for the electronics. He suggested having a call-in program where seniors could call ahead of time to have their electronics picked up by the DSNY, and other alternatives. story and photo by Anthony Giudice With state budget season in full swing, Assemblyman Mike Miller and State Sen. Joseph Addabbo came to the Woodhaven Residents Block Association meeting on Saturday, Feb. 21 to talk about the budget’s potential impacts locally. Assemblyman Mike Miller addressing the crowd at American Legion Post 118 during the Woodhaven Residents Block Association meeting on Saturday, Feb. 21. Ridgewood Pol: Don’t Shortchange Local Schools Of that $2.5 billion, according to the Campaign for Fiscal Equality (CFE), every State Senate and Assembly district is owed tens of millions of dollars in funding for their schools. State Sen. Joseph Addabbo’s district is owed nearly $137 million, the most of any Senate district. Historically, advocates stated, NYC public schools have been woefully underfunded, as the NYS Court of Appeals determined in the CFE ruling. The CFE lawsuit was brought by parents in 1993 against the State of New York claiming that children were not getting an adequate education. In 2006, the NYS Court of Appeals found that New York State violated students’ constitutional rights to a “sound and basic education” by underfunding public schools. According to the Alliance for Quality Education (AQE), a 2015 longitudinal study done by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that when spending increases by 10 percent each year during low income student’s tenure in school (K-12), those students earn 9.5 percent more as adults. Furthermore, graduation rates jump 4 percent, to 26 percent, and the likelihood of adult poverty is reduced. Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan of Ridgewood, the Assembly Education chairperson, was among those leading the rally. “It’s very important that we’re here today to keep the focus on fulfilling the promise of CFE,” Nolan said. “The court decision ... said we have to provide our young people with a meaningful education that equips them for the future.” “The economy has turned around, the funds are there. It’s time to keep our promises to the children and families of New York and for us, as State Legislatures, to continue to push for full funding for our wonderful young people,” Nolan added. Currently, there is no proposed increase Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan (at podium) urges Governor Cuomo to fulfill the Constitutional rights of students and provide the funding they are owed at a rally on the steps of City Hall last Thursday, Feb. 19. for school funding in Cuomo’s 2015-16 budget plan, unless the Legislature agrees to a series of new laws put forth by the governor. The CFE launched a website which breaks down how much each public school is allegedly shortchanged, www.howmuchnysrobbed.nyc. story and photo by Anthony Giudice Members of the New York State Legislature, educators, parents and students rallied on the steps of City Hall last Thursday morning demanding that Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers pay $2.5 billion owed to New York City public schools.
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