2 times • MARCH 3, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com Which Queens projects do you want to see funded with $1M from participatory budget? BY ANTHONY GIUDICE agiudice@ridgewoodtimes.com @A_GiudiceReport The final ballot for the 30th Council District’s participatory budgeting vote has been set. District residents will be able to vote on what projects they would like to see $1 million of funding go toward, which was set aside by Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley. Of the 12 initial projects proposed for participatory budgeting, nine have made the final ballot. Voters will be able to pick up to five of the nine projects that they would like to see funded. “When my office first started participatory budgeting, we set out to reach every person in the community to hear what they really needed for their neighborhood,” Crowley said. “Now, with project expos and various ways to vote, we can ensure everyone knows the options available to them. Our budget delegates have been hard at work putting together the projects now on the final ballot, and I am looking forward to hearing from the community and seeing the results.” The final projects are as follows: Computer equipment and furniture for Ridgewood and Maspeth libraries - Swingset renovations at Little Bush Park in Woodside - Basketball court renovations at Little Bush Park - New auditorium seating at P.S. 71 in Ridgewood and P.S. 153 in Maspeth - Update the restrooms at P.S. 9 in Maspeth, P.S./I.S. 49 in Middle Village and P.S. 88 in Ridgewood - Extra air conditioning units in Maspeth’s I.S. 73 cafeteria or auditorium - Laptop carts for classrooms in P.S./ I.S. 49, P.S./I.S. 87 in Middle Village, P.S./I.S. 119 in Glendale and P.S. 153 - 30 smartboards for Grover Cleveland High School and P.S./I.S. 87 Voting will take place during the week of March 28 to April 3 via paper or mobile ballot at to-be-determined polling sites, or via online voting. In order to be eligible for online voting, voters must pre-register in person at Crowley’s office, located at 71-19 80th St., Suite 8-303 in Glendale, or with a participatory budgeting volunteer, who will be present at various neighborhood meetings until voting week. The community can learn about projects in detail during two project expos, to be held before the voting week. The first expo is scheduled for Tuesday, March 15, at 6 p.m. at Maspeth Town Hall, located at 53-37 72nd St. The second expos is on Thursday, March 24, at 6 p.m. at the Ridgewood Library, located at 20-12 Madison St. Photo via Twitter/@ElizCrowleyNYC Voting for participatory budgeting in the 30th Council District is set to take place at the end of the month. City is accused of severely under-reporting emergency response times By Courtney Obeng editorial@ridgewoodtimes.com @RidgewoodTimes Emergency response times are slower than expected, according to a firefighters’ union. The Uniformed Firefighters Association (UFA) released a report on Feb. 29 showing New York City is under-reporting emergency response times for fires and other emergencies. The UFA, which represents NYC rank-and-file firefighters, found actual response times were much longer than reported depending on the emergency, structural fire vs. non-fire emergencies, and borough. Structural fire response time was 20 percent longer and medical emergencies were 81 percent longer than reported. Medical emergencies in Brooklyn were 85 percent longer than reported and 92 percent longer in the Bronx, according to the UFA. UFA president Steve Cassidy said the lengthy response time could be lifechanging. “If you are trapped in a fire or having a heart attack, those crucial seconds or minutes of extra waiting can mean the difference between life and death,” Cassidy said. Average response time to structural fires is reported as 4:11 by the city, below the national accepted average of 5 minutes or less. Actual response time is 5 minutes, according to the UFA. Non-fire emergencies, such as gas leaks and building collapses, actual response time was 6:03, compared to the reported time of 4:30. For medical emergencies NYC boasts a 4:31 response time, but the UFA found 8:11 to be more accurate. For years the city didn’t count the time a person spent on the phone with 911, which caused the discrepancies found by the UFA. “The numbers the city reports paint a devastatingly inaccurate picture of how long it truly takes for New York City firefighters to arrive at the scene,” Cassidy said. Thanks to a 2012 report by the Winbourne Consulting Group, commissioned by the Bloomberg administration, the UFA won a lawsuit against the city over the measurement methods employed by the city. In 2013 the Local Law 119 passed, which mandated that the city report actual response times. However, the FDNY website still highlights its discredited data under “fire statistics” and stuffed Local Law 119 data under “Local Law 119 Compliance.” But even Local Law statistics only measures response time to the curb, meaning that once an emergency vehicle arrives, the “response time clock” stops. Time spent reaching an emergency in a large, multiple-floor building isn’t factored in. Cassidy said with a growing city, reporting needs to change for the benefit of the people: “The city needs to factor emergency response coverage into all future zoning and development plans, so further growth is not putting the people who live and work in this city at greater risk.” GLENDALE, MASPETH, MIDDLE VILLAGE AND RIDGEWOOD RESIDENTS! The Patrol helps clear streets after a recent storm. CIVILIAN OBSERVATION PATROL Join us for a General Membership Meeting Thursday, March 10th, 8-9 pm St. Pancras Pfeiffer Hall 20 Myrtle Avenue, Glendale • Give back to your community! • Come and see how to keep your loved ones safe! “All it takes for evil to thrive is for good men and women to do nothing!” JOIN THE PATROL! For more information visit: www.104cop.org or Call: 718-497-1500 ©2015 M1P • GLEK-067985 GLENDALE, MASPETH, MIDDLE VILLAGE AND RIDGEWOOD RESIDENTS! The Patrol helps clear streets after a recent storm. GLENDALE CIVILIAN OBSERVATION PATROL Join us for a General Membership Meeting Thursday, October 8th, 8 - 9 pm St. Pancras Pfeiffer Hall - 68-20 Myrtle Avenue, Glendale Give back to your community! • Come and see how to keep your loved ones safe! “All it takes for evil to thrive is for good men and women to do nothing!” JOIN THE PATROL! For more information visit: www.104cop.org or Call: 718-497-1500 St •
RT03032016
To see the actual publication please follow the link above