4 JUNE 21, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Holden touts ‘direct results’ with record-breaking budget
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@R_KELLEY6
Mayor Bill de Blasio and City
Council Speaker Corey
Johnson shook hands on the
largest budget deal in history last week,
and the $89.2 billion for fi scal year 2019
is trickling down to set new records on
the local level as well.
In his fi rst budget negotiation, Councilman
Robert Holden said District
30 is receiving all-time highs of $7.4
million in capital funding along with
an additional $2.85 million from the
borough president’s offi ce and more
than $2 million in expense funding.
When he broke down his plan for
the Ridgewood Times on June 19,
Holden said he “couldn’t be happier”
with the outcome and gave credit to
his chief of staff , Greg Mitchell, for
his expertise in maximizing their
budget.
“We advocated for things we can
control and money we can allocate,”
Holden said. “I made sure everything
we asked for we can kind of see a direct
result in the investment.”
For the former college professor, that
means giving technology upgrades to
all 20 of the schools in his district, as
well as addressing construction issues
at some schools that are struggling
more than others.
At P.S. 87 in Middle Village, for
example, Holden said that a small cafeteria
and even smaller kitchen will be
seeing a “big upgrade.” Other schools
throughout the district will also see
improvements to their auditoriums,
cafeterias and air conditioning.
While expenses in the district will
exceed $2 million, Holden said, that money
will go toward more than 100 local
groups and programs including new initiatives
that “weren’t tapped into before.”
One program Holden is especially
proud of is a service that will help
senior citizens with landscaping, snow
shoveling and other household tasks
that they may need help with as they age.
According to the Department of City
Planning, 12.5 percent of the population
in Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth and
Middle Village is age 65 or older.
More money will also go toward
senior centers, youth centers, after
school programs, civic associations,
volunteer ambulance corps
and sports leagues. In addition, a
revamped eff ort to clean up graffi ti
and provide more regular cleanups
of commercial areas is “a big thing I’m
proud of,” Holden said.
Maspeth Town Hall and the Onderdonk
House will also receive badly
needed upgrades, Holden said, to deal
with problems like water seepage in
the old structures.
Increased capital funding will
provide new camera equipment for
the 102nd and 104th precincts as well
as the local firehouses, all terrain
vehicles for the Police and Parks departments
and a tractor for the Parks
Department. Holden also said that he
has $2.25 million to put toward renovating
the fl ood-prone baseball fi elds
at Juniper Valley Park, but he doesn’t
know how many fi elds they will end
up working on.
Still, Holden is disappointed that
the city budget failed to address property
tax rebates and transportation
issues for New Yorkers in transportation
deserts who have to pay more
just to get around. Especially because,
as Holden put it, property taxes are
“the engine that funds the city” and
partially allowed the budget to grow
so large.
“Unfortunately much of that money
is from the backs of property owners,
and Queens pays more than their fair
share,” Holden said. “Not a day goes
by that I don’t get people calling and
saying ‘I can’t aff ord the property tax.'”
Read more on QNS.com.
MYRTLE AVENUE
BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT
Myrtle Avenue Business Improvement District (BID)
30TH Annual Meeting
Wednesday, June 27, 2018 at 6:30 p.m.
AGENDA
Сіассіо
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Ноn
GUEST SPEAKER
А
Myrtle Avenue District Management Association
Program support provided by Ridgewood Local Development Corporation
Photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Offi ce
Remembering the Slocum
in Middle Village
Photo by Walter Karling
Residents gathered at Middle Village’s All Faiths Cemetery on June 16
for a memorial service honoring the victims of the General Slocum
steamship fi re. The tragedy occurred on June 15, 1904 on board the
steamship full of mostly German immigrants who were heading to Long
Island for a picnic. More than 1,000 perished in the fi re, which turned out
to be the deadliest fi re in the city’s history until the terrorist attacks of Sept.
11, 2001. Shown are ceremony participants at the Slocum Memorial inside
the cemetery.
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