Senior Center Saved Just in Time

By Tamara Best

Five days.

That's the amount of time seniors at the Glenridge Senior Center, which was in danger of closing due to lack of funding, had left to enjoy what many call their second home.

"If this place goes under, we all go under," said Marge Koehler, 76, said last Thursday. Koehler has attended the center for the last 10 years, serving as a volunteer. "It's a shame because we rely on these centers.”

But, just when the situation looked bleak, the center was saved after Councilwoman Diana Reyna secured funding in this year’s budget to keep the center open.

“Senior centers are essential to thousands of New Yorkers, even if they are treated as nonessential in the city budget,” said Reyna(D-Bushwick). “For community residents in Queens, Glenridge Senior Center is a welcoming community magnet for folks who rely on services, which improve their quality of life by providing a safe environment.”

Reyna thanked Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) and Elizabeth Crowley (D- Middle Village) for the financial and moral support in saving the center.

On Wednesday, approximately 40 seniors braved the sweltering heat and greeted Reyna with hugs and teary eyes when she arrived outside the center for a press conference.

As she made her way through the crowd, Reyna told the seniors, “We’re not going to shed a tear. We’re celebrating today.”

On any given day, management estimates that between 60 and 98 local seniors spend time at the center. With their funding cut by the Department for the Aging for the 2011 fiscal year, the center located on Summerfield Street in Ridgewood was in jeopardy of closing its doors after 37 years of serving the community.

Although the center was initially going to close on July 2, seniors held a bake sale and flea market in an effort to raise funds. Though the sales were enough to keep the center on life support for a few extra days, it wasn’t enough to keep it open through the year.

"The fact that seniors fundraised to keep us open shows their commitment," said Thaisha Anglero, assistant director of the center.

Albert Juszczak, the Senior Center’s Executive Director, said, “It means she had to deny others in order to help us stay open and that means a lot. Council Member Diana Reyna has once again proven her high dedication to the cause of the poor, the helpless and the forgotten.”

***Home away from home***

At a table by herself, Patricia Consolazio, 65,methodically arranged six bingo cards before an afternoon game. As she arranged them, she moved her fingers slowly, a not so subtle reminder that her rheumatoid arthritis was once again rearing its ugly head.

"I used to play with boards covering half the table," she said with a smile. More important than the memories and countless wins she has racked up over the years at Glenridge, she said the center helps her remain in good health.

"It's difficult to cook, so I depend on the hot meals," she said.

Seniors at the center receive breakfast and a hot lunch, prepared by a former chef. Once a month they also have a movie night at which dinner is provided. Many of the seniors said the lunches are vital to them eating well, because physical limitations hinder them from cooking the way they used to when they were younger.

Aside from hot meals, the center provides something perhaps more important and priceless— fellowship.

"I have nothing else to look forward to," said Dorothy Hochreiter, 93. Hochreiter said with most of her family living in other states and being a widow, the other seniors have become part of her extended family. "It's very nice and very helpful.”

Many seniors echoed similar sentiments about the center and said they are happy that their extended family will be together for at least another year.

“I was just rejoicing and happy for everyone,” said Neireda Lopez. “The next thing is getting the staff back that was let go.”

***Saving Glenridge***

All around the cafeteria during lunch last Thursday, before the last-minute funding was secured, seniors sat talking in hushed tones. The main question at the center of most conversations: Is the center closing?

Towards the end of lunch, an employee addressed the seniors in an attempt to answer that question. The employee said that the center would not close July 2 as many had heard but remain open until July 13, just one day after the center would celebrate its 38th anniversary.

However, the announcement that there would be no breakfast or dinner and movie, among other services this week led some seniors to draw conclusions on the center's fate.

"All of this what we're hearing is not good," said Koehler, banging her fist on the table and shaking her head. "It's not good."At the beginning of this week, seniors were greeted with news that the center would remain open.

Yesterday, Koehler was all smiles. When asked how she felt about the center being saved, she raised her eyes to the sky, bringing her hands together as if to pray and mouthed a silent “thank you.”

For the 2011 fiscal year, senior centers will receive $33.8 million less than last year with the Department for the Aging proposing that 50 senior centers across the city be closed by the year’s end.

“The budget is not about numbers, it can’t be balanced on the backs of seniors,” said
Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez (D-Ridgewood) who attended the conference.
“The next year will give us time to look for solutions. The city has to do right by its seniors.”

Reyna said that despite the center being saved, there is much work to be done.
“This is not the end of a victory, it’s only the beginning,” Reyna said. “It’s a battle, we have won this one but there are still more.”

And seniors at Glenridge said they are ready.

“I fought for this center and I will continue to fight for it until it closes,” said Consolazio.

Council Approves Business Owners' Bill of Rights

The City Council has approved the Business Owners’ Bill of Rights, which aims to fully inform business owners of all their rights during agency inspections. It was sponsored by Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills), who chairs the Consumer Affairs Committee.

The Business Owners’ Bill of Rights came as a result of the findings of the city’s Regulatory Review Panel, which surveyed and listened to the business community in every borough to see how the city could help businesses succeed in a difficult economy.

The bill requires that the Mayor’s Office of Operations distributes to business owners, during or following each inspection, a document listing their rights to: consistent enforcement of agency rules, complain about or compliment an inspector’s work, contest a violation before the appropriate tribunal, an inspector who behaves in a professional manner, an inspector who can answer questions or promptly make a referral and an inspector who is knowledgeable of rules, regulations and laws.

The bill marks the first sponsored by Koslowitz to be signed into law since she returned to the City Council this year. She called small businesses “the lifeline of the economy” and noted that the city has the most small businesses of any municipality in the nation, with more than one million. That means nearly half of all the small businesses in the entire state are within the five boroughs.

“Keeping small businesses informed of government policies and regulations will empower owners with their rights,” said Koslowitz. “The bill of rights will guarantee consistent enforcement of agency rules, fair inspectors, and the ability to contest a violation… This is just the beginning of a movement, by Speaker [Christine] Quinn and my council colleagues, aimed at improving the business environment for our small merchants.”

Quinn (D-Manhattan) said the new bill is a signal that the city intends to work with its merchants, and not against them. “We are moving away from an enforcement-driven inspection process to one that is much more customer-service orientated,” she said. “I am confident that we will make the city a more welcoming place for entrepreneurs to thrive and prosper. Making life easier for our business owners is the key to building a diverse and thriving economy.”

Councilwoman Diana Reyna (D-Bushwick), who is chair of the Small Business Committee, said the bill “sends a clear message to the small business community that the City Council is working to ease the regulatory burdens that have too often delayed the transformation of great ideas into successful businesses.”

Fire Companies Again on Chopping Block

Mayor Seeks to Close $4.9 Billion Gap in Preliminary Budget

By Conor Greene

With a sense of déjà vu, local elected officials are ready to fight back against Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal to eliminate at least 20 fire companies in an effort to close the $4.9 billion gap in the city’s $63.6 billion budget.

The fight is a familiar one for City Council members – last year’s budget also included the elimination of 16 fire companies, including Engine 271 on Himrod Street. Those closures were eventually avoided when Council members used discretionary funding to restore the FDNY budget. However, that was a one-time solution that is unlikely to be repeated year after year, especially with the number of closings increased by four.

Last Thursday, Mayor Bloomberg unveiled his preliminary budget for 2011, which includes reductions to almost every city agency. However, as bad as it is, he warned that deeper cuts would be needed if Governor David Paterson’s proposed budget is adopted. That would result in an additional $1.3 billion gap, forcing the firing thousands of city employees, including 8,500 teachers and 3,150 police.

“New Yorkers continue to feel the harsh impact of the deepest national recession in more than 60 years, and as many businesses and families continue cutting back on their budgets, so too must city government,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “Because of the early steps we took to diversify our economy and keep our fiscal house in order, we’ve avoided the very worst-case scenario, but we still face a very large deficit that will require very difficult decisions.”

However, as bad as the economic situation is, and as difficult as the decisions are, local Council members all say that cuts to emergency services shouldn’t even be considered.

Immediately after the preliminary budget was released, Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village), who is chair of the fire and criminal justice committee, released a statement vowing to fight against the closings of any fire companies. “It is alarming that so many fire company closures are even being proposed in the mayor’s preliminary budget,” said Crowley. “We have a responsibility to our taxpaying New Yorkers that when it comes to safety, we deliver.”

Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) said haven’t been announced, “we do know that every year when we go through the budget dance there is always one on the chopping block that would affect our community.”

He agreed that funding for emergency services “should be baseline in the budget and not up for negotiations… That should be standard, and if we have to make cuts outside that to balance the budget, so be it, but you can’t balance the budget by putting lives at risk, and that’s what the city engages in every year around this time… There are going to be cuts that will be painful, but we have to minimize the negative impact it is going to have on people, and in my opinion, closing firehouses and laying off cops is just unconscionable.”

Crowley stressed that any closings will have a ripple effect across the city. “When you start closing one company here and one there, you’re spreading the whole service thinner,” she said. “I believe we have to maintain a level of protection that is critical for all New Yorkers, and when you start closing companies, it impacts the safety of the whole city.”

Last year, the Council was able to avoid the closures by reallocating $17 million in discretionary funding to the FDNY budget. This year’s preliminary mayoral budget cuts about $22 million needed to keep the companies open, which Crowley called a “drop in the bucket” considering the city’s budget is more than $60 billion. “It is tough budget times, but I firmly believe the budget for 2011 is not nearly as bad as it was anticipated to be,” she said. “The economy is showing signs of improvement and anticipated tax revenue is higher than anticipated.” As a result, she hopes that non-essential spending will be able to be cut from the FDNY budget over the next few months.

Newly-appointed FDNY Commissioner Salvatore Cassano said recently that closing even a few companies will require an overhaul of the city’s network of engine and ladder companies. “If we have to close 20 companies, which is a six percent reduction in the number of companies we have, it is going to tax us,” he told the New York Times. “It is certainly the most challenging thing we have faced in decades.”

Several other Council members joined the chorus demanding that the fire companies are removed from the potential chopping block. “This is a very serious problem. Public safety is something we can’t cut corners on,” said Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills). “Fire companies are something we should not close, or even think about closing. It is not an option as far as I’m concerned.”

In a statement, Councilwoman Diana Reyna (D-Ridgewood) said: “In these tough economic times we must use our discretion and act strategically, going line-by-line to protect the funding that allows the brave men and women of the FDNY to continue to serve our residents with the quality and excellence they have come to expect.”

Youth Council Prepares to Renovate New Building

Busy Summer Included Cancer Awareness Event

By Conor Greene

It's been a busy summer for the Greater Ridgewood Youth Council, which recently closed on its new building, hosted a cancer awareness day and ran its annual summer camps, which serve more than 1,000 local children and provide hundreds of jobs.

New Building Effort

Using $1 million provided by former State Senator Serf Maltese, the council took over the former Garity Post building on Fairview Avenue earlier this month and is looking forward to renovating it to fit the group's needs, said GRYC Director Bob Monahan.

"We now own the building which is great... We did it here [at its current Myrtle Avenue home] 10 years ago and we're ready to rock and roll again," he said of the upcoming construction effort. "The classrooms will be state of the art, the office and community meeting space is better. It's a home run for everyone."

The project is funded by $1,750,000 provided by the Queens City Council delegation headed by Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village), Diana Reyna (D-Bushwick) and Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans). Also assisting is Borough President Helen Marshall ($500,000), State Senator Joseph Addabbo (D-Howard Beach) and Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan (D-Ridgewood). "It was truly a concerted effort by all of our elected officials, past and present, to get us going," said Monahan. "It's nice to be doing something that everyone knows will benefit the community."

Since the city funds come as a reimbursement, the council is planning on borrowing on the equity of the new building so it can begin the renovations. "We have to spend the money, start fixing, submit bills and then start getting reimbursed," the director explained. The move was necessitated when the council found out last year its monthly rent on Myrtle Avenue would double to $10,000.

Cancer Awareness at PS 153

As part of its summer programs, the council recently held a Cancer Awareness Day, inspired by several of the GRYC and school's staff members. "As a youth council, we have a couple of women battling breast cancer, so PS 153 having one who is in the fight for her life, they decided to have a cancer awareness day to show support for her and other women battling cancer," said Monahan.

The day included shows and songs, along with a painting presented to Councilwoman Crowley, who participated in the day. "I am saddened by how many people in this world continue to suffer every day from this disease and how many lives are taken," she said, adding that she and a staff member have both personally lost loved ones to the disease. "It not only hurts the person with the illness but deeply impacts all those who love them."

Crowley pointed to early detection as an important part of the fight against cancer. "When cancers are caught early and treated, people have a higher chance of surviving longer and beating the disease. I know what you are doing today will save lives tomorrow," she told the children, who raised several hundred dollars that day.

Overall this summer, the GRYC served 1,000 local children at its camps and provided jobs to 800 young adults, reported Monahan. "We had an awesome summer and spent $1 million for kids in the summertime," he said.

Budget Woes Top CB 5 Meeting

By Conor Greene

A discussion on the requests being submitted to the city for the 2010 budget highlighted last week’s Community Board meeting.

Board District Manager Gary Giordano informed board members and residents in attendance last Wednesday in Christ the King High School that the city’s current budget situation is “very difficult at best” as a result of the nationwide economic crisis. With about $1.5 billion less coming in through projected tax revenues, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has proposed “significant budget cuts” in many important areas, said Giordano.

According to Giordano, proposed cuts include about $94 million from Department of Environmental Protection; $455 million from the Education Department; $1 million from Department of Buildings; $17 million from Housing; $23 million from Parks; $33 million from the Department of Aging; $136 million from Administration of Children’s Services and $9 million from City Planning.

The FDNY budget is due to increase by $5 million while the NYPD’s increases by $87 million, under the mayor’s preliminary budget. The Sanitation Department would receive a $22 million increase in its budget under the current play.

However, according to Giordano, the police and fire increases are likely due to wage increases, as the NYPD’s head count will reduce from 31,349 this year to 28,656, and the FDNY ranks would decline from 11,349 members this year to 10,929. As a result of the city’s budget woes, some items requested by the board have been put on hold.

“Lots of items we requested are difficult to pinpoint the extent to which they are going to get funded,” said Giordano. “Personally, I am more worried about police protection and fire protection than some of the capital items.”

However, Giordano did express confidence that the Cooper Avenue underpass project will move forward. “We lobbied hard for that in a lot of different directions,” he said, adding that he is expecting to receive at least half of the $20 million requested.

Other projects requested include measures to prevent flooding throughout the area, which Giordano said has begun starting in the northern portion near Calamus Avenue, and the construction of new catch basins, especially ones with brick that has worn away. A project to improve Grover Cleveland Park is being funded through the Schoolyards to Playgrounds initiative and should begin this year. Finally, Councilwoman Diana Reyna (D-Bushwick) was able to secure funding for the second phase of the Ridgewood library project.

Beyond that, “other projects are difficult” to secure funding for, said Giordano. For example, reconstruction of south Middle Village streets has been pushed back to 2013, he said. Since that entire project is close to $20 million, “I don’t see that happening,” he said, suggesting that the board may have to divide the project into smaller sections to get it moving forward.