Budget Knife Dulled, But Cuts Still Hurt

The City Council voted Monday to restore $50 million in budget cuts for the current fiscal year, but Queens residents will still feel the pinch with an 18.5% property tax hike and cuts to the Queens Library.
And the worst may be yet to come, with the city facing a $6.4 billion budget deficit next year and key services such as senior centers and fire companies still on the chopping block.
Seniors Feel The PainAgain
Three senior centers in Queens may be shut down next July to help close the citys looming budget shortfall next fiscal year, and others could stay open a maximum of four days instead of five.
JASA Whitestone, Glenridge Satellite and the Police Athletic League Senior Center in St. Albans could be closed after the next round of budget negotiations, set to begin in January.
JASA Whitestone narrowly escaped closure in June, and currently operates just one day a week.
But those who use the center, located at 12-45 Clintonville Street, say that it remains a critical lifeline to about 80 seniors who live within walking distance.
"They look forward to the one day they come here," said Rebecca Grossman, 82, the centers president. "Were like a family."
Teresa Verruso, 85, said her heart condition would probably leave her homebound were the center not located just a few blocks from her home.
"At least we get to see people [here]," said Verruso.
The next-closest senior center is Clearview Selfhelp in Bayside, which would require JASA Whitestone users to take two city buses to get there.
"We cant just about get here, and now winters coming," said Mary Arnedos, 74. "Why should they take that one day a week from us?"
Pat Wilks, a spokeswoman for the Department for the Aging (DFTA), said that transportation would be provided for displaced seniors, but could not specify whether it would be Access-a-Ride or another form of transport.
Susan Simonetti, executive director of the Glenridge Center at 59-03 Summerfield Street, said that she had to stay open an extra two and a half hours one night waiting for Access-a-Ride to pick up a wheelchair-bound senior at Glenridge.
"For those seniors who dont have transportation mobility, theyre going to be out of luck," said Simonetti, whose centers satellite location on Cooper Avenue in Glendale closed down in July and may not reopen.
John Ryan, executive director of the Police Athletic League (PAL), said that at the very least his group would try to maintain its St. Albans senior center, which currently serves about 70 people a day, as a volunteer-based gathering spot for local elderly.
"Whether we could do any more would depend on whether this is a total cut," said Ryan, who added that he had not yet received official word that the PAL St. Albans center, located at 199-10 112th Avenue, was being considered for closure.
Starting in January, seniors will have to pay an extra 10 cents for meals served at senior centers, and starting in July, they will have to pay an extra dime on top of that. Wilks said that even with a price increase from 63 to 83 cents, New York Citys seniors still pay well below the national average of $1.06 for a meal at a senior center.
On the positive side, the budget deal restored $2.3 million in proposed cuts to the DFTA, including funding for NORCs, or "naturally-occurring retirement communities," located within Housing Authority properties. NORCs in public housing are served by medical facilities and some in-home health care services.
Also saved in this years budget were take-home weekend meals for seniors, and some funds for citywide senior services such as nutrition programs, according to City Council spokeswoman Lupe Todd.
JASA Whitestones Grossman, who led the fight to save her center just a few months ago, had a warning for the politicians who set their sights on senior centers:
"We go out to vote. They have to remember that."
Fire Companies Spared For Now
To the relief of many, eight fire companies slated for closure, including two in Queens, were spared elimination until a special commission studies the best way to cut $2.5 million from the Fire Departments budget.
"All our neighbors will maintain the level of safety from fire and crime they have become accustomed to in recent years," said City Councilman James Sanders (D-Laurelton), who sits on the Councils Fire and Criminal Justice Services Committee.
Few details about the commission were available as of press time, but a Council source said that it would probably be made up of fire safety experts appointed by the mayor and the Council, and would take a few months to study factors such as response times and service overlap in deciding which fire companies to cut.
Firefighter Steven Cycan of Engine 261 in Long Island City, which had been targeted for closure along with Engine 293 in Woodhaven, reacted happily to news that the firehouses were at least temporarily off the table.
"Were very excited," said Cycan, who is Engine 261s delegate to the Uniformed Firefighters Association.
Cycans joy was tempered with the knowledge that his firehouse has been threatened beforeand could be again, given next years deficit.
"I think theyre going to try and close firehouses again," said Cycan. "Im hearing that we live for a year, and maybe this time next year we wont be so lucky. But we are prepared to fight."
Shorter Library Hours
The eventual restoration of $1.5 million across all of the citys library systems this year did not prevent our boroughs library from losing $9.5 million in overall funding.
The Queens Library, was cut by $3.5 million in the last budget, and saw its funding slashed an extra $6 million on Monday.
As a result, only three branches are currently open on Sundays, and 14 branches that had been open six days a week will only be open Monday through Friday beginning January 6. The exact branches to lose Saturdays will be announced December 3.
Further budget-induced service changes will have caused a total of 48 libraries to reduce their days to just five per week by next June.
This years cuts have brought more than shorter hours; 200,000 new books will not be purchased and two key programssummer reading and Connecting Libraries and Schoolswill be suspended in libraries that cannot secure private funding.
"These reductions are particularly troublesome because they impact the entire educational structure of our city," said Gary Strong, director of the Queens Library, in testimony yesterday before the City Councils Cultural Affairs Committee.
"To put it simply, libraries equal education."