By Kelsey Durham
Several nonprofits in northeast Queens delivered budget testimonies last week in front of Borough President Melinda Katz as they formally requested funding to help maintain vital programs across their institutions.
North Shore-LIJ made one of the most significant requests for more than $2.7 million for the 2015 fiscal year. The hospital requested funds for three facilities — Forest Hills-LIJ, LIJ Medical Center and Cohen Children’s Medical Center — to help ease costs of care and equipment for the hundreds of thousands of patients the hospital says it serves every year.
William Cunningham, who testified on behalf of North Shore-LIJ, requested $735,883 for its Forest Hills facility that he said would go toward “essential medical equipment” and a medical support vehicle.
He also requested $606,418 in grant money to purchase equipment for the Cohen Children’s Medical Center in Flushing.
Cunningham also asked for $1,425,842 for the LIJ Medical Center to purchase new equipment, including an environmentally friendly ambulance and a 37-foot-long emergency evacuation vehicle that would accommodate 30 ambulatory patients, 15 stretchers or 11 wheelchairs.
Community Board 11, which represents Auburndale, Bayside, Douglaston, Hollis Hills, Little Neck and Oakland Gardens, said the majority of calls the office receives involve transportation complaints and asked that the board be granted money to help with road maintenance and curb repairs.
“The crumbling curbs are hazardous to pedestrians,” said Susan Seinfeld, district manager of CB 11. “On Union Turnpike, rebar from broken curbs sticks out into the roadway, causing a hazard for motorists.”
CB 11’s requests heavily favored the area’s parks as the board asked for money to remove dead trees and stumps and replace them with new plants.
Queensborough Community College made a formal request for more than $1.9 million that school president Diane Call said would go toward three major projects.
Call said the school is hoping to build a new kitchen and dining facility, make $550,000 in roof repairs across campus and install a new underground central chiller plant that would distribute cold water to multiple buildings on the school’s grounds.
Reach reporter Kelsey Durham at 718-260-4573 or by e-mail at kdurham@cnglocal.com.
