By Bill Parry
State Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst) announced a $25,000 state allocation for a Renaissance Charter School project called “Teens for Racial and Ethnic Awakening, aimed at providing training and improving relations for high school students.
The program has been around for two decades in various forms at the Jackson Heights school, promoting social responsibility and mentoring on topics ranging from immigration and human rights to climate change and women’s equality.
“This project is vital, especially in this cultural climate,” Peralta said, “ensuring that our children and neighbors see each other without labels, as one big community. This is a great forum to discuss and improve inter-group relations, and it helps teenagers gain confidence and to better understand each other’s cultures and backgrounds.
“We live in the most diverse borough of the city, and this is why programs like TREA are key to promoting harmony.”
Peralta, who allocated more than $1 million in this year’s budget for groups and organizations that assist constituents in his district, made the announcement last week at The Renaissance School, located at 35-59 81st St., flanked by members of the senior graduating class of 2017 and Principal Stacey Gauthier.
“The program helped me to expand my thoughts about the community and how to help make it better,” said TREA participant William Gomez, who will be attending LaGuardia Community College.
As the legislative session in Albany wrapped up last week, Peralta’s bill requiring the MTA to conduct a study relative to the amount of lead paint in elevated subway infrastructure was passed by the Senate and Assembly. This includes the No. 7 line.
Additionally, Peralta’s proposal to ensure street safety — by ordering the city’s Department of Transportation to report on its current and future campaigns to educate the public regarding dangerous situations that can occur while using mobile devices — was approved by both houses.
His speed camera expansion is school zones legislation passed in the Assembly, but Republican leadership in the Senate declined to bring it to the floor for a vote.
“Unfortunately in this case, protecting our schoolchildren took a backseat to politics,” Peralta said. “I am disappointed we were not able to vote on my bill to increase the number of speed cameras in school zones, but this will be one of my top priorities for the upcoming legislative session.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio, who supported the expansion of the speed camera program, was disappointed as well. The mayor, who held a rally this month on the steps of City Hall supporting Peralta’s bill, promised to get tougher with “a lot more enforcement” by the NYPD.
“Look, I get that speed cameras, to some, are unpalatable, and are not politically easy, but they save lives,” de Blasio said. “We’re not going to give up, and certainly the families who have lost loved ones are not going to give up. It will simply cause us to redouble all of our other Vision Zero efforts.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparr
