Late last night at City Hall, Mayor de Blasio and members of the City Council celebrated an on-time agreement on New York’s $75 billion budget. There’s our local Council member, Margaret Chin, just above and to the left of Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito.
Today, Chin’s office is highlighting several bright spots in the budget, including:
- $17 million to keep community and senior centers in New York City Housing Authority facilities open. The center at Seward Park Extension was threatened, as well as facilities at the Baruch Houses and Meltzer Towers.
- $2.6 million for the Department of Aging’s Senior Case Management Program. Chin chairs the Council’s committee on aging.
Earlier this month, Chin and many other Council members rallied at City Hall to save the public housing centers. In past years, she has been critical of the annual political ritual in which communities are made to fight for critical services. In a brief phone interview this afternoon, Chin said the first de Blasio budget represented a major improvement over the Bloomberg administration. “This year was much better,” she said. “We didn’t have to start off with as many cuts.”
Chin added that she was particularly gratified to hear the Seward Park Extension center is staying open because it’s one of the busiest in the city.
