State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver made a rare appearance at Community Board 3’s monthly meeting last night. In the Speaker’s remarks, he said the city has refused his request to divert revenues from Basketball City (a private facility opening on Pier 36) to an East River Esplanade maintenance fund.
Silver said he hopes the Economic Development Corp. will reconsider. In the next year, a top priority will be seeing progress in the East River Park project, he added.
Silver also noted a decision by the Masaryk Towers board to repair the crumbling sidewalk on Columbia Street. He highlighted his office’s role in getting the city to repave several streets in Chinatown. The speaker said he is looking forward to working with Andrew Cuomo, the new governor on “shared priorities.” But he emphasized that difficult choices lay ahead, since there will be at least $9 billion less to work with in next year’s budget.
No matter his status in Albany, constituents on the Lower East Side never seem to let Silver forget his roots. In the video below, you’ll see he maintained a pretty good sense of humor as a resident groused about not being able to hear:
