From bathrooms in public parks to gym equipment for local schools, Community Board 8 has announced its budget priorities for Fiscal Year 2014.
Many of the requests are the same as in years past, such as funding for keeping senior centers, Riverdale Mental Health Association, after-school programs and libraries open, as well as seeking out annex facilities for local schools to help reduce class sizes.
The board also continues to request a budget increase.
The board’s first priority for capital requests would be spent on improvements to three schools. The board requested electrical upgrades to the IN-Tech Academy, MS/HS 368, air conditioning for every classroom at PS 24 and a long list of upgrades to PS 81, including funds for new or upgraded water fountains, radiator covers, air conditioners, bathrooms, auditorium lights, outside doors, main office floors, gutters and kitchen floors and ceiling. The list also includes many exterior renovations to PS 81, including funds for painting the school yard and playground, landscaping and repointing bricks around the building.
Because the city moved the EMS station formerly located at the 50th Precinct in Kingsbridge to Woodlawn in 2011, the board requested that the city establish a restocking/decontamination station in the confines of the district. The board also again requested bathrooms be constructed in Fort Four Park and near West 251st Street and Broadway in Van Cortlandt Park. CB 8 again requested that the city provide funds to completely renovate the Spuyten Duyvil Library and the Riverdale Library, as well as for a complete makeover of the Bailey Playground.
On behalf of Engine 52, CB 8 requested $500,000 to install a new kitchen for the firefighters. It also requested the rehabilitation of the step-street at West 228th Street.
The Traffic and Transportation Committee asked that walk/don’t walk street crossing signs be replaced with once equipped with a countdown clock throughout the Riverdale/Kingsbridge area.
Multiple requests made by the board’s Environment & Sanitation Committee, headed by Rosemarie Ginty since June, made the final list.
