Harlem Got Millions In NYC's 2022 Budget: Here's Where

Harlem NY

12 July, 2021

2:00 PM

Description

HARLEM, NY — The record-high $99 billion budget passed by the City Council in late June includes millions of dollars flowing to Harlem. Billed as a "recovery budget" by Mayor Bill de Blasio and Council Speaker Corey Johnson, the spending package for the 2022 fiscal year — which starts Oct. 1 of this year — was bolstered by billions of dollars in federal stimulus funds. Besides major citywide items like a $15 million "baby bonds program" and $4 million for CUNY scholarships, the budget also includes smaller neighborhood funding allocated by Harlem's three Council members: Diana Ayala, Bill Perkins and Mark Levine. Patch reviewed the 2022 capital budget document and picked out some notable neighborhood funds in each part of Harlem: Central Harlem (Perkins) Parks: William McCray Playground: $300,000A. Philip Randolph Square (116th Street): $200,000Pelham Fritz Recreation Center: $500,,000 Housing and healthcare: Lincoln Senior Center: $150,000Angelou Court Association: $100,000Henry J. Carter Specialty Hospital: $150,000Sydenham Clinic: $250,000 Schools: P.S. 129 (cooling system): $115,000Touro College: $100,000 Other organizations: Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement: $100,000Harry Belafonte Library: $320,000Countee Cullen Library: $250,000Jazzmobile: $65,000National Black Theatre Workshop: $3,000,000Harlem Stage: $300,000Apollo Theater Foundation: $3,000,000 West Harlem (Levine) Parks: Security cameras in Morningside Park: $500,000Alexander Hamilton Playground retaining wall: $440,000 Housing and healthcare: Ali Forney Center (for the nonprofit to buy a Hamilton Heights townhouse and convert it to a home for transgender teenagers): $2,650,000 Other organizations: NYPL Hamilton Grange Branch library: $201,000Harlem Stage: $200,000 Schools: P.S. 36 Margaret Douglass tech upgrades: $150,000Urban Assembly School for the Performing Arts tile replacement: $75,000P.S. 125 Manhattan tech upgrades: $150,000P.S. 153 tech upgrades: $75,000Hamilton Heights School bathroom upgrades: $100,000P.S. 161 Pedro Albizu Campos tech upgrades: $100,000Hamilton Grange Middle School cooling system, tech upgrades: $175,000New Design Middle School: $75,000P.S. 210 tech upgrades: $100,000Mott Hall School: $75,000Teachers College Community School tech upgrades: $100,000 East Harlem (Ayala) Parks: Randall's Island Park sunken garden connector: $225,000Thomas Jefferson Recreational Center: $300,000P.S. 155 unspecified park upgrades: $800,000 Housing & healthcare: Franklin Plaza: $1,500,000NYC Health & Hospitals/Metropolitan: $1,918,000 Other organizations: Museum of the City of New York: $203,000Union Settlement: $700,000NYPL 110th Street Branch library: $201,000Heckscher Building: $1,000,000 Schools: Central Park East High School: $50,000NYC Autism Charter School: $200,000P.S. 72: $300,000P.S. 83: $172,000P.S. 96: $550,000Mosaic Preparatory Academy: $100,000Heritage School: $50,000P.S. 112: $278,000Talented And Gifted school: $150,000P.S. 38: $75,000P.S. 146 Anna M. Short: $220,000P.S. 171 Patrick Henry: $100,000Young Women's Leadership School: $75,000 The separate expense budget also includes many smaller allocations to neighborhood groups like The Brotherhood Sister Sol, Street Corner Resources and Figure Skating in Harlem. Only Levine actually voted for the budget, while Perkins and Ayala were both not present. The budget has faced criticism from some progressives for its $200 million allocation to the NYPD. To search through the full list of projects sponsored by Harlem's council members, search Levine's, Perkins's or Ayala's names in the expense budget or capital budget documents.