Halloran Talks Discretionary Spending, Overcrowded Schools at Town Hall

Councilman Dan Halloran, R-Whitestone, said his northeast Queens district’s high schools need more space for students and roads require repaving during a town hall meeting Tuesday night in Flushing.

During the meeting, the councilman reserved his sharpest criticism for Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s handling of this year’s city budget, the Department of Finance and the Board of Standards and Appeals.

But Halloran said a number of northeast Queens groups were able to obtain funding this year, despite proposed citywide budget cuts.

“We’ve gotten more funding this year than in the past 10 years,” Halloran said of his district, which includes Douglaston, Little Neck, Bayside, Whitestone and College Point.”

Among the northeast Queens groups to be given discretionary spending in 2011 were historical societies, civics, Little Leagues, Friends of Fort Totten, Samuel Field Y, PS 98’s arts program and Alley Pond Environmental Center, which received more than $1 million.

Halloran said the key district issues during the summer were the cleanup efforts following Hurricane Irene’s visit to the city, a fight to prevent Bayside’s Engine 306 from facing the chopping block, repaving efforts on Douglaston’s section of Northern Boulevard and Bayside’s Bell Boulevard and the city’s over-assessment for co-ops and condominiums.

The councilman said he believed the proposal to shut down Engine 306, which was eventually saved, was an example of a flawed city budget process.

“Every year, the mayor frightens us into talks about drastic cuts to services,” he said. “And every year, we find that a piece of private contracting has gone drastically over budget. The mayor is going to try again to find a way to start closing firehouses. But the city can find $800 million to spend on CityTime software, which doesn’t work.”

Late last year, federal investigators arrested subcontractors involved in the CityTime project, alleging that they had defrauded the city.

Halloran also critiqued the city’s Department of Finance and Board of Standards and Appeals.

“The Department of Finance over-assessed our co-ops and condos by 200 percent,” he said. “Then, they told us there was a computer glitch and then we found out they used the wrong models – commercial establishments. City agencies are running amok.”

The councilman has proposed a bill that would allow the City Council to override decisions made by the BSA.

Leaders from the 111th Precinct and Community Board 11 as well as state Assemblyman Edward Braunstein, D-Bayside, spoke to residents during the town hall.

Representatives from a number of city agencies also attended, including the departments of Transportation, Parks and Recreation, Education, Sanitation, Human Resources Administration, Buildings and Environmental Protection.

DOB Commissioner Ira Gluckman announced a citywide program in which the agency visits schools in an attempt to interest children in architecture and engineering.

Danielle Dimango, DOE superintendent for District 25, said northeast Queens schools were scoring above average this year.

“Our schools are doing very well,” she said. “Learning standards have not been released statewide since the 1990s. Our teachers are aligning their curriculum based on those standards.”

Halloran said the schools in Districts 25 and 26 desperately need additional space for their students.

“There are no planned seat increases at our schools, despite a growth in population,” he said. “All or our schools are above 100 percent capacity.”

Henry Euler, first vice president of the Auburndale Improvement Association, was among the attendees to question the city agency representatives. He asked the DOB how it was collecting fines for buildings and developers for violations at building sites.

“We impose civil penalties, so if they want to get a stop-work order lifted or continue work on a job,” Gluckman said. “There is something in place where the city is going to try to put a lien on property owners who don’t pay those fines.”