Special City Council Budget Session Held

By Stephen E. Lipken

New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson opened a Special Budget Session meeting, prior to the City Council Regular Legislative Meeting (RLM) on Tuesday, November 15th, beginning with Vincent Parise, Commissioner of Parks and Recreation.

“Since the pandemic broke out, our Park usage is at an all-time high,” Parise observed.  “Our Recreation Bureau deals with thousands of youngsters and hundreds of families, whether it’s camps, clinics, youth programs or Flowers City Park, a premier athletic facility, visited by nearly 100,000 people, bringing in nearly $400,000 in revenue alone.

“We have one of the most robust softball programs in Westchester County. Our staff does an amazing job with only two Recreation Supervisors and one Recreation Leader position. There are eight newly renovated tennis courts.  We added Pickleball Courts and for the first time since 2019 because of the pandemic, we brought back our Summer Day Camp Sessions.” 

“Camp Joy Program for the Developmentally Disabled continues all year.  Programs and Initiatives, partnering with L.L. Bean, we get a cut of the revenue from their use of Five Islands Park; from Captain Sal and his Marina crew we get an additional $1.8 million in funds. 

“What’s Next? 2023 Plans and Goals

• Huguenot Park Causeway Plan

• Ward Acres Park and Paws Place Dog Park

• Hudson Park Snack Bar next summer

• Lincoln Park Pool and Comfort Station

• Master Plans…Glenwood Lake, Stephenson Park, Maplewood, Ruby Dee Park and new action at Neptune Park

• 1923 Building at Flowers City Park

• Splashpad at Flowers City Park

• Pinebrook Tennis Center”

And a $250,000 grant was received from Senator Charles Schumer for the Downtown New Roc Community Center.

Commissioner of Development Adam Salgado said that his department consists of 9 budget organizations.  Housing Choice Section 8 is the largest budget area, followed by Parking, Development, Railroad and ITC. Salgado pointed out that the CDBG funds are annually rolled over.  Homeless Prevention consists of a $110,000 Homeless Resource Center, funding HOPE.  Of 6100 approved Housing Units, 998 are Affordable.