Brewer Member Items
Brewer Member Items
Brewer Member Items
Unfortunately, as tax revenue as well as federal and state aid decline, and employee salary and
benefit obligations rise, the Council made difficult decisions cutting funds for social and other
programs. Overall, discretionary funding for community-based organizations declined 20% to
$165 million from $207 million in FY10.
Despite constraints, Council Member Brewer (Manhattan-6th District), who co-chairs the
Manhattan Delegation, allocated millions for capital projects on the upper West Side and
Clinton. Some include:
1. $1.75 million for the American Museum of Natural History to renovate and expand an
existing building to provide for on-site scientific educational programs, replace an
obsolete ticketing system, and renovate critical elevators (with an additional $2 million
in FY 12)
2. $700,000 for Women’s Project and Production to improve the existing building systems
3. $750,000 for the New York Public Library's Library for the Performing Arts for exterior
rehabilitation
5. $300,000 for the restoration of Hamilton Fountain Plaza entry stairs at Riverside Park
6. $350,000 for the Museum of Art and Design to upgrade the information technology
system so that Museum staff may function more efficiently and better serve constituents
10. $1,000,000 for renovation of facilities at the Jewish Guild for the Blind
11. $750,000 for the renovation of the Koch Theater at Lincoln Center
12. $445,000 to upgrade the stage lighting equipment at the Metropolitan Opera (in FY
2012)
13. $1,166,000 to purchase space for SAGE (Senior Action in Gay Environment)
Council Member Brewer secured more millions for capital projects in local New York
City public schools and CUNY. Some of these include:
1. Support to initiate and fund at $10,000 the New York Academy of Medicine which is
creating a model Aging Friendly District on the West Side! Funded other senior services,
such as Council Senior Center, JASA, J-PAC, New York Foundation for Senior Citizens,
DOROT, Project FIND, Lincoln Housing Outreach, Metropolitan Council on Jewish
Poverty, OATS, One Stop Senior Services, Project Open at Lincoln Towers, SPOP,
Selfhelp, SAGE, St. Martin’s Housing Corp for a NORC program, and the West Side
Inter-Agency Council for the Aging
2. Funded the St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital, Center for Comprehensive Care’s HIV-AIDS
Program and Peer-Mentor Program
4. Provided monies for local cultural organizations, such as: Citywide Youth Opera, the
Lincoln Center Theater, the New York Classical Theater, American Folk Arts Museum
at Lincoln Plaza, Arts in Action, Symphony Space, the Children’s Museum of
Manhattan, the Creative Arts Team at CUNY, the Folksbiene Yiddish Theatre, the Frog
& Peach Theatre Co., the American Composer Orchestra at Brandeis High School, the
New York Women in Film and Television, the Vital Theatre Company to work at PS
166, the Women’s Project and Productions, the Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring to
perform at Damrosch Park, the Big Apple Circus so as to provide tickets for youth in
NYCHA developments, Caribbean Cultural Center, Cool Culture, Jewish Children’s
Learning Lab, Kaufman Center, Kids Creative to work at PS 191, Lincoln Center
Institute to work at PS 191, NAACP ACT-SO, Shadow Box Theater, West Side Cultural
Center, Wingspan Arts to Work at PS 191, Young People’s Chorus to work at PS 75,
Vocal Ease to sing at senior centers, Cosmopolitan Symphony Orchestra, Risa Jaroslow
and Dancers to work at Project FIND, and the CASA grants to after-school programs for
cultural enrichment (much thanks to Council Member Domenic M. Recchia Jr.)
5. Allocated funds for community preservation programs to: Goddard Riverside’s SRO
Law Project and Urban Justice for free housing clinics for tenants (thanks to Council
Member Eric Dilan), and to the Law Project for general support; to the Committee for
Environmentally Sound Development, the Friends of Hudson River Park, to the
NonProfit HelpDesk for tech support to non-profits; to the Momentum Project, to the
West Side Campaign Against Hunger, the Stratford Arms Meals Program, the Bridge,
the NYU Mobile Dental Van, the Westside Crime Prevention Program, to the many
NYCHA Tenant Associations in Council District 6, to the West Side Community
Garden, to ParentJobNet, to the Lincoln Square BID to support youth working at the
summer information carts, to both Goddard Riverside Community Center and Lincoln
Square Neighborhood Center as well as the YWCA and the JCC of Manhattan for their
many programs.