Parks Department Forgets to Claim Two Year Old Funds

Queens, NY – This week, State Senator Tony Avella received a response to a letter he sent the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) in October claiming that in order to move forward with repairs of MacNeil Park they would need funding to become available. Interestingly enough, two years ago Senator Avella allocated $575,000 to DPR specifically for this purpose that they have basically ignored.

On July 27, 2015, Senator Avella informed DPR Commissioner Mitchell Silver that the Senator was able to obtain a $575,000 in the New York State Budget that was to be used specifically for installing concrete sidewalk and enhancing and formalizing the park entrance at MacNeil Park.

However, it took DPR over two years to fully complete a simple “State and Municipal Facilities Program Preliminary Application” that, when completed properly, would allow the funds to be released directly to the agency to use for the intended purpose. Their failure to complete this very standard and simple form has resulted in over a half a million dollars sitting dormant when it could have been used to beautify the College Point park.

“The fact that the Parks Department would allow over $500,000 to sit unused for two and a half years is yet another example of their incredible inefficiency when it comes to construction. Sadly, this is not the first time that they have done this. There are multiple projects in my district that I have gotten funding for but Parks does not complete because of their inability to fill out a simple form. To tell me that you cannot repair the sidewalks because you need funding but the funding is sitting there waiting for you to claim it is shameful and embarrassing,” said Senator Avella.