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Upper West Side Schools, Dog Park and Senior Center Win City Funding

By Emily Frost | July 3, 2013 12:55pm
 The budget includes improvements to local parks and cultural institution funding, among other items. 
City Council Budget Funds West Side Culture, Schools, Parks
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UPPER WEST SIDE — Schools, parks and cultural centers on the Upper West Side won big in the city's new $70 billion budget, City Councilwoman Gale Brewer said.

Almost every school in the neighborhood got funding, much of it going toward capital improvements, including a facelift for the auditorium at P.S. 191, an upgrade of the science center at P.S. 199, a rooftop garden at P.S. 84 and a new lobby and fitness room at P.S. 541. 

"I always focus on two things: schools and parks," Brewer said. "Every single [school] building [in the district] needs help."

Brewer also secured $250,000 for Theodore Roosevelt Park's Bull Moose Dog Run, bringing the dog run members halfway toward their fundraising goal for upgrading the dog park, which would include special canine grass, new water features and noise mitigation for the sake of neighbors.

The budget also includes an allocation for improving Bennerson Playground at Amsterdam Houses, including its basketball courts.

Longtime senior center Club 76, which has been touted as offering the only kosher lunch program for seniors between Downtown and Washington Heights, and was in jeopardy of closing, had its full $412,000 budget restored.

A host of other West Side senior outreach programs also won funding, including the West Side Inter-Agency Council for the Aging, Goddard Riverside, One Stop Senior Services and Lincoln Housing Outreach.

The West Side's cultural powerhouse, Lincoln Center, also did well in this year's budget, with funding going toward almost all of the center's 12 partners, including Jazz at Lincoln Center and the David H. Koch Theater.