The Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association announced this week that the first participatory budgeting brainstorming session and Toys for Tots are two of the main items on the agenda for its next town hall on Nov. 15. Photo by Michael V. Cusenza
If you plan on attending the next Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association town hall, you’d better come prepared.
The first participatory budgeting brainstorming session and the Toys for Tots drive are slated for the Saturday, Nov. 15 meeting at the American Legion Hall on 91st Street. This is the community’s second year of involvement in the budgeting process; City Councilman Eric Ulrich has earmarked $1 million that will be allocated to projects for which residents will vote. Residents will come up with the options on the ballot, and the town hall will be Woodhaven’s first chance to propose ideas. To make the final ballot, ideas must be for tangible projects that cost at least $35,000.
Last year, residents in Woodhaven, Ozone Park, Richmond Hill and Rockaway voted to decide how to spend a little more than $2 million in city funding for their neighborhoods. Projects that were approved included school upgrades to JHS 210 in Ozone Park, PS 273 in Richmond Hill, PS 60 in Woodhaven, and PS 64 in Ozone Park; the installation of real-time bus clocks at four bus stops; paving along Woodhaven Boulevard; repaving paths in Forest Park; and upgrades at Richmond Hill Library.
The confab will also be a chance for Woodhaven residents to donate toys for the annual Toys for Tots run to St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children in Bayside. Each November since 1999, the East Coast Car Association has a “toy run” featuring more than 100 cars and motorcycles which begins at the Forest Park Bandshell and concludes at the hospital. All toys donated by residents will be given to children at the hospital. Donated toys should be new and unwrapped; no stuffed animals. If you wish to donate at a time other than the town hall, you can do so between now and Nov. 15 by dropping the toys off at the WRBA office at 84-20 Jamaica Ave. or, if it’s closed, at Spirare Cleaning & Tailoring next door.
By Michael V. Cusenza
