See The Money Coming To Astoria From NYC's 2022 Budget

ASTORIA, QUEENS — The record-high $99 billion budget passed by the City Council last week includes millions of dollars flowing to Bayside.

Billed as a "recovery budget" by Mayor Bill de Blasio and Council Speaker Corey Johnson, the spending package for the 2022 fiscal year — which starts Oct. 1 of this year — was bolstered by billions of dollars in federal stimulus funds.

In addition to major citywide items, like $4 million for CUNY scholarships, the budget also includes smaller neighborhood funding for Astoria. Those allocations usually come from neighborhoods' city council members, but since City Council Member Costa Constantinides resigned from Astoria's District 22 seat in April, and the seat has been vacant since, most of the funding came from the district, with some from Long Island City's City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer.

Patch reviewed the two public budget documents and picked out some notable neighborhood funds going to Astoria — here they are:

$144,000 to the Central Astoria Local Development Coalition, some of which has been allocated for its community services — like graffiti removal and tenants rights workshops — with other money going to the popular waterfront movie and concert series.

$81,000 to the Hellenic American Neighborhood Action Committee (HANAC) for the various social services programs they run in the neighborhood, from supportive housing to seniors to after-school programs for homeless youth.

$25,000 to the Ansob Center for Refugees, to provide counseling to immigrant and refugee communities in Astoria.

$38,000 to the Astoria Performing Arts Center for programs that introduce kids and seniors to the theater arts.

The budget also includes several allocations to neighborhood City University of New York initiatives:

• $11,165 to the CUNY One Boat program, which provide environmental education programming in Jamaica Bay.
• $7,000 to The Center for Urban Environmental Reform at CUNY Law for environmental education.
• $5,000 for running an arts program through the CUNY Creative Arts Team Interactive Educational Workshop.

The budget also included a handful of allocations to the East River Development Alliance's different programs:

• $10,000 to senior services at the NYCHA Astoria Houses.
• $11,000 to career access programs.
• $6,500 to college access programs and $17,000 to college readiness programs.

$33,000 to the Little Orchestra Society-Orpheon to bring music education to several public schools in the district.

$10,000 to the New York City Housing Authority Astoria Houses Tenants Association.

$11,500 to the Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens' after school programs, and $19,500 to the organization's out-of-school activities like homework help, PE, and arts.