Maisel Gets Funding for His District
Canarsie City Councilman Alan Maisel may be in his first term but he’s a veteran lawmaker with several terms in the assembly under his belt, and he knows one of the first rules of good governance is taking care of your district.
“I get about $5 million in capital money from the council and my thinking is I want it to go to schools and parks,” said Maisel. “With schools each school gets an ask. Maybe they need bathrooms or an auditorium renovated. I try to get them what they want in the $100,000-$150,000 range.”
Maisel, a retired assistant principal and former school teacher, said he agrees with the direction that Department Of Education Chancellor Carmen Farina is taking with public schools in giving more power to the superintendents to watch over the work principals do.
Under the Bloomberg administration there was too much unsupervised power given to principals with nobody to watch over what they did which led to several failed schools, said Maisel.
“When there’s a good principal things calm down. When the leadership is weak and school is out of control things deteriorate,” he said.
Maisel said he also wants to continue the work that his predecessor, former City Councilman Lew Fidler in funding local parks for upkeep and renovations.
Among the parks that Maisel has already provided with funding or plans on providing with money include the Bildersee Playground on East 81st Street, the Wilson Playground at East 100 Street and Avenue J, Dr. John Playground in Gerritsen Beach.
Other park money commitments are to Seaview Park on East 93rd Street and Seaview Avenue, and the Hickman Playground on Veterans Avenue and East and East 67th Street, he said.
