Gentile Praises City Budget Deal

City Council Member Vinnie Gentile called the $68.5 billion FY 2013 worked out by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the City Council yesterday a "grand slam" for working families.

The deal, Gentile said, avoided tax increases and layoffs, spared firehouses and senior centers, restored $90 million in library funding, and left many after-school programs intact.

After-school programs in the 43rd District, including McKinley; I.S. 259, PS 102/The Bayview School; PS 186 / Dr. Irving A Gladstone School; PS 229/Dyker; and PS 200/The Benson School -- and all of the district's firehouses -- have been spared.