The Friends of the High Line - a pet project of gay activist, former City Council Speaker Gifford Miller - received more money than any other group from the phantom accounts squirreled away by the council last year, records released yesterday showed. The nonprofit, which is transforming a 1.5-mile abandoned railroad track into a $170 million elevated park along the far West Side, got a $290,000 grant in fiscal 2007. Council Speaker Christine Quinn said the High Line was originally allocated the funds during the budget process, but was mistakenly left high and dry when the final list of grants was issued. "This was just a clerical error," she said. "We went back to fix it." A High Line spokesman confirmed that the organization had requested the funds.
Quinn said a similar correction was also made this year for Mentoring USA, which is affiliated with Matilda Cuomo, the former governor's wife. It received $130,000. Records provided by the council showed 87 groups collected $3.6 million after the budget was adopted in fiscal year 2007. Only 13, however, walked off with six-figure sums, including the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce ($275,000); the Staten Island Zoo ($200,000); the American Folk Art Museum ($175,000), and the AIDS Center of Queens County ($125,000). Most groups got much less. New Yorkers for Parks got off with $10,000. The Boro Park Shomrim nabbed $5,000. david.seifman@nypost.com http://www.nypost.com/seven/04042008/news/regionalnews/high_line_bottom_line_got_big_boost_104907.htm
EXCERPT April 5, 2008 -- Friends and co-workers of two former City Council staffers accused of disobeying orders to scrap a phantom budget system fumed yesterday that they're being scapegoated. The two, Michael Keogh and Staci Emanuel, left after Council Speaker Christine Quinn said they ignored instructions to stop reserving millions of taxpayer dollars under the names of fictional organizations so the funds could be dispersed later to genuine nonprofit groups.
On Thursday, Quinn told reporters she issued orders in the spring of 2007 "to stop using holding codes in the budget," and was distressed to learn a few months later that her orders hadn't been followed. "All I can say is that my instruction was to terminate this practice for the fiscal year we are now in," Quinn said. "That's all I can say, that I was very clear on numerous occasions that this practice should be terminated."
Keogh ended up working at the lobbying firm of Bolton-St. Johns, where a Quinn pal, Democratic activist Emily Giske, is a principal. Emanuel is still without a fulltime job. A spokesman for Quinn said yesterday she wouldn't comment on personnel matters.
Insiders said a reserve fund for the council was first established decades ago as a means for correcting small errors in the annual list of some 2,500 "member items" the council disperses each year to community groups and nonprofit organizations. "We did it to deal with the reality of the budget process," said one former city official. In 2001, the secret set-aside was $100,000. By last year it had ballooned to $4.5 million, bringing the total to more than $17 million over the years. http://www.nypost.com/seven/04052008/news/regionalnews/scapegoats_twisting_in_the_quinn_105049.htm
Thanks for the other stories.