UWS Got Millions In NYC's 2025 Budget: Here's Where It's Going

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — The record-high budget passed by the City Council last week includes millions of dollars flowing to the Upper West Side's schools, libraries and parks, among other projects.

Last week, after tense negotiations that came down to the last minute, Mayor Eric Adams and Council Speaker Adrienne Adams shook hands upon successfully finalizing the budget agreement for the new fiscal year.

The total approved funding for the city was set at $112.4 billion, an increase from $107 billion allocated last fiscal year. This budget restored funding to city libraries and reversed some previous cuts to the Parks Department.

“It was a difficult process because the Mayor had cut essential programs that the Council had to restore,” Council Member Gale Brewer said. “And there is less federal money compared to years past. I’m grateful for Speaker Adrienne Adams, Finance Committee Chair Justin Brannan and the Council’s Finance team who worked night and day to complete the process.”

Upper West Side highlights include over $26 million allocated to cultural institutions and libraries such as AMNH, MOMA, and Jazz at Lincoln Center, among others, as well as over $7 million designated for parks.

Patch reviewed the 2025 capital budget document and picked out some notable neighborhood funds throughout the Upper West Side:

Parks:

• $4.67 million for Matthew P. Sapolin Playground
• $1.5 million to Riverside Park for W. 68 Street ADA ramp reconstruction
• $770,000 to Central Park Delacorte Theater for public bathroom renovation
• $375,000 to Riverside Park for water filling stations (Participatory Budgeting)
• $200,000 for Verdi Square Park safety lighting (Participatory Budgeting)
• $150,000 for trees and tree guards (Participatory Budgeting)

Housing and healthcare:

• Funding for 11 NYCHA tenant associations
• $50,000: Stryker’s Bay Apartments for courtyard repair work
• $75,000: Mt. Sinai West Hospitak /St. Lukes Roosevelt Hospital Center Inc.

Schools:

• $100,000: Riverside School for Makers and Artists
• $175,000: Jessie Isador Straus School
• $100,000: The Center School
• $100,000: Emily Dickinson School
• $100,000: High School for Environmental Studies
• $150,000: The Anderson School
• $100,000: PS 452
• $100,000: Joan of Arc Educational Complex
• $150,000: Lillian Weber School
• $75,000: Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art
• $75,000: Manhattan Hunter Science High School
• $100,000: Brandeis School Campus Complex
• $75,000: Urban Assembly School for Green Careers
• William Sherman (selected during Participatory Budgeting)
• $50,000: West End Secondary School
• $1,415,000: John Jay College of Criminal Justice

As part of this funding, city officials agreed to tackle operational challenges in early education by establishing a bi-weekly working group comprising the Council, Mayor’s Office, DOE, and OMB. The group's focus will be on filling vacant seats and addressing other ongoing issues.

Cultural Institutions and Libraries:

• $7.57 million to the American Museum of Natural History
• $7 million to the Metropolitan Museum of Art
• $4.57 million to the Children’s Museum of Manhattan
• $4.075 million to the Art Students League of New York
• $1.075 million to the Elaine Kaufman Cultural Center
• $1.2 million to the Metropolitan Opera (Mayor)
• $500,000 to Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center
• $1.575 million to Symphony Space
• $150,000 to the Aperture Foundation
• $75,000 to Jazz at Lincoln Center
• $75,000 to the New York City Center
• $75,000 to the New-York Historical Society

Youth:

• $100,000: Continuation of the Goddard Riverside Outreach Program at NYCHA’s Amsterdam Houses/Amsterdam Addition, which connects youth with education and employment opportunities

In her weekly newsletter, Brewer said she was particularly proud to have helped to restore funding for:

• Cultural organizations. $60.6 million in funding for cultural institutions was fully restored. This includes the $7.6 million restoration from the Preliminary PEG in the Executive Budget and an additional $53 million allocated at adoption, with $13 million baselined (locked in for future budgets).
• Libraries. $58.3 million to fully restore library services, with a $42.6 million baseline—so libraries are no longer subjected to this budget dance.
• Composting. $6.2 million for community organizations that compost 8.3 million pounds of food waste annually (turning it into over 1.7 million pounds of compost), and continuing to offer composting at Greenmarkets—and educating the public about the curbside organics collection program about to expand citywide (including the UWS this fall).
• Mental Health. $2 million to protect the City’s smaller mental health “Clubhouses” (including one operated by Goddard) that were slated for closure in favor of larger facilities.

The City Council and the mayor’s office agreed on the budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which began on July 1, in a 46-3 vote.