Page 7 - qt edition #39 SEPTEMBER 28, 2023

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2023 THE QUEENS TIMES PAGE 7

Bishop Robert Brennan Meets With Queens

College Students

The Catholic Newman Center
at Queens College hosted His Ex-
cellency Bishop Robert Brennan
of the Diocese of Brooklyn (pic-
tured in the attached) on Monday,
September 18, at the invitation
of Father José Diaz, the center’s To read GIA online in English and Italian
new chaplain. Brennan met with Visit www.giamondo.com
student representatives from the
Newman Center and celebrated
mass alongside Diaz and full-time Servicing The Tri-State Area and Long Island, Florida and Italy
campus minister Omar Cortez.
Installed as the eighth bishop
of the diocese in 2021, Brennan
serves the populations of Brook-
lyn and Queens. A Bronx native,
he attended St. John’s University,
where he earned a bachelor of
science degree. He studied for the Center was part of the Student of the union, as envisioned by the
priesthood at the Seminary of the Union when the facility opened student leaders who established
Immaculate Conception in Hun- 50 years ago. Several other faith- it. Photo by Andy Poon, Queens
tington, New York. The Newman based organizations are also part College.

Council Members Won & Brewer Hold Joint Oversight
Hearing on City Contracting For Asylum Seekers

Council Member Julie Won,
Chair of the Committee on Con-
tracts, and Council Member Gale
Brewer, Chair of the Committee
on Oversight and Investigations,
held a joint oversight hearing at
City Hall called “Revisiting City
Contracts Serving Asylum Seekers
in New York City.” At the hearing,
the Chairs, Council Members,
and the general public questioned
representatives from several city
agencies — the Department of
Social Services (DSS), the Depart-
ment of Housing Preservation and
Development (HPD), New York
City Emergency Management
Department (NYCEM), New York
City Health + Hospitals (H+H),
and the Mayor’s Office of Contract of for-profit and nonprofit private the network of non-profit service
Services (MOCS) — to bring trans- vendors and their sub-vendors. providers, agencies, and for-profit
parency to the City’s emergency These vendors are mainly being companies receiving public dollars
contracting process used for mi- contracted through emergency and how those dollars are being
grants and asylum seekers. procurement, which absolves the spent. Findings include:
With Mayor Adams forecast- administration from having to • Of the 196 contracts that OID
ing an anticipated $12 billion cost abide by traditional procurement examined that were related to
burden to the city due to the asylum rules, and thus necessitates greater asylum seeker spending, only 3
seeker crisis, the Council is focused scrutiny to ensure that public dol- were procured through competi-
on understanding how the admin- lars are not wasted. tive bidding.
istration is spending those funds. The Council’s Oversight and • The 125 of the City’s emergen-
While the administrative respon- Investigations Division (OID) re- cy-procured contracts represent
sibilities for managing this crisis viewed and analyzed contracts and nearly $2 billion of contract value.
fall on several city agencies, the publicly available spending data • Many of the vendors contracted
direct services for asylum seekers related to the asylum-seeker crisis
are provided by a complex network to better understand and map out (Continued on page 9)

NYC Girl Scouts Celebrate State Parks at Gantry
Plaza State Park in Queens

The Girl Scouts Love State Parks
initiative brought hundreds of
Girl Scouts to state parks across
the five boroughs in September
for outdoor learning and volun-
teering

Sunday’s rainy event at Gantry
Plaza State Park wrapped up the
month-long festivities with activi-
ties including birding, weeding
invasive plants, and more

On Sunday, September 24,
2023, Girl Scouts of Greater New
York and New York State Parks
hosted an outdoor learning event
at Gantry Plaza State Park in
Long Island City, Queens as part
of the annual Girl Scouts Love
State Parks initiative. Despite the tivities, sporting rain gear and gets girls out and about learning
inclement weather, Girl Scouts splashing in puddles all day long. about state parks in their bor-
came out to Sunday’s event and “Girl Scouts Love State Parks
participated in the day’s ac- is such an incredible event that (Continued on page 9)