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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Craig Lastres, Chief Operating Officer of Commonpoint Queens
2:14:13
ยท
85 sec
Craig Lastres, COO of Commonpoint Queens, expresses strong support for the Queen's Future/Metropolitan Park project, highlighting its potential to benefit the community through job creation and unique recreational opportunities. He emphasizes the project's ability to help transition people from crisis to stability and provide inclusive spaces for individuals with disabilities.
- The project could help 30,000 annual food pantry users by offering well-paying jobs and workforce opportunities.
- The proposed park includes a specialized area for children with disabilities, which is a rare and valuable feature.
- Lastres views the project as an investment in the future, benefiting current and future generations in Queens and New York City.
Craig Lastres
2:14:13
Good afternoon, everybody.
2:14:15
My name is Craig Lashtris, and I'm the Chief Operating Officer at CommonPoint and a resident of Queens, which really supports this project.
2:14:22
CommonPoint serves over 100,000 people of Queens to use our services each year.
2:14:27
We see this project as a real chance to help community.
2:14:30
30,000 of those people use our food pantries every year.
2:14:34
That's a chance to bring those people in the surrounding areas from crisis to stability by offering them well paying jobs, creating them workforce opportunities, which means getting them off those food pantry lines and giving them a real chance to flourish.
2:14:49
Second, we talk about a park, and no one's really mentioned this, but in that park, there's actually a park for those with disabilities.
2:14:55
How many parks have a park that specializes for those with disabilities?
2:15:00
Having a park for chance for children to play with disabilities is something that's not, you know, popular, it's rare, so I really think that's an amazing opportunity, not just for the people of Queens, but people of New York City to go use, and also helps our 500 participants that do have disabilities for a place to go to actually have fun in the summer months.
2:15:26
Lastly, we need to think about the future, not just for today, but our children and their children.
2:15:32
This really is a chance for everybody to have a good opportunity to flourish in the future.
2:15:38
Thank you.