NEW YORK CITY-While reducing city-funded spending year-to-year by .2% and also out-year gaps, the mayor proposes record-high spending for cultural institutions and libraries. Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani unveiled his Financial Plan for Fiscal Years 2001-2005 yesterday (Jan. 25), calling for a total of almost $55 billion to be spent on initiatives such as new school construction, the Brooklyn Academy of Music's plans and new housing. Pointing to the city's position as “the safest large city in America” and a national leader in job growth coupled with the new plans, the mayor noted it is poised to sustain its “renaissance” for “future generations.”

Giuliani has allotted $240 million for Lincoln Center, $67.8 million for the new Downtown Guggenheim (including land), $65 million for the Museum of Modern Art, $25 million for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and $22 million for the Museum of Jewish History. For the Mid-Manhattan Central Circulation Branch of the New York City Public Library, on the southeast corner of 40th Street and Fifth Avenue, $19.2 million has been proposed. Under his plan the New York Botanical Garden would get $23.8 million.

He has also budgeted $19 million for Jazz at Lincoln Center, $18.7 million for the Library for the Performing Arts, $18.5 million for the Third Stage Theater at Carnegie Hall, $17.4 million for the Center for Humanities at the 42nd Street Research Library, $10 million for the Center for Jewish History and $13 for the New York Aquarium. The Brooklyn Academy of Music Cultural District is allotted $10 million, $50 million less than was mentioned in the mayor's State of the City Address.