Chimney Sweep

Advocates, Metropolis Council Members Push NYC Mayor to Make investments Extra in Parks

As Mayor Eric Adams continues to propose sweeping cuts in city agencies, council members and supporters are calling on him to restore and increase funding for the Department of Parks and Recreation.

Mayor Adams’ proposed $102.7 billion interim budget provided $520 million for the Parks Department, a decrease of $42 million from the budget approved last June and nearly $58 million Dollars less than when the budget was last changed in November.

“As our response to the council budget made clear, the parks cuts proposed by the mayor in his interim budget are absolutely unacceptable,” Councilor Shekar Krishnan, a Queens Democrat and chair of the Parks and Recreation Committee, said in a phone interview.

Since taking office, Adams has strived to reduce the city’s wasteful spending and make government agencies more efficient. His government has also been forced to make difficult financial decisions as it faces several significant fiscal challenges, including a projected cost of nearly $4.3 billion in current and next fiscal years due to the migrant asylum-seeker crisis, the cost of municipal employment contracts (estimated to be $16). ($1 billion through fiscal 2027) and more than $1 billion annually in cuts and cost shifts in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed state budget.

Since November, the mayor has launched two Programs to Eliminate the Gap (PEG), mandating most agencies 3% cuts each time and implementing a major vacancy reduction initiative. Earlier this week, shortly after the city council issued its official response to the interim budget, the mayor announced another round of cuts ahead of the release of his executive budget, urging agencies to cut spending by another 4% (CUNY and the Department of ). A reduction of 3% is made for education.

Council members and park advocates are urging the administration to mitigate the impact of this PEG, which could potentially reduce the park’s budget by an additional $20 million, to reinstate all proposed cuts while increasing the department’s budget by tens of millions.

“We know that our parks are vital to our public health and well-being and that they are overseen every day by our city’s parks workers who are truly the beating heart of our parks system,” said Councilor Krishnan. “The cuts in the parks proposed by the mayor will directly impact workers and jobs, and will directly impact the services in our parks. We really should invest a lot more in our green spaces than we do, let alone give up.”

In its response to the preliminary budget, the city council — which identified $2.7 billion in additional revenue over the administration’s projections — asked the mayor to provide $46 million in new core funding for 1,000 additional entry-level park workers and $2.5 million to restore and baseline for natural forest conservation and $4.1 million for 50 Urban Park Rangers. “Since the beginning of this year’s budget process, the Council has prioritized the people of New York City and what they need to be successful,” Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said in a statement accompanying the budget response. “This requires investment in housing, libraries and parks, schools, early childhood education, mental health care and many other basic needs.”

Noting an increase in crimes against people in parks from 179 to 231 in the first quarter of this year, the council also called for additional spending funding to hire 300 more Parks Enforcement Patrol officers, doubling their number, and capital funding for the installation of Security measures cameras in parks.

Mayor’s spokesman Jonah Allon defended the mayor’s budget proposal, citing “significant fiscal and economic headwinds” the city is facing. “In Mayor Adams’ preliminary budget, the administration has made critical investments in public safety, affordable housing, clean streets and so many other areas that New Yorkers care deeply about – while maintaining the mayor’s strong track record of financial responsibility and continued investing in the future of our city,” Allon said, in part, in a statement. He also noted that the Council’s response did not take into account the full cost of the asylum seeker crisis. “The City Council’s failure to account for the associated $4.2 billion cost to asylum seekers, or possible government cuts, is unrealistic and does not adequately address the city’s current and upcoming financial challenges.” We value the council’s partnership and look forward to working with them over the coming months to negotiate a budget that will benefit New Yorkers,” he said.

However, Krishnan said the mayor’s proposed cuts to Parks are “inexplicable” when compared to his campaign commitment to a five-point Park equity plan — published by New Yorkers for Parks, an advocacy group — that would allow for the provision of 1 % of the city budget, approximately $1 billion, to the Parks Department. “New York City lags behind every single major city in America in park investment. Washington, DC, Chicago, LA, San Francisco, Minneapolis,” Krishnan said. “We spend $72 per capita on green space in New York City, which is one of the lowest in the country for any major city.”

“The mayor campaigned successfully and garnered many votes in support of our city’s park system, which has been underfunded for generations,” Adam Ganser, executive director of New Yorkers for Parks, said in a phone interview. “The government continues to reaffirm that commitment … but its actions appear to fall short of that political commitment.”

Ganser pointed to the peak of the pandemic when the city cut the park budget by about $84 million. The cuts disrupted maintenance and cleanup efforts, and resulted in littered parks and overflowing garbage as people flocked to the outdoor areas. “What we’re talking about now between the PEG cuts and the interim budget is a Parks Department cut, not far off the cut during the COVID-19 cut. So that’s really short-sighted thinking,” he said.

New Yorkers for Parks recently released a report highlighting the impact of allocating 1% of the city’s budget to parks, including cleaner and safer parks, faster repairs to avoid prolonged closures, better air quality and protection from the heat, and better conditions for park workers . among other benefits.

The mayor fulfilled one of the key commitments in the park justice plan in February this year when he appointed Ya-Ting Liu as the city’s first-ever chief public realm officer, tasked with coordinating quality of life improvements in the city’s public spaces. Among the major initiatives she is leading is a major redesign of Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, from Bryant Park to Central Park.

“We have 30,000 acres of parkland, 14% of the city is parks, and we need to plan and maintain that space in a way that serves all New Yorkers equally,” Ganser said. “I think it’s a little counterintuitive for the government to invest in this position [of a public realm officer]and then go ahead and cut funding for the very assets that really matter in this position.”

If the park cuts are eventually factored into the city-approved budget, both Krishnan and Ganser said it will be the low-income communities of color that will bear the brunt. “For a mayor who is talking about creating a fairer city, this decision is totally unfair for New Yorkers,” Ganser said.

“The reality is that if you cut jobs, if you cut maintenance funding instead of increasing it, the impact won’t be felt in the same way,” Krishnan said. “This will be felt by communities that have so often suffered from underinvestment and a lack of green space.”

This post was previously published on gothamgazette.com under a Creative Commons license.

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Photo credit: iStockPhoto.com

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