NEW YORK—With nearly every city agency facing budget cuts, the Parks and Recreation Department is no exception.
The proposed 8-percent reduction in the Parks Department’s 2012 fiscal-year budget would save the city $28 million. The biggest cut will affect the workers, as the agency is expected to lose the equivalent of 402 full-time positions.
City and local officials gathered with District Council 37 members, representatives from the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), other city park workers’ local union representatives, and community parks advocates on City Hall steps Thursday to denounce the proposed cuts.
In addition to eliminating jobs, the proposed cuts would close four outdoor pools and reduce the pool season across all city pools by two weeks to save $1.4 million.
“We have a proposed reduction of 15 percent of all seasonal workers. … They want to reduce full-time workers [from] 12 months to six months. That will have a devastating effect on the parks, [including] the maintenance, security, and infrastructure of the parks,” said Henry Garrido, DC 37 associate director.
No other city agency’s budget has been as drastically cut as the Parks Department’s funding over the last 40 years, pointed out Geoffrey Croft, president and founder of NYC Park Advocates. The city depends on parks for revenue, he added.
“This year the city will generate $142 million from our parks, but they are only allocating $222 million,” said Croft.
The proposed cuts are being made at a time when the city has a $3 billion surplus, said Garrido, who expressed concern over the proliferation of hiring high executive managers in the parks department.
“Since 2008, despite the fact that we have lost over 200 ground keepers, the Parks Department has added over a hundred executive positions worth $15 million, and they are trying to cut $17 million out of this budget. We think that is disgraceful,” Garrido said.
The city is not broke, stated Councilwoman Letitia James at the press event. “We are sitting on a $3 billion surplus. We have $2 billion dollars that we are going to transfer over,” she said, calling upon the mayor to show his compassion.
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer reflected on the importance of parks and pools, recalling his own years growing up in New York City. “My father was a janitor. My mother worked in a supermarket. We didn’t have a lot of money. Going to the pool and going to the Astoria Park was our vacation in the summer. That was the only place we could afford to go,” he said.
City parks have not only been hit by a fiscal crisis but also by terrible weather conditions over the last year.
“I recently met with major city, county, and state park directors, who shared stories of parks and facilities being shut down due to the fiscal crisis and dramatically reduced budgets. In New York City, we added tornadoes, a macro-burst, and a blizzard into the mix!” said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe at a hearing before the City Council’s Committee on Parks and Recreation on Thursday.
The Parks Department has instituted the Parks Inspection Program, which regularly surveys New Yorkers and allows the agency to operate more efficiently. Thanks to the program, the department still managed to improve its approval ratings among New Yorkers despite losing staff and dealing with the effects of last year’s terrible weather, Benepe noted.
“It would be naïve to think that losing headcount had no effect on our service, but we are fundamentally changing the way we manage parks—and 2010 [review] indicates that it is working. Parks is embracing new technology,” Benepe said. “We have improved our management structure.”
The proposed 8-percent reduction in the Parks Department’s 2012 fiscal-year budget would save the city $28 million. The biggest cut will affect the workers, as the agency is expected to lose the equivalent of 402 full-time positions.
City and local officials gathered with District Council 37 members, representatives from the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), other city park workers’ local union representatives, and community parks advocates on City Hall steps Thursday to denounce the proposed cuts.
In addition to eliminating jobs, the proposed cuts would close four outdoor pools and reduce the pool season across all city pools by two weeks to save $1.4 million.
“We have a proposed reduction of 15 percent of all seasonal workers. … They want to reduce full-time workers [from] 12 months to six months. That will have a devastating effect on the parks, [including] the maintenance, security, and infrastructure of the parks,” said Henry Garrido, DC 37 associate director.
No other city agency’s budget has been as drastically cut as the Parks Department’s funding over the last 40 years, pointed out Geoffrey Croft, president and founder of NYC Park Advocates. The city depends on parks for revenue, he added.
“This year the city will generate $142 million from our parks, but they are only allocating $222 million,” said Croft.
The proposed cuts are being made at a time when the city has a $3 billion surplus, said Garrido, who expressed concern over the proliferation of hiring high executive managers in the parks department.
“Since 2008, despite the fact that we have lost over 200 ground keepers, the Parks Department has added over a hundred executive positions worth $15 million, and they are trying to cut $17 million out of this budget. We think that is disgraceful,” Garrido said.
The city is not broke, stated Councilwoman Letitia James at the press event. “We are sitting on a $3 billion surplus. We have $2 billion dollars that we are going to transfer over,” she said, calling upon the mayor to show his compassion.
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer reflected on the importance of parks and pools, recalling his own years growing up in New York City. “My father was a janitor. My mother worked in a supermarket. We didn’t have a lot of money. Going to the pool and going to the Astoria Park was our vacation in the summer. That was the only place we could afford to go,” he said.
Parks Department Stays Positive
City parks have not only been hit by a fiscal crisis but also by terrible weather conditions over the last year.
“I recently met with major city, county, and state park directors, who shared stories of parks and facilities being shut down due to the fiscal crisis and dramatically reduced budgets. In New York City, we added tornadoes, a macro-burst, and a blizzard into the mix!” said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe at a hearing before the City Council’s Committee on Parks and Recreation on Thursday.
The Parks Department has instituted the Parks Inspection Program, which regularly surveys New Yorkers and allows the agency to operate more efficiently. Thanks to the program, the department still managed to improve its approval ratings among New Yorkers despite losing staff and dealing with the effects of last year’s terrible weather, Benepe noted.
“It would be naïve to think that losing headcount had no effect on our service, but we are fundamentally changing the way we manage parks—and 2010 [review] indicates that it is working. Parks is embracing new technology,” Benepe said. “We have improved our management structure.”
