NEWS
Budget Cuts to Park System as Economy Faulters
This year, the mayor’s executive budget pruned $8.8 million from the NYC Parks Department, which included lopping $3.7 million from Park Maintenance and Operations (M&O). A hiring freeze will further cripple an agency that is chronically understaffed. The Department of Parks’ Preliminary Budget for Fiscal 2009 allocates $214 million for M&O. That’s less than half of one percent of the city’s annual budget to care for the nation’s largest municipal park system. If it weren’t for FRIENDS, Dag Park would be in trouble!
The city’s fiscal budget runs from July 2008 to June 2009. The good news is that there’s a surplus carried from the prior year when Wall Street and real estate were booming. The bad news is that tax receipts from the financial industry and real estate are plummeting while the costs of the city’s pension plans and health benefits continue to climb. The mayor’s office sees a $2.6 billion deficit by fiscal 2009, rising to $3.6 billion the year after. The comptroller’s office projects an even bigger deficit.
In years with a surplus, the City Council can be counted on to negotiate with the mayor's office for a better deal for parks and education, but this year, there’s wasn’t much room to wiggle in what has become known as the budget dance. Although Mayor Bloomberg has pushed a long-term environmental imitative with PlaNYC, launched on Earth Day 2007, the city’s sprawling park system of 20,000 acres is sure to suffer from staff cuts and continued reductions to Maintenance and Operations.
Community-based nonprofits like Friends of Dag Hammarskjold will continue to play a crucial role in keeping neighborhood parks safe and clean. Please join us to make sure that Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, an internationally renowned public space and the crown jewel of Turtle Bay, remains a community asset instead of a dangerous neighborhood liability.
DAG HAMMARSKJOLD PLAZA
Gateway to the United Nations
East 47th Street @ 1st & 2nd Ave.
New York, New York
Friends of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza ~ 224 East 47th St, Suite 339 ~ New York , NY 10017 tel 212-826-8980
