NEWS
Parks Hiring Freeze and Looming Budget Cuts Ahead
Even in good times, the Department of Parks & Recreation (DPR) is stretched beyond its capabilities, managing 29,000 acres of municipal parkland with less than half of one percent of the city’s budget. In FY 2009, which ended June 31, there was still a surplus from the previous year. Now looming deficits are projected until the year 2013, at which time Mayor Bloomberg expects the economy to revive.
More than 100 full time positions will be eliminated from the Parks Department in the coming year, mostly through attrition. This will intensify the shortage of trained park workers. Seasonal positions will be cut by 10 percent or 300 workers. Seasonal workers are mostly from the Welfare to Work program, which uses unskilled labor to clean the parks.
According to the Independent Budget Office, the Parks Department budget will be decreased 8 percent for FY 2009-2010, with most of the cuts from Maintenance and Operations (M&O), which accounts for two-thirds of Parks’ total budget. Reductions to M&O amount to $7.9 million in 2010, and $10.3 million in 2011, leaving a budget of $244.1 million in 2009, which drops to $222.5 in 2010 and $216 million in 2011.
The budget for tree pruning has been cut by $3.5 million although the Mayor’s environmental program, Pla NYC has planted more than 200,000 trees in the last two years. This could have been foretold. The city has a long history of building new parks and acquiring more park land while undercutting maintenance. While our city boasts the nation’s largest municipal park system, it ranks 27th in per capital spending to care for its parks.
Friends of DHP has assumed much of the routine maintenance of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, but it’s still troublesome when the City predicts budget deficits. Park infrastructure, already a maintenance issue, will suffer more as the City faces declining tax revenues. Plumbers, engineers, electricians are scarce and it usually takes an emergency to get help. Bandaid fixes instead of rountine maintenance is typical. Also, as social programs get cut, there’s more delinquency and vagrancy, which impacts on our parks.
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
