TESTIMONY
Joe Puleo, President of Local 983, on Budget Cuts and Staffing Shortages Impacting New York City Parks
5:21:00
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137 sec
Joe Puleo, President of Local 983 which represents various parks workers, testifies about the dire impacts of budget cuts and staffing shortages on New York City parks. He warns that approximately 600 parks jobs are in jeopardy due to budget cuts. Puleo explains:
- The city needs to restore $55 million in funding cuts to parks
- Parks enforcement staffing levels are down, leading to difficulties in recruitment and retention
- Parks will struggle to maintain pools, beaches, and recreation centers for the upcoming summer season
- Public safety concerns are rising in parks, disproportionately impacting communities of color
- Past promises of dedicating 1% of the budget to parks have not been fulfilled
- Instead of increasing parks funding, the city has taken away resources through staffing cuts
Joe Puleo
5:21:00
K.
5:21:00
Good afternoon.
5:21:01
My name is Joe Pooley.
5:21:02
I am president of local 983.
5:21:04
I represent the Urban Park Rangers, the Parks Enforcement control officers, the city, seasonal aids, and the associate park service workers.
5:21:14
Okay.
5:21:14
That's it.
5:21:14
Twice.
5:21:17
We have a budget crisis.
5:21:20
Okay?
5:21:20
We have approximately 600 people that are in job jeopardy.
5:21:25
We need the restoration of the $55,000,000 as we're all aware of.
5:21:30
We are also down numbers with our parks enforcement even though they're not a affected by this directly, but they are hard to recruit title.
5:21:41
As soon as we get them, they leave.
5:21:43
Why do they leave?
5:21:45
Because of their background.
5:21:46
They're all 24 hour peace officers.
5:21:48
They go through background checks.
5:21:50
They are employment ready for all other city agencies, and Ralph later will go into further detail on that.
5:21:58
Our parks are going to be in bad shape.
5:22:02
The summer's approaching, the pools, the beaches, the recreation centers are gonna be in full use.
5:22:08
We do not have the staffing to maintain it.
5:22:12
And as we're all aware of in the news, crime is up in parks.
5:22:17
People do not feel safe in their community parks.
5:22:21
And it's disproportionate, unfortunately, by neighborhood parks, and it impacts people of color because they do not have the luxury like Central Park, which has its own precinct inside the park.
5:22:34
People are going to be in a bad state of affairs, you know, once once once the weather once the weather gets warmer, we need to restore this funding.
5:22:46
One way we can cure this once and for all is if we have 1% for parks, and that's something that was promised to us.
5:22:53
Not only was it promised to us, but instead of giving it to us, they took away from us.
5:22:58
Okay?
5:22:59
And the 241 hiring when people leave that only adds to it.
5:23:04
We're we're in an extent extinction mode.
5:23:06
Okay?
5:23:08
We appreciate all your efforts We know a lot of it's not caused by you, and we appreciate all the efforts in the past.
5:23:14
We need to get this resolved.
5:23:16
Thank you.
← Previous Chapter
Max Barton, Construction Worker and Union Representative for Local Union 1010 Pavers and Road Builders, on the Need for Increased Parks Funding and Inclusion of Site Work in Project Labor Agreements
Next Chapter →
Dilcy Benn, President of Local 1505, DC 37, on Restoring Park Worker Positions and Improving Working Conditions