QUESTION
What are the starting salaries and challenges faced by parks employees and enforcement officers in New York City?
5:33:43
·
169 sec
The council members discuss the low starting salaries for parks employees and enforcement officers in New York City.
- Parks enforcement officers start around $50,000 per year.
- Some longtime parks employees just recently reached $50,000 after over 30 years.
- With high costs of living in NYC, these salaries make it difficult for employees.
- During COVID-19, parks employees were deemed essential but now face budget cuts.
- Parks employees lack sufficient staffing and equipment to maintain parks properly.
Robert Holden
5:33:43
So you're all understaffed and certainly a a hiring freeze does not help that situation.
5:33:51
So Could you maybe you can give us an idea of the starting salaries, let's say, Joe, for for a pep.
5:33:56
What is what is the start start?
Joe Puleo
5:33:57
Okay.
5:33:58
We just went through contract negotiations, so they got a little boost up.
5:34:01
But currently to become a Parks enforcement officer we're talking about in the $50,000 range.
5:34:08
Yeah.
Robert Holden
5:34:08
50,000.
5:34:09
What what about in your titles?
Dilcy Benn
5:34:11
I've been here 33 years, and I just got to 50,000 last year.
Robert Holden
5:34:15
Yeah.
5:34:15
I don't believe Okay.
Dilcy Benn
5:34:16
You figured and you and you Living
Robert Holden
5:34:18
in New York City, by the way.
Dilcy Benn
5:34:19
Yes.
5:34:19
And you figured let's do it.
5:34:21
If you pay $2000 a month rent, that's 24,000.
5:34:24
And you got the government taking another 25 to say, my people ain't got lunch money.
Robert Holden
5:34:28
Mhmm.
Dilcy Benn
5:34:28
Okay.
5:34:29
It's insane, but they come to work and they do this every day.
5:34:32
But I got 12 homeless people that work for the city in New York.
5:34:35
That's a problem.
Robert Holden
5:34:36
And I could just imagine closing parks, by the way, because we we used to have volunteers and they got a we had a tell the volunteers it's too dangerous now to a point to try to close the park when there's people in it and you're saying it's a curfew.
5:34:48
We gotta close the park and we had situations.
Dilcy Benn
5:34:52
I've I've sat down to dinner with Shaker and showed them pictures of the bear from during COVID when they had this epidemic.
5:34:59
My people out there working.
5:35:01
And we will overflow with the bathrooms, the gear fools, the garbage, This is we just need help.
5:35:08
We need help.
5:35:09
And I can't even express the problem even more.
5:35:11
You've seen the pictures.
5:35:13
I've shared that we have a a lot of equipment that doesn't work.
5:35:16
They're not giving us anything.
5:35:17
Now they're talking about crap less more.
5:35:19
My people out there, and they wonder why this job people don't wanna stay here.
5:35:26
Because they don't pay them enough to do what we do.
5:35:28
But my people still come in to work every day and do this, but we don't have enough to do it with.
5:35:34
We need help.
5:35:35
Alright.
Joe Puleo
5:35:35
Yeah.
5:35:36
I just wanna add during COVID, we were all listed as essential employees, and we went from that status from essential to disposable in this current budget.
Justin L. Brannan
5:35:45
That's right.
Joe Puleo
5:35:45
He's really appalling because most of our members, even the lowest paid, the city seasonal aids, and the CPWs, Like she said, we all complied with the restrictions, you know.
5:35:54
We all got our shots, you know, and, you know, to and we were rewarded by these cuts.
5:36:00
It's I
Dilcy Benn
5:36:01
had we had eight people that died during COVID out there working.
5:36:05
And then they come back and they cut our lines, it's crazy.
5:36:08
It's it's just insane the way this works.
5:36:11
And then every year, we're back in here fighting for the same thing.
5:36:14
But like I said, we need some help, and I'm hoping that maybe we can change things.
Joe Puleo
5:36:19
And we like to thank all of you too.
5:36:20
Yes.
5:36:21
We we are going to the wrong to the wrong panel, really, because you guys have always been supported.
5:36:25
We just want to
Dilcy Benn
5:36:26
thank you,
Robert Holden
5:36:26
but thank you all.
5:36:27
Thank you, Cherish.
Justin L. Brannan
5:36:29
Thank you all very much for your testimony.