REMARKS
Council Member Restler criticizes parks department underfunding and mayor's communication form
1:13:48
·
3 min
Council Member Lincoln Restler expresses disappointment with the lack of funding for the parks department in the recently adopted budget. He then criticizes a form introduced by the mayor's office for communication between city agencies and elected officials, arguing that it is ineffective and potentially used to discriminate against certain officials.
- Restler highlights the shortfall in parks department funding and its impact on park maintenance.
- He presents data showing low usage of the mayor's communication form by various elected officials.
- Restler announces that 37 council members have co-sponsored legislation to repeal the form and clarify the charter regarding agency cooperation with elected officials.
Lincoln Restler
1:13:48
Thank you very much, council member nurse.
1:13:50
I just, again, wanna echo those sentiments.
1:13:52
I think one of the greatest shortcomings in the budget that was adopted this year was the lack of funding for the parks department.
1:13:58
It's a major problem.
1:13:59
We see it manifest in each of our districts in our communities every single day.
1:14:02
We do not have the staff in the parks department that we need to maintain our parks in appropriate conditions.
1:14:07
And we fought hard for additional funding, and as anyone who was involved in this budget process would know, OMB rejected it.
1:14:13
And the mayor's office rejected it.
1:14:15
And we were only able to secure some additional resources for parks, but we needed far more.
1:14:20
And I couldn't agree with constant learners more.
1:14:22
We need that addressed immediately.
1:14:26
I'm gonna just take a moment since We did not receive in person testimony from the administration on our legislation to repeal the mayor's form.
1:14:37
We did receive written testimony from Tiffany Raspberry, the director of intergovernmental and external affairs for the office of the mayor.
1:14:44
She has joined our a couple times this year, so maybe she's sick of us.
1:14:48
But I do want to respond directly to some of the some of the issues we found in her testimony.
1:14:57
She noted that The council had made 450 requests using this form since it was created in April.
1:15:04
That means that a council member is submitting 1 and a half requests per month.
1:15:10
I bother city agencies need information from city agencies 1 and a half times every 15 minutes.
1:15:16
Right?
1:15:16
It means that nobody's completing this form that it's not working.
1:15:20
Senator Schumer's office, according to the Freedom Information Act request from a month or so ago, has submitted the form 0 times.
1:15:26
Senator Gilbrand's office has submitted the form 0 times.
1:15:29
Governor Hocho's office has submitted one form.
1:15:31
Congress members of Casio Cortes, Velasquez, Estebayat, have completed the form once.
1:15:35
So what's clear is that some elected officials who are cozy with the administration don't need to submit the form, and other elected officials are been directed to submit.
1:15:45
And plain and simple, the mayor in city hall should not be directing city agencies to respond to elected tools based on whether they are a friend or a critic, whether they are a Democrat or a Republican.
1:15:59
All of us have been duly elected to serve our communities, to ensure that our streets are clean, that our that our neighborhoods are safe, and agencies have charter mandated responsibility to work with bodies of elected officials and council members to do our collective jobs.
1:16:15
And this form has just plain and simple gotten in the way, and he claims for efficiency or disingenuous and bogus.
1:16:23
And that is why 37 council members as of this morning have co prime sponsored this legislation to repeal the form once and for all and clarify the language and the charter that city agencies are directed to work with Council members and other bodies of elected officials.
1:16:41
So I just wanted to say that very plainly.
1:16:43
Of course, if anyone from the administration would like to respond, you're more than welcome, but I'm gonna guess that the answer is no.
1:16:49
So I'd like to now turn over to council member Gutierrez, who I know was gonna comment on her legislation and ask some questions.
