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AGENCY TESTIMONY

Parks Department staffing issues and service impact

0:12:52

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The testimony highlights significant staffing issues in the New York City Parks Department and their impact on services. Chronic understaffing has left parks across the city in disrepair, affecting the quality of life for New Yorkers.

Nearly 1,000 staffing lines have been lost, including community coordinators, gardeners, park rangers, and park enforcement officers.
Vacancies are causing longer waits for basic upkeep, from trash removal to repairs of playground equipment.
A specific example is given of a fire in a marina caused by accumulated debris due to lack of maintenance workers.

Henry Garrido

0:12:52

But let me start first talking about parks department, which is one of the biggest concerns that we have.

0:12:58

Parks department is central to the quality of life for New Yorkers.

0:13:02

Parks are where children play, where our families gather, and where we turn, for respite, in this dense urban area.

0:13:10

Yet chronic understaffing has left parks across the city in this repair, with few maintenance workers and ground keepers available to care for green spaces.

0:13:20

We have lost, at DC 37, nearly 1,000 staffing lines, including community coordinators, gardeners, park rangers, and park enforcement officers, which are, by the way, revenue producing titles.

0:13:34

Right?

0:13:35

Vacancies in these roles being longer waits, for basic upkeep from trash removals to repairs of playground equipment impacting the safety and usability of these essential services.

0:13:47

And council member Dela Rosa, the other day, I was in one of the restaurants in your district.

0:13:51

And as I walked out, I smelled fire.

0:13:54

And so the fire department rushing towards the marina and later found out that the debris that was there that had been kept, it was not as a result of drought as people have said, but, actually, the debris had accumulated to the point that a fire started.

0:14:09

Should we had should we have enough maintenance workers that could have been able to remove that debris, we would have been able to prevent that and not having to have the fire, dispatched to that.

0:14:20

Your park, that park in particular, has lost 20% of the workers.

0:14:24

So I set a prime example how it affects, New Yorkers and constituencies in your district.

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HRA vacancies and effects on social services