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Q&A
Discussion on the tree and sidewalk program's funding and backlog
1:12:04
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140 sec
Council Member Carr inquires about the tree and sidewalk program, focusing on the current funding levels, the backlog of cases, and the program's overall status. Commissioner Donoghue and Deputy Commissioner Greenfeld provide details on the program's funding and progress.
- The program has baseline funding of over $12 million in capital funds and $1 million in expense funds.
- There have been challenges due to COVID-19 and vendor issues, but the program is now on an upswing.
- The Parks Department has completed work on a thousand sites since the current contracts became active.
David M. Carr
1:12:04
I want to ask something I ask at almost every budget hearing, which is about the tree and sidewalk program.
1:12:10
Very important for homeowners when city trees uplift their sidewalks, and unfortunately we never have the resources in order to really get through that backlog of folks who are waiting for their sidewalks to be repaired.
1:12:23
So could you tell us in the prelim budget you know what level of rating you expect parks to get through in terms of the backlog, and then how much would be required to be budgeted in order for you to get through the backlog period?
Susan Donoghue
1:12:39
Thank you, council member Carr, for the question, and we agree with you.
1:12:42
We know it's an important program, and we know that it's important to homeowners.
1:12:46
I'm gonna toss it over to Jennifer to answer in terms of your specific questions around budget there.
Jennifer Greenfeld
1:12:51
Sure.
1:12:52
Thank you for your question, Councilmember Carr, and we have some answers because you do ask this every time.
1:12:58
Our program right now, we're committed to all the service requests that we have within a of a certain number at a certain point of time of 89 and above of 85 and above.
1:13:11
That and so it's sort of if we were to do everything in Staten Island that was 75 and up, it would be close to $10,000,000.
1:13:20
So there's an estimate.
1:13:22
We do still have some inspections that we have not done, so that doesn't count sites that we haven't looked at yet or rated.
1:13:29
So that's one example just for Staten Island.
David M. Carr
1:13:31
I appreciate that.
1:13:32
And it feels like, you know, you gave a number in the high 80s.
1:13:35
I feel like in prior years, even without council enhancements, we were doing ratings better than that.
1:13:39
So has the program financing diminished, or is there simply just a larger number of cases?
Jennifer Greenfeld
1:13:46
That's an excellent question.
1:13:48
The program has not diminished.
1:13:49
In fact, we have baseline funding of over $12,000,000 in capital funds and a million dollars in expense funds for those individual sites that aren't capitally eligible.
1:13:58
So we feel very good about the funding level.
1:14:00
We, of course, as as any capital program, it we're, like, sort of catching up from COVID and other slowdowns, and we did have some issues with vendors.
1:14:11
And right now, we have six, I think, active contracts or seven active contracts, and we've done a thousand sites since since these contracts have been active.
1:14:20
So we're on the upswing.
1:14:21
We feel pretty good about the program and particularly the funding for it.
David M. Carr
1:14:25
Appreciate that.