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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Herbert Brooks, Ropes Course Facilitator at Alley Pond Park
3:23:42
ยท
3 min
Herbert Brooks, a ropes course facilitator at Alley Pond Park in Queens, testifies about the importance of parks and the challenges faced due to budget constraints. He highlights the multiple uses of Alley Pond Park and emphasizes the need for more staff and resources to maintain and protect the park effectively.
- Brooks describes the skeleton crew of maintenance workers managing 632 acres and the lack of dedicated park enforcement patrol officers.
- He mentions the importance of wetlands replenishment and greenway projects for ecological benefits and storm protection.
- Brooks urges the committee to avoid budget cuts and consider increasing funding, emphasizing the value of parks as significant city assets.
Herbert Brooks
3:23:42
Thank you, chair Krishna and the committee.
3:23:45
Thank you for staying to the end.
3:23:49
My name is Herbert Brooks, and I'm a ropes course facilitator at Alley Pond Park in Queens.
3:23:57
It's a seasonal position.
3:23:59
I'm also a trail steward for Riverdale Parks where I live and a state licensed wilderness guide for the Catskills.
3:24:09
I'm still actually waiting to find out whether the budget supports me going back to Ali Pond.
3:24:20
So that's where I am right now today.
3:24:24
Being in parks I get to see the inner workings of of the park.
3:24:29
I got there three years ago and I noticed it's a heavily used location for barbecues, sports, birding, and dog owner communities.
3:24:39
Not to mention the ropes course where we where we engage thousands of children, businesses, and members of the public in the outdoors and challenge them to build community and reach beyond their comfort zone.
3:24:52
I also noticed this skeleton crew that we have of m and o workers, maintenance and operations that has subsisted with with 10 workers for the entire 632 acres.
3:25:08
We don't have our own pep pep officers or rangers, so we have to call in rangers from other parks for animal rescue, unhoused encampments, or other emergencies like last year's forest fires.
3:25:23
Sometimes we would have to add cleaning, parks cleaning or opening bathrooms to our own duties.
3:25:31
Aside from daily use, larger projects can be affected by your budget reconsideration.
3:25:37
Wetlands replenishment is an ongoing necessity to stave off the devastation of storms such as Sandy which we still all remember.
3:25:46
Continue greenway project projects connect our boroughs and with ecologically friendly routes.
3:25:53
Parks contributes to parks contribute to lowering the heat index both in terms of temperature and crime, but only if they are maintained well.
3:26:04
So I ask that we that you help us to, not just, you know, not just, I mean, 1% doesn't seem like a lot, but also if we could just not cut that would help.
3:26:22
And in the and, you know, parks are our biggest our parks are the biggest, most valuable pieces of real estate in the city.
3:26:33
And to close, to quote Dolorex, one of my favorite environmental texts, unless someone cares a whole awful lot, nothing's going to get better.
3:26:44
It's not.