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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Tessa Huxley, Volunteer at Sarah Roosevelt Park, on Parks Funding and Maintenance
2:58:10
ยท
105 sec
Tessa Huxley, a 72-year-old volunteer at Sarah Roosevelt Park, shares her decades-long experience in public greening and expresses frustration over the persistent lack of funding for parks in New York City. She emphasizes the dire need for increased resources and attention to park maintenance.
- Huxley has been involved in public greening initiatives since 1975 and notes that the demand for 1% of the city budget for parks has remained unchanged for over 30 years.
- As a volunteer, she spends most of her time collecting garbage instead of focusing on horticulture, highlighting the severe understaffing in the parks department.
- She describes a recent incident where 15 bags of trash from her cleanup efforts remained uncollected for three days, underscoring the urgency of the situation.
Tessa Huxley
2:58:10
Hi.
2:58:11
My name is Tessa Huxley, and I came here today as a citizen.
2:58:15
I'm a volunteer with the Sarah Roosevelt Park in the Lower East Side.
2:58:21
But the longer I listen to everybody here, I thought I'd give you a little of my experience because I have worked in greening, public gardens, public community gardens, public parks since 1975, and we are a broken record.
2:58:36
All we do is say there's not enough funding and we never have had enough funding.
2:58:41
In 1989, I was part of a group of every environmental organization in the City Of New York, that was a hard thing to do, But one of the things we were advocating for was 1% of the budget.
2:58:55
Here we are, it seems a bit much that fifty years after I started my career in greening, we're still asking for 1% of the city budget.
2:59:05
So most of all, I say, take off your gloves and let's get serious because it's really, really bad.
2:59:13
As a volunteer, I did since no one else here is just working as a volunteer, I'm 72 so I retired.
2:59:21
It's just so sad to be in my park every day where I should be doing horticulture, that's what I thought I would do, but really what I'm doing is garbage collection.
2:59:34
And it's endless, it never ends.
2:59:36
And it's not through the fault of the parks department, they just don't have enough people.
2:59:41
A couple of weeks ago I did a major winter cleanup of the area I care for, and it was three days before those 15 trash bags were collected.
2:59:51
So we are really in trouble, folks.
2:59:54
Thank you very much.
2:59:55
I know you're trying.