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Council Member Krishnan advocates for increased Parks Department funding to address forest fires
1:37:23
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4 min
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Council Member Shekar Krishnan questions Parks Department officials about the impact of budget cuts on their ability to prevent and respond to forest fires in NYC parks. He emphasizes the need for increased funding, particularly for the forestry division and Parks Enforcement Patrol (PEP) officers.
- Krishnan highlights that recent budget cuts have affected critical areas like forestry and PEP, which are essential for addressing forest fires.
- He argues that more resources would allow for better prevention and response to unpredictable fire incidents.
- The council member commends the Parks Department's efforts despite limited resources and stresses the importance of adequate funding to address natural disasters in parks.
Shekar Krishnan
1:37:23
Thank you so much, councilwoman Narcisse.
1:37:25
Just to close out, you know, I I have a few questions going back to my initial round before.
1:37:31
Isn't it a fact that if you all had an increased budget for the parks department, you all would have more resources and staff to address the issue of forest fires as as best as you can?
Marit Larsen
1:37:45
That's certainly a fact that if we had more resources, we would have more staff on the ground to be able to, participate in a range of of, both preventative, and, you know, education and responses.
Shekar Krishnan
1:37:57
Thank you.
1:37:58
And I would say and we've heard a bit about testimony today on this issue, but it seems to me there are 2 areas in particular, that we've talked about a bunch today.
1:38:08
Forestry and PEP, both of which seem critical to addressing forest fires and keeping our forest, natural areas safe.
1:38:21
Both of those were also areas that either did not receive any funding increase or got cut in this budget, in this last budget because of city hall's failure to adequately fund the parks department.
1:38:35
Wouldn't you say that if you actually did not have funding cuts but actually had a funding increase to the forestry division that you all have would have more resources in place to address the issue of forest fires across the city?
Marit Larsen
1:38:49
Thank you for the question.
1:38:50
We given that fires occur in an unpredictable way, we can never totally predict having, you know, the the a certain amount of staff at each, you know, location on a one to one basis.
1:39:02
But, certainly, in in general, if we had more people on the ground, and more resources, we could could do more things.
Shekar Krishnan
1:39:11
That's exactly right.
1:39:12
I think that part of the issue is we're seeing these fires pop up everywhere around the city, and the staff you have seems stretch very thin in the forestry division and natural areas in particular to be able to address it, which is why it it is shocking to me, that we saw, from city hall side, a cut in the forestry and natural areas budget in our last budget.
1:39:33
Wouldn't you also say that having an increase in resources for PEP officers in our parks will help keep our parks safer?
1:39:39
When you have incidents of forest fires, help to deter activity that may contribute to forest fires, Wouldn't you say an increased, resources for PEP would assist with that as well?
Matt Drury
1:39:50
Increased resources sort of by definition wouldn't wouldn't expand, PEP's abilities to monitor and and patrol parks writ large, which would have a variety of benefits.
1:39:58
You know, and, you know, know, I think we're a little wary of sort of drawing a one to one sort of parallel in terms of the outcomes, which are so unpredictable in this case when in terms of brush fires.
1:40:07
But having said that, you know, there's sort of a logical truism that, you know, more is more is more.
Shekar Krishnan
1:40:12
And it seems to me that when we can't control the climate and the events, the best we can do and we should do is, from a preventative standpoint, take all the measures that we can, to, protect ourselves.
1:40:26
And from reactive standpoint after it happens, all the measures we can to contain it as safely as possible.
1:40:31
And I think you all, did a a good job, a very good job with the resources you have to address it despite limitations like fire hydrant access or, cuts to our, natural areas and forestry division overall, with limited PEP.
1:40:46
I believe it's about 300 for across the entire city, if I'm not mistaken.
1:40:52
But that is nowhere near the level we need to adequately prepare for these kinds of incidents, especially because they're unpredictable.
1:40:59
And nowhere need we need to react to them and to contain them, especially seeing how quickly those fires spread in Los Angeles too.
1:41:06
And so in closing, I wanna thank you all for coming but also highlight and really underscore the importance of having parks department resources in place for these divisions in particular, the department overall, to best position parks to address these kinds of natural disasters.
1:41:23
Thank you all so much for your testimony.
1:41:25
Appreciate it.