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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Merritt Birnbaum, President and CEO of Riverside Park Conservancy
1:26:59
·
3 min
Merritt Birnbaum, President and CEO of Riverside Park Conservancy, testified in support of bills to improve access to drinking water and public open spaces in New York City parks. She emphasized the importance of functional drinking fountains for public health and reducing plastic waste, particularly in light of climate change and increased park usage.
- Riverside Park Conservancy manages 6 miles of parkland with numerous recreational facilities
- The park currently has about 35 drinking fountains, many of which are old and in disrepair
- Birnbaum strongly supports Intro 566, which would make more school playgrounds available after hours
Merritt Birnbaum
1:26:59
Thank you, council member Krishnan.
1:27:00
My name is Merritt Birnbaum.
1:27:02
I'm the president and CEO of Riverside Park Conservancy.
1:27:05
I'd also like to thank council member Brewer for introducing these crucial bills that will, make both drinking water and public open space more accessible for all New Yorkers.
1:27:16
Council member Brewer represents the southern portion of our park and has been a great advocate for many years for parks across the city.
1:27:24
Riverside Park Conservancy cares for five parks, representing six miles of parkland.
1:27:30
We work in partnership with NYC Parks to care for parks between 50 Ninth Street and Hundred And 80 First Street.
1:27:37
I updated the numbers, but within that, it's about, 16 playgrounds, 14 athletic fields, 10 basketball courts, eight volleyball courts, 30 tennis courts, three handball courts, five pickleball courts, a skate park, two running tracks, three outdoor gyms, and our greenway that runs the entire park and is used by cyclists and pedestrians year round.
1:27:59
So thousands of people of all ages are using the park every day, rain or shine, and especially through the heat of the summer.
1:28:07
As climate change brings more extreme heat and drought conditions, access to drinking water becomes even more crucial.
1:28:14
It's a basic human right and a key element in keeping people safe, especially during outdoor activities, of which our park is well known and well loved for.
1:28:23
In a park with so many opportunities for sports, exercise, and play, including our summer camp that hosts thousands of children, we're particularly concerned about the issue of having access to drinking water.
1:28:34
By increasing the number of fountains, and many of our fountains are in disrepair, we have about 35 fountains in the park, but they're really, really old.
1:28:45
Many of them don't have pressure, very hard to fill water bottles in them.
1:28:48
We've been working on this issue with council member Brewer's office, and I'm really glad to see the council taking up this issue.
1:28:54
It is something that is a critical human right.
1:28:57
And not only is it something that will ensure people can stay hydrated, but it also will help prevent a lot of plastic from accumulating in our park and free up our park staff time to do other tasks which are so critical for our park.
1:29:13
We take thousands and thousands of single use plastic water bottles out of our park every year.
1:29:19
I also just wanna underscore that we strongly support, intro five sixty six, which would make, more playground school yards available after hours as was discussed earlier.
1:29:30
While we're grateful to have Riverside Park available with its 16 playgrounds for children who live nearby, we recognize that many, many children do not have playgrounds as, within a half mile as was pointed out in the IBO report.
1:29:45
And, we believe that every child has a right to a playground within, walking distance as this bill would mandate.
1:29:54
So thank you for the opportunity to testify today.
1:29:58
I have longer testimony, which I will submit online.
1:30:01
Thank you again.
Shekar Krishnan
1:30:02
Sure.