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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Adam Ganser, Executive Director of New Yorkers for Parks, on NYC Parks Department Budget
5:05:43
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150 sec
Adam Ganser, Executive Director of New Yorkers for Parks, testifies about the urgent need for increased funding for the NYC Parks Department. He emphasizes the current state of parks, highlighting safety and cleanliness issues, and calls for the restoration of core staffing and services.
- Ganser cites a loss of roughly 700 positions in the Parks Department over the last three years
- He supports the City Council's demand for an additional $65 million to the parks department budget
- Ganser stresses the need for baselined positions, including PEP officers, forestry staff, and programming staff
Adam Ganser
5:05:43
Hi there.
5:05:44
My name is Adam Ganzer.
5:05:46
I'm the executive director of New Yorkers for Parks.
5:05:49
We along with the League of Conservation Voters in DC Thirty Seven founded the Play Fair for Parks Coalition which now numbers more than 400 organizations.
5:05:58
Thank you Chair Brannan and Chair Christian for the ability, the opportunity to speak today.
5:06:02
Under normal circumstances, I would extol the broad value of our city's parks and park system, the public health benefits, how they mitigate heat and flooding, their outsized economic impact.
5:06:14
Instead, we're talking about basic services, keeping our parks safe and clean.
5:06:19
I'll read a headline from the New York Times this morning about Saint Mary's Parks.
5:06:24
It's the largest public park in the South Bronx that was once a refuge in a neighborhood marked by poverty and neglect.
5:06:31
Now many residents actively avoid it.
5:06:35
This is true throughout the city.
5:06:38
This is not the city New Yorkers deserve and it is directly a result of repeated budget cuts over the last three years for the Parks Department.
5:06:47
In the last three years we heard the commissioner note that the net loss of positions is roughly 700.
5:06:55
I'd like to add that to seven zero one as I fear the commissioner herself is leaving because of the lack of funding for parks and lack of support from the administration.
5:07:08
The pay cuts, the hiring freezes, the eliminated programs, this has been ongoing.
5:07:14
The agency has been decimated.
5:07:16
The administration's executive budget does not restore these losses.
5:07:22
We sincerely appreciate the city council's strong position demanding $65,000,000 be added to the parks department budget to restore the core staffing and simply make our parks safe and clean.
5:07:34
That's where we are.
5:07:36
No grand vision, just core services.
5:07:39
The agency needs PEP officers so New Yorkers can feel safe in their parks, forestry, natural area staff, programming staff to provide recreational activities for New Yorkers children, and we need these positions to be baselined so the dedicated park workers who fill these positions can count on jobs year after year.
5:07:58
We've seen libraries get their budgets fully restored and we've seen the same for cultureals.
5:08:03
Now is the time for our parks and we're counting on the council to remain firm in this budget negotiation and we are very very grateful for your support.
5:08:13
Thank you.