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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Merritt Birnbaum, President and CEO of Riverside Park Conservancy, on NYC Parks Budget
5:16:36
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162 sec
Merritt Birnbaum, President and CEO of Riverside Park Conservancy, testifies about the urgent need for increased funding and staffing for NYC Parks. She criticizes the current budget proposal as insufficient and highlights the deteriorating conditions in city parks due to understaffing and lack of maintenance.
- Birnbaum argues that the mayor's touted "second shift" program is not a solution to the understaffing crisis, but merely scratches the surface of what's needed.
- She calls for the restoration and baselining of 795 positions citywide to address issues such as overgrown lawns, unpruned trees, and accumulating trash.
- Birnbaum shares a community member's complaint about various maintenance issues in the park, including sinkholes, debris, inadequate trash receptacles, and deteriorating benches, to illustrate the impact of understaffing on park users.
Merritt Birnbaum
5:16:36
Thank you, Councilmember Krishnan and Councilmember Brannan.
5:16:41
is Merritt Birnbaum.
5:16:42
I'm the president and CEO of Riverside Park Conservancy.
5:16:46
We work in partnership with NYC Parks to care for 400 acres of public parkland that's spread across six miles from West 50 Ninth Street to West 180 First Street in Manhattan.
5:16:57
I'm here again because this is a screaming moment for NYC Parks.
5:17:03
Our parks are the lungs of the city, and they are being deprived of oxygen.
5:17:09
Again, the city budget fails to make simple restorations that would make our park system functional and able to deliver exponential benefit for the lives of everyday New Yorkers.
5:17:22
I want to address the fact that the mayor touted the creation of a second shift.
5:17:28
This program is a new need.
5:17:30
It is not a restoration of previous staffing levels.
5:17:33
So just so we're clear, it's wonderful that certain areas of the system will get this later crew so that some bathrooms can stay open after 03:30 and some trash cans can get emptied later in the day.
5:17:48
But this is not a solution to the crisis of understaffing in our parks.
5:17:52
This program will not make our parks greener and safer and cleaner in the long term in a sustainable way.
5:18:00
It's really just scratching the surface of what's needed.
5:18:04
What is needed is 795 restored and baselined positions citywide, period.
5:18:14
Our lawns are overgrown.
5:18:15
Our trees are dangerously unpruned.
5:18:18
Our trash is piling up.
5:18:19
And really what I wanted to read was a comment that our district received from a community member.
5:18:24
Why are the sinkholes still here?
5:18:26
I can't remember them not being here.
5:18:29
Why is there no cleanup?
5:18:30
The mess of sweet gumball seed pods are all over the place, and on more than one occasion I have almost fallen.
5:18:36
Leaf debris from the fall season remains.
5:18:39
Why are there not better trash receptacles?
5:18:41
Not only are they not large enough, but they can't accommodate pizza boxes, and they are not rodent proof.
5:18:48
The pavement is uneven and dangerous in numerous locations.
5:18:52
The benches are gross.
5:18:54
See if you would like to sit on one of these benches that are overgrown with moss.
5:18:58
Not sure how tan pants would look following a lunch break.
5:19:01
This is what it looks like when you cut off maintenance staff, when you cut city park workers, when you make it so that a park can't even be a place where you enjoy lunch on a bench under a tree.
5:19:13
This is why we need to fund the basics of our park system.
5:19:17
Thank you.
Marlena Giga
5:16:41
My name