At long last the ball field at Stanton Street is being replaced. The donor supplied materials but the field will not be named after them. Thanks donor! Thank you Parks Department!
Let’s hope we get the softball lines in too.
The field will reopen in mid-June
OPENING STATEMENT
Good morning, and welcome to the Parks and Recreation Committee’s Hearing on the Fiscal 2016 Preliminary Budget and the Fiscal 2015 Preliminary Mayor’s Management Report for the Department of Parks and Recreation. My name is Mark Levine and I am the Chair of the Parks and Recreation Committee.
In line with the budget process mandated by the City Charter that ultimately will lead to the adoption of the Fiscal 2016 budget, today we will hear testimony from the Department of Parks and Recreation on its Expense and Capital Budgets for Fiscal 2016.
New York City’s parks system has improved dramatically in almost every way in recent years–with better upkeep, greater safety, and dazzling new renovations. And the most recent Mayor’s Management Report shows that the upward trend has continued over the past year. The Parks Department accomplished this feat, despite a tight operating budget, thanks to the creativity and hard work of its staff, the efforts of thousands of volunteers, and the increasing generosity of private donors.
But improvements in our parks system have not been felt equally throughout the city. That fact is inseparable from the decades-long decline in what we spend on our park system relative to the size of the City’s total budget. Increased public spending is vital to the well being of our precious green spaces, especially in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods that lack access to the private dollars that have flowed into parks in wealthier areas of our city.
A few statistics illustrate some of the countless ways in which inadequate public funding impacts our parks and the millions of New Yorkers who rely on them:
The Parks Department’s preliminary FY2016 budget does not address any of these pressing needs. In fact, while there is a nominal increase in the department’s budget from $413 million in FY15 to $428 million for FY16, this actually represents a slight drop in the portion of the total city budget we are devoting to our parks, from 0.56% this year to 0.55% next year.
At a time when usage of our parks system is soaring–with over 3.3 million visitors annually to our 35 recreation centers alone–this proposed budget may actually amount to a decrease in funding per user. And on the critical measure of headcount, the 6,936 full-time equivalent positions that would be funded under the proposed FY16 budget would actually represent a drop of 90 employees.
Nor does the department’s preliminary budget include baselining of any of the enhanced funding measures which the City Council put in place last year. This included:
The lack of baselining of any of this funding is particularly puzzling because much of it was used to support the mayor’s excellent Community Parks Initiative. I am hopeful that in its executive budget the administration will find the funds to sustain CPI and all of the other vital initiatives the Council supported last year.
But I hope that the mayor’s executive budget proposal will go further than just restoring last year’s funding. Among the additional funds I hope we will see are:
Lest this all sound like an extravagant shopping list, I’ll point out that every one of these enhancements combined would only push the Parks Department budget from 0.55% to 0.57% of the City’s total budget.
There are increases in the Parks capital budget which I’d like to see as well, including items in relation to two expense items I have just mentioned:
I look forward to hearing the administration’s testimony on these many issues, and on the Parks budget as a whole.
We will now hear from Commissioner Silver of the Department of Parks and Recreation.
Nike, the company, has agreed to fix the Sara Roosevelt Park soccer turf field badly damaged over the years. Work is said to begin this Thursday and be done by the end of May. Wow. Great news!
okay I know this isn’t a picture of soccer but we did use the field for a big puppet show production once (it was terrific) and it was the only one I could find on short notice….
From The Door, University Settlement House and Broome Street Academy:
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Beautiful day, beautiful people so many to thank and we won’t have all their names! But a few… Jin Xiu Chen and Jenifer Marcus all day providing activities for the children: making paper flowers and planting real ones! Bud Shalala for being on the grill all day, Penny Jones for tackling the hoses throughout the M’Finda Garden, Kate and Carol for sprucing up the front planters of the BRC Senior Center, Kirsti Bambridge (Partnership for Parks) for getting those amazing bird attracting plants, Terese Flores (Park Manager) for bringing them to us and for listening to the community, Andrew Knox for getting the sand for the sandbox, Bob for being Bob and organizing us, Lanzo for helping Bob, Debra Glass for leading us, The CSA for holding their first meeting of the season and Ted from Windflower farms – always generous with us, Roni – Sue for coming by with candy from Roni-Sue’s Chocolate Shoppe, Nini from the Evolve Health and Wellness for organizing the food, (both these small businesses are on Forsyth Street), too many more to name!!
Join us in our It’s My Park Day for Sara Roosevelt Park: This Saturday from 1-4pm our anchor space for all projects will be the M’Finda Kalunga Garden
in Sara Roosevelt Park at Rivington Street gate between Forsyth and Chrystie Streets.
Games for children, food and work! What could be a better way to spend this lovely Saturday?
Planting and watering GreenThumb flowers and hanging up hummingbird feeder. Nice work everyone!
Evolve Health + Wellness (the new business occupying the old produce warehouse on the corner of Rivington and Forsyth)
Grand Opening Celebration
May 14th, from 6-9pm.
It’s a family gathering and meet and greet with all the practitioners of Evolve – featuring snacks and drinks from some of our neighbors here.
They are also hosting a Benefit for the Nepal Earthquake victims at our clinic for the remaining Saturdays of the month.
Providing community acupuncture treatments for donations, and all of the proceeds will be going toward direct relief in Nepal.
Interesting article in DNAinfo
“The program, which enables developers to tap low-interest funding, is intended to be a job-generator for high-poverty and high-unemployment areas.
In reality, EB-5 is helping fund some of the city’s swankiest projects from some of the top developers like Silverstein Properties’ towering, ultra-luxurious Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown rising at 30 Park Place, the Durst Organization’s Danish-desinged glassy pyramid-shaped high-end rental rising on West 57th Street and Kushner Real Estate Group’s NoMad tower at 281 Fifth Ave.
EB-5 has also been used for infrastructure and industrial projects like the George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal, Battery Park’s Pier A renovation, the redevelopment of Manhattan’s East River waterfront, and the expansion of Steiner Studios at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.”
