1% for Parks Impact Report from NY4Parks and the PlayFair Coalition.

On Wednesday, March 22 at 10AM in the City Hall Council Chambers

Our Sara Roosevelt Park Community Coalition Testimony:

Talking Points:

–          We demand 1% of the city budget for NYC Parks. Mayor Adams committed to this investment but hasn’t yet followed through.

–          Parks are critical infrastructure for public health and safety and are drivers of social equity. They should be funded as such.

–          NYC Parks have been operating with an austerity budget for 40+ years; just last year, we gained a record high budget that is only .6% of the city budget.

–          In 2020, within months of budget cuts, NYC Parks were in their worst condition in two decades.

–          NYC Parks is chronically underfunded and understaffed: there are not nearly enough maintenance workers and PEP officers to keep our parks clean and safe.

–          We are at a tipping point again with citywide cuts this fiscal year, and the mayor’s preliminary budget proposes further cuts to NYC Parks that’s close to $50M: the agency will lose critical maintenance and operation staff.

–          New Yorkers deserve a parks system that is safe, clean, and equitable.

From the NYTimes:

Many New Yorkers who had not spent much time in the city’s 1,700 parks discovered them when so much else was off limits during the pandemic. We’ll look at a report from a nonprofit parks advocacy group that says the parks need a bigger share of the city budget.

“1 % of the Budget for Parks? A Bargain, Says a Nonprofit”

New York spends less on its parks than other major cities. Now is not the time to cut funding for them, says New Yorkers for Parks.

How much for parks?

[Read on in link above]