Wednesday, April 2, 2014

New York City Needs a Parks System Which Is Both Fair and Fabulous [HuffPo]


New York City Needs a Parks System Which Is Both Fair and Fabulous


Today the city dedicates just 0.4 percent of its budget to parks, far less than other large cities around the nation.
It's not even clear if this limited parks budget is being distributed evenly, since the Parks department does not reveal its spending on an individual park basis. (My colleague in the City Council, Brad Lander, and I have introduced legislation which would require such reporting.) Further clouding the picture is the limited transparency of conservancy budgets, making it difficult to get a picture of the combined public and private funding in any given park.
A healthier and more transparent parks budget would allow the city to lift up the quality of all its parks, while simultaneously reducing the gap between the jewels and the rest of the system.


Mark D. Levine represents the 7th District in the New York City Council and is Chair of the Council's Parks Committee.

No comments:

Post a Comment