The good news: The city is planning 400 parks-related projects across the five boroughs. The bad news, according to a story in today’s Post: Of the $1.3 billion the city plans to borrow in coming years for Parks Dept.-related initiatives ($273 million of that earmarked for Brooklyn), a sizable chunk will go to repairing and reviving neglected parks. According to critics, the city has let parks go to seed rather than regularly maintaining them with money from the general budget. (The Post-produced vid above shows all manner of nasty in some parks.) The trend has been to turn around and borrow from the capital budget to mend broken parks, which critics say costs tax payers millions more in the long run. “It’s astonishing that the city’s elected officials continue to put the public in harms way by allocating a fraction of the expense dollars needed. It simply isn’t a priority,” said Geoffrey Croft, president of New York City Park Advocates. The other fear parks watchdogs have is that some capital projects will be shelved when Mayor Bloomberg leaves office. The biggest project currently planned for Brooklyn is the $50 million rebuilding of McCarren Park Pool.
City’s Park ‘Row’ [NY Post]