Opinion: NYC must adequately fund its parks in the city budget

During last year’s city budget negotiations, the New York City Council successfully fought to restore a number of deep budget cuts to key city institutions, including our libraries, our cultural institutions and our city’s beloved parks.

But there’s still more work to do, especially for parks. After last year’s budget fight, we know New Yorkers deserve more investment in our city’s green spaces. As we enter another round of negotiations, we are committed to doing exactly that.

Despite Mayor Eric Adams’ pledge while running for office to allocate 1% of the city budget to parks, he has undercut our green spaces with repeated budget cuts. Currently, New York City only dedicates 0.6% of its total budget for parks – a percentage that has remained stagnant for the past three years and below the proportion in other leading cities.

The mayor’s most recent short-sighted budget cuts have resulted in the loss of roughly 800 positions that can no longer be filled. Though the City Council restored nearly $24 million in proposed cuts to the Parks Department, the underfunding has meant fewer resources for programming, maintenance and addressing growing problems like brush fires.

New Yorkers and visitors from all walks of life enjoy and rely on public spaces across our city. New York City is home to 1,700 parks and over 1,000 playgrounds. While important green spaces like Central Park or Prospect Park are popular and are highly used, local parks in neighborhoods across the five boroughs are equally important, representing the heart of communities that contribute to our quality of life.

Take two parks that we represent in Queens for example: Baisley Pond Park and Travers Park. These spaces play critical roles in supporting our constituents’ physical and mental health. They are areas where our children can explore nature, play sports and spend quality time with their families and friends. It’s where our seniors can go walking and stay active and where our neighbors come together in community. 

Parks are also the frontlines for our city’s resiliency efforts, protecting New Yorkers from climate-fueled fires, heat waves and floods. But none of this can happen if they are not well-staffed and do not have the necessary resources. Shrubs that are not properly maintained are causing fires, and the lack of forestry and tree canopy maintenance means communities are more susceptible to flooding and heat waves. 

New York City’s parks have been underfunded for nearly 50 years. This historic lack of investment means that too many are closed or simply unusable for families because of outdated and decrepit infrastructure.

This doesn’t have to be the case if our city prioritizes our parks as the essential neighborhood pillars that they are. Whether it’s to improve quality of life in our neighborhoods or advance low-barrier economic opportunities, we owe it to New Yorkers to properly fund the Parks Department.  

Mayor Adams’ Preliminary Budget for Fiscal Year 2026 proposed some funding additions – including $12.4 million to expand second-shift cleanings for an additional 100 hot spots in 64 parks not currently served – but it did not restore his previous budget cuts.

While greater investment is positive, New Yorkers deserve more for their Parks Department to ensure green spaces are properly maintained. 

In the City Council’s Preliminary Budget Response, we called for $65.7 million to be added to the department’s budget, including a baselining of $32.5 million to allow for the hiring of new parks workers, gardeners, safety officers and other key roles. These positions are vital to the well-being of our neighborhood green havens across the city, while providing good-paying, union jobs that provide stability for New Yorkers.

The Council has also requested an additional $28.2 million for the Parks Department to support Urban Park Rangers who provide public programming for families, tree stump removal, and the GreenThumb program that bolsters community gardens.

Parks help power New York City. To make our city a better place to live, raise a family and age with dignity, it’s time our city makes good on its promise to fully fund our Parks Department.