#Many NYC parks are overgrown, full of trash after COVID-19 budget cuts
“#Many NYC parks are overgrown, full of trash after COVID-19 budget cuts”
Nearly two months after the city Parks Department had its budget slashed by almost $85 million, many green spaces in Brooklyn and The Bronx are now littered with trash and overgrown with high, unmowed grass.
“I used to love coming here because it’s usually not so crowded, but I’m shocked by the bad shape it’s in,” said Benny Einhorn, 19, who was visiting Friends Field in the Mapleton section of Brooklyn. “Who wants to spend time in a park that looks like a garbage dump?”
The park, which boasts several baseball diamonds and a playground, is normally well-maintained, he said.
But recently, heaps of trash — including broken chairs, liquor bottles and plastic cups — have piled up next to the entrance.
On one visit this week, a nearby grassy field was strewn with garbage, not far from two tossed-aside shopping carts.
In May, the City Council slashed the Parks Department’s budget by $84 million to help close a $9 billion revenue shortfall created in part by the coronavirus lockdown’s torpedo to the Big Apple’s economy.
The cuts, which took effect on July 1, forced the department to lay off hundreds of seasonal workers assigned to park cleanup and maintenance.
At several other spots — including Scarangella Park in Brooklyn, and Soundview Park and Horseshoe Playground in The Bronx — trash overflowed from garbage cans, and dotted play spaces when The Post visited last week.
Six inch-high grass sprouted through the cracks of an asphalt basketball court at Thomas Greene Playground in Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood, leaving half of the court unusable.
“What’s the point in having a basketball court if you can’t play on it?” said Kyan Hill, 24, who was visiting with his 2-year-old daughter. “I don’t know why the city doesn’t consider fixing this a priority. For a lot of the kids around here, this is the only place to run around, get some exercise.”
The effects of that belt-tightening were also on full display at Scarangella Park in Brooklyn’s Gravesend neighborhood, visitors said.
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“It’s all over the park. Just garbage, garbage, garbage everywhere you look. I come here to enjoy myself, but this is not enjoyable,” said one park-goer, Marisol Jiminez, 41. “It’s just disgusting to look at.”
Picnic paraphernalia was piled high on the grass at Soundview Park in The Bronx, including red Solo cups, potato chip bags and juice boxes.
“Since the coronavirus, there are a lot more people in the park having parties. So there are more people coming into the park Monday through Friday,” said Billy Biaggi, 63, who maintains the space’s baseball diamonds for a fee footed by local softball leagues. “I pick it up, but the next day there’s more garbage.
“We need someone to cut the grass,” he added. “But they don’t have the manpower.”
For no immediately apparent rhyme or reason, the levels of maintenance appeared to vary throughout the city, as several parks and playgrounds The Post visited in Queens looked to be in fine shape.
A spokeswoman for the Parks Department said it’s committed to keeping spaces citywide safe and clean.
“Despite the loss of 1,700 seasonal maintenance and operations staff, our Parks staff’s continued service on the frontlines during the pandemic demonstrates how committed we are to keeping up our city’s parks for the health and safety of all New Yorkers,” the spokeswoman said.
“We ask all park-lovers to do their part: Take out what they bring in and dispose of all garbage in designated receptacles.”
Previously, budget cuts contributed to a late and limited opening of public pools for the summer by complicating the hiring and training of lifeguards.
Additional reporting by Lorena Mongelli
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