The city’s parks are facing a crisis on the horizon resulting from a lack of maintenance and growing capital improvement needs.
New York City parks will need significant repairs in coming years, reports Harry DiPrinzio. "Across the city’s older parks, elements like retaining walls, drainage systems and pathways are showing signs of age as many of them were built in the early 20th century."
The city’s most recent assets review indicates that the Parks Department needs $615.5 million in capital funding to address aging infrastructure. DiPrinzio says the piecemeal budgeting process makes it hard to gather funding for less visible, but much-needed and essential, structural projects.
Parks also need more capital improvements to prepare for the impact of growing climate change threats, especially higher temperatures and heavy rains. But the scope of the problem is even broader, notes DiPrinzio. "While there is a significant backlog of capital projects in need of funding, city wide, advocates say funding for routine maintenance through a yearly budget allocation is just as important."
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