District Council 37
NEWS & EVENTS Info:
(212) 815-7555
DC 37    |   PUBLIC EMPLOYEE PRESS    |   ABOUT    |   ORGANIZING    |   NEWSROOM    |   BENEFITS    |   SERVICES    |   CONTRACTS    |   POLITICS    |   CONTACT US    |   SEARCH   |   
  Public Employee Press
   

PEP Dec 2014
Table of Contents
    Archives
 
  La Voz
Latinoamericana
     
 

Public Employee Press

City grant funds 214 Parks Dept. jobs

In a move to reverse the effects of decades of funding cuts and favoritism toward wealthy neighborhoods, Mayor Bill deBlasio announced an infusion of $173 million to help the Parks Dept. restore rundown parks.

Under the Community Parks Initiative, a one-time grant, Parks hired 214 workers — 69 Playground Associates in Local 299, 51 City Parks Workers in Local 1505, 50 Gardeners in Local 1507, 15 City Seasonal Aides in Local 983, 15 designers in Local 375 and 14 community planners and organizers in Local 371 — and the Environmental Protection Dept. will get $36 million for storm management infrastructure in city parks.

"This is a step in the right direction, but it's shortsighted because the money is not earmarked for Parks' annual budget and only funds these jobs for one year," said DC 37 Parks Committee Chair and Local 983 President Joe Puleo. "We need long-term funding so parks can be regularly maintained by workers who have permanent employment with career opportunities and a real future."

Instead, he said, the city struggles to hire under the initiative, since few people want jobs that will end so soon. Local 1505 President Dilcy Benn pointed out that Parks "bypassed longtime seasonal employees in my local and hired people off the street for jobs that only last 10 months."

Over four decades, Parks has cut its unionized workforce by nearly 75 percent, from 8,000 in 1975 to about 2,200 today. Manhattan jewels Central Park and Highline Park, and Brooklyn's Prospect Park, Manhattan Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge parks are maintained by well-funded private conservancies that use mostly low-paid, nonunion workers.

The previous administration neglected parks in poor communities and concentrated on parks in gentrified neighborhoods – class discrimination that de Blasio blasted in his mayoral campaign.

The new initiative targets long-neglected low-budget community parks — nine in the Bronx, nine in Manhattan, six in Queens, six in Brooklyn and five on Staten Island — in neighborhoods with dense and growing populations and incomes below the poverty level.

 
© District Council 37, AFSCME, AFL-CIO | 125 Barclay Street, New York, NY 10007 | Privacy Policy | Sitemap