City Parks Foundation director says budget cuts causing maintenance, trash issues at Pelham Bay Park

Chrissy Word, director of education at the City Parks Foundation, says there are issues with maintenance, trash and taking care of the habitat at Pelham Bay Park.

Syeda Abbas

Nov 1, 2024, 9:43 PM

Updated 16 days ago

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She said she has seen glass bottles, plastic containers and beer bottles at the park.
The latest city budget slashed funding for NYC parks. Word says because of that, staff members and critical programs were cut.
A couple of weeks after the city's budget passed in June, the mayor's office announced NYC Parks was hiring 240 "second shift" staff members to focus on cleaning 100 hotspots on the weekends and evenings.
"Our parks will continue to suffer in terms of litter, in terms of facilities, not being able to be maintained the way they should be," Word said.
There will be another cleanup Saturday at the Hunter Island section of the park.
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News 12 reached out to the mayor's office and is waiting to hear back.
New York City Parks sent the following statement:
"NYC parks is committed to making our parks greener, cleaner, and safer. Under this administration, we've made significant investments to improve our parks and keep them safe and clean, including increasing the number of full-time staff, which will allow us to extend our cleaning schedule into the evening."