One Percent of the Budget for Parks? A Bargain, Says a Nonprofit

NEW YORK TIMES—March 13, 2023—How much for parks? That was the subtext of a conversation with Adam Ganser, whose answer puts him at odds with Mayor Eric Adams, and it was hardly surprising. Ganser is the executive director of New Yorkers for Parks, a nonprofit that has championed them for more than 100 years. The mayor has proposed cutting the budget for the Department of Parks and Recreation for the 2024 fiscal year by about $46 million, compared with fiscal 2023. (City Hall disputes that, saying the mayor’s budget proposal left funding for the Parks Department untouched.)

Ganser argued for an increase, and a big one — about $346 million. He said that would allocate roughly $1 billion to the Department of Parks and Recreation, or about 1 percent of the annual municipal budget. “We’re talking about a rounding error in the city budget,” he said.

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