Dear Mayor de Blasio:

The New York City Council has requested that the NYC Parks Budget for FY15 be increased by $27 million to hire an additional 50 full-time workers, 25 full-time gardeners and 150 PEP officers. We want to thank our City Council Members for their efforts and for understanding the importance of Parks and that they have been historically underfunded and the time for change is now.

As our Mayor, it is vital that you keep this additional funding in the Parks budget. Councilmember Mark Levine recently stated at a Parks Committee Hearing:
Even with a small bump-up in the past year, the department’s full-time current headcount of 3,762 is down over 20% since 1987 and down over 37% since 1961 when full-time staff numbered 6,015. Today New York City’s Parks Department has less than 6 full-time equivalent employees per 10,000 city residents, ranking it 41st out of the 52 largest urban park systems in America, according to a recent analysis by the Trust for Public Land.

We, the undersigned, all love New York City and our City Parks please show us that you care about our parks too by keeping this additional $27 million in the Parks budget so they can better be maintained for the community members that depend on them.

Thank you!