By Joyce Gramza
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wrvo/local-wrvo-947621.mp3
Oswego, NY – Robin Dropkin, executive director of Parks and Trails New York, says they fear more cuts and closings will be inevitable in Governor Andrew Cuomo's upcoming budget.
"We all know this is going to be an extremely tough budget year and reality says that all agencies are going to be cut and parks are not going to be excluded from that," Dropkin says.
But she contends that in the case of parks and historic sites, further cuts are not warranted and will only result in park closings.
"We feel that the State Parks agency has already been right-sized, because over the last few years its budget has been decreased 18 percent," says Dropkin.
It has lost 1400 full-time and seasonal staff people. That is way more than other agencies So I feel they have already taken their hit they've already been right-sized. So I still maintain a little bit of hope that they will be spared the budget axe," she says.
She reminds decision-makers that last year, Governor David Paterson announced plans to close 88 parks and historic sites.
"The people rose up," she says. "Legislators told me they had never heard from so many constituents on any other issue in all the time they had been in office. I think that really says something about how much New Yorkers love their parks, how passionate they are about their parks, and most importantly how they feel that parks are a good use of their tax money. There's a lot of things that our taxes go to that we all have no idea where it's spent but parks is a very obvious, tangible benefit."
Dropkin says the state park's operating budget, currently at 160 million dollars spread over 213 parks and historic sites, is a small fraction of the state's projected ten-billion dollar deficit.
"Do you really think that taking another 10 million dollars from the Parks budget is even going to make an impact on the deficit? It's like a rounding error," she says.
At the same time, she says, visitors do a lot more than walk or picnic in the parks.
"They buy gas, they buy food, maybe they stay overnight at a local lodging establishment," says Dropkin, adding that for many communities, especially Upstate, parks are their chief attractions.
She says parks and historic sites are responsible for some two billion dollars in economic activity in the state.
"Fifty-seven million visitors enjoy our state park system and that's really an incredible number," she says. ""It seems quite ironic to us that at the same time visitation to parks is growing, the budget to keep open and maintain our park sites is plummeting."
With the economic benefits that parks offer to the communities of New York, it seems to me it's penny wise and pound foolish to cut the parks budget any more."
But with that economic argument made, Dropkin says people will need to speak out if they want to protect their parks.
She says "Friends of" parks organizations statewide will urge members to speak out against further cuts but contacting the governor, legislators, and using social networking tools like Facebook pages to rally support.