Metadish, Fresh from NYC

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While on the New York Times
website this morning, I came across an ad for Bloomberg that said,
"Streets are cleaner and the city is greener. How’d it happen? Mayor
Mike Bloomberg." Intrigued, I clicked through to Mike’s website where I found this:

Under Mayor Mike Bloomberg, New York has added 300 acres of new parkland, with new parks and playgrounds in every borough.

I clicked through to his accomplishments page and found these stats:

In
Manhattan: Mayor Bloomberg has already completed the reconstruction of
East River Park…During the Bloomberg Administration, the Parks
Department has added 300 acres of new parkland and 25.7 greenway miles
to the City’s recreational space…

Mike completed
reconstruction of the park? Himself? Awesome. Now, I know I haven’t
been in a few weeks, but the last time I checked, the East River Park
was not complete… has anyone tried to bike it lately? Or gain
waterfront access below 14th Street? Does he mean just the "parky
parts" are done and the cyclists and joggers will have to continue to
endanger themselves on First Avenue while parts of the greenway are
locked up? Gotham Gazette recently noted that:

In
the past two years, the park has gained refurbished ball fields (funded
through the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which was created
to rebuild lower Manhattan after 9/11), playgrounds and a rebuilt
outdoor amphitheater (which had been the first home of Shakespeare in
the Park). There are working public toilets and plans for more.

But
much of the park—the largest in lower Manhattan–lives in a state of
dishabille. A grassy patch turns brown. Another, greener lawn rarely
gets a mowing. A broken water fountain falling into a sinkhole has had
a tidy little chain link fence around it for years. Bikers and walkers
now traverse a noisy path up against the FDR that is always either
dusty or flooded. That’s the way it will remain until the promenade
reopens.

But the REAL problem with all of this– whether it
was Mayor Mike or park advocates who have claimed all that parkland for
the city– is that none of it is or will be taken care of because there
is simply not enough money in the city’s budget for park maintenance.
Bloomberg can brag about the amount of parks and playgrounds we have,
but over the past 20 years, drastic budget cuts have depleted Parks
Department’s professional staff by more than 65%. So we’ll have more
parks and fewer people to take care of them? Good work, Mike.

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