Coronavirus Impact, Budget Cuts Put Riverside Park At Risk: Study

UPPER WEST SIDE, MANHATTAN — Financial strain brought on by the coronavirus could take maintenance of the city's parks, including Riverside Park's 330 acres, back to the days of New York City 's fiscal crisis, a new study found.

Riverside Park Conservancy and 24 other parks and open space groups that maintain half of New York City's parkland anticipate at least $37 million in lost revenue from the outbreak, according to their COVID-19 impact report.

Those cuts — which translate to thousands of hours in staff and maintenance — come as the city plans a $61.3-million reduction to the NYC Parks Department's budget.

The 2021 budget proposal would bring staffing levels below those of the late 1970s, the height of the fiscal crisis and when parks were "vulnerable, unkept and dangerous," the study found.

"These cuts, paired with the dramatic decrease in funds available for private not-for-profit organizations, will have a profound impact on the care and visitor experience of our city’s parks," the report, written by Parks and Open Space Partners - NYC reads.

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For Riverside Park Conservancy, one of 20 organizations surveyed for the report, the financial strain will mean impacts on horticultural care, free programs and park improvement projects led by volunteers.

The 20 groups that participated in and released the study were formed during that dire time in the 1970s when city cuts led to deteriorating, garbage-filled parks.

Their work has transformed spaces like a vacant stretch along Henry Hudson Parkway that Riverside Park Conservancy transformed into a pollinator meadow.

The groups largely rely on private support to maintain half the city's public parks and open spaces, the study states. But those private donations likely will fall 60 percent amid the coronavirus crisis, according to the study.

The study is part of the park groups' push for donations and support from the city.

“Parks are more important than ever, and we need to make sure that the groups that support them are ableto survive this crisis,” Riverside Park Conservancy President Dan Garodnick said in the report.

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