And I now want to turn it over to the parks and recreation committee's hearing on the FY27 executive budget for the Department of Parks and Recreation. My name is Ty Hankerson and I am the chair of the parks and recreation committee. I'd like to acknowledge my fellow council members who are present here today to which they were acknowledged already. Today we will be hearing testimony from DPR on its FY27 executive budget which total 685.4 million, a decrease of 2.2 2 million compared to the FY26 adopted budget. While we still have not reached the 1% mark that was promised by the mayor during his campaign, this is absolutely a step in the right direction. There is money for tree planting programs, seasonal staff, and the adding more than 120 positions to the baseline. This means that more than 120 people will not have to worry about the existence of their jobs come July. But there's still work to be done to help the park staff that do not have that same luxury. While I am very happy about the baseline positions, I don't want to fail to mention the other great parts of this budget. $1.7 million for additional seasonal positions to help out during the FIFA World Cup. 3 million in baseline forestry management funding. 3.7 million for overtime to those parks workers that shoveled snow during the blizzards this year and more than two million for tree planting. All great things, but as always, there is more to be done. The FY27 preliminary budget includes 27.1 million in new needs for FY27, 6.3 million in other adjustments, and 2 millions in savings. I am personally very happy to see the expansion of several parks jobs into the baseline and can't wait to see the remaining oneshots baselined as well and can't wait to see the remaining oneshots baselined as well. One more time and can't wait to see the remaining oneshots baselined as well. The committee is excited to hear testimony related to FY27's uh executive plan, specifically baseline oneshots, lifeguards, and concession revenue. Before we begin with testimony, I would like to thank council staff for their hard work. Our finance team, Aisha Wright, Jack Story, Owen Kadawaskki, and Michael Sherman. Our committee staff, Christopher Sattorii and Patrick Moville, Movill, excuse me, and my own staff, my chief of staff, Mariselo, and my special adviser, Cleave Destiny. I will now ask the committee council to go over some procedural items and swear in the representatives from the department. >> Thank you, chair. Um, so before we get started, just want as a quick reminder for this year's executive budget uh joint hearings, we're going to be doing all the public testimony on one amazing day. We're going to have a great party on June 10th. I shouldn't oversell this. Um, Wednesday, June 10th, beginning at 9:30 a.m. Uh, we're doing all the public testimony on one day. So, please remind folks in the community um that they should sign up for Wednesday, June 10th for the public hearings. Um, and now I will turn it over to committee council to swear in the witnesses for their testimony. >> Good afternoon. Uh, may you all raise your hands? Uh, do you affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth before this committee and to respond honestly to council member questions? >> I do. >> I do. >> I do. >> You may begin. >> Great. Uh, good afternoon, Chair Lee, Chair Hankerson, and members of the Finance Committee and Parks Committee, and other members of the council. My name is Trisha Shimamura, and I am pleased to be here today to testify as commissioner of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation regarding the AY's executive budget for fiscal year 2027, and to be joined today on this panel by several members of our AY's seniors leadership. First, I want to recognize the council for its continued support of our city's open spaces and for championing the importance of parks for all New Yorkers. Thank you for the opportunity to provide an update on our agency's efforts to build and maintain a healthy and thriving park system. The arrival of warmer weather in the spring means we're heading into our peak season when our city's green and open spaces truly come alive and more people get outdoors and take advantage of our amazing parks, beaches, pools to lead happier and healthier lives. In the two months since we appeared before the council to discuss the preliminary budget, we have been busy delivering results for New Yorkers, striving for excellence in the public realm, and proving each and every day that our parks and open spaces are crucial component to the mayor's vision to make this a more affordable city because parks are for everyone. Our playgrounds are for every child. And so over the last month, we have been proud to unveil the fully reconstructed children's play area at Hamilton Fish Park in Manhattan and the full renovation of Kyler Gore Park in Brooklyn and break ground on a full reconstruction of Captain Mario Fardo Playground within Casino Corridor Park in Queens. These projects are creating new play areas for different age groups and abilities, providing exciting new opportunities for children to explore, move, and play together. Our basketball courts are for everyone and basketball is a lifeblood of the city. Let's go Knicks. Uh so we were thrilled to open up to fully open uh reconstructed basketball courts at for four for playground in Washington's walk in the Bronx made possible from the support of council and mayoral funds. We also unveiled the newly reconstructed Grant Park also in the Bronx. A $17 million capital project made possible through the Jerome Avenue resoning initiative, conforming a former roaded and unused lots into 4.7 acres of park with open lawn area, basketball court, and other amenities. Our cultural institutions, just like our including our city's incredible botanical gardens, are for everyone. So, we recently completed a four point a $4 million project to transform the pedestrian overpass over the Bronx River Park Parkway connecting Bronx Park East residents to the New York Botanical Gardens, one of the most world's most distinguished botanical gardens and a New York City cultural treasure. Our city waterways and shorelines are for everyone and they are critical for the health and safety of New Yorkers and marine wildlife alike. So, our office of marine debris disposal and vessel surrendering has been keeping our city waterways clear with marine hazard of marine hazards. We have just announced the expansion of our marine vessel turn-in program so we can take in vessels that owners can no longer take care for before they become derelch. Building on the great progress we've already made and cleaning up over 120 derelik vessels clocking our waterways. Our public art is for everyone. So, we unveiled for the first time a new permanent commemorative public artwork and in New York City Park in over five years, installed in Elizabeth Hburgger Plaza in Manhattan to celebrate the literary legacy of New York's first Arabic speaking community and shine a light on an often forgotten facet of our city's diverse history. Our urban forest is for everyone and it serves as an essential living infrastructure to keep our city cool and resilient. So, we were proud to stand alongside the mayor's office of climate and environmental justice and other partners to announce the city's first ever urban forest plan, a comprehensive roadmap to preserve our tree canopy, plant more trees, and cultivate an ecosystem of stewardship. The plan laid out the city's goal of achieving 30% co canopy by 2040 so that every New Yorker can enjoy the vital benefits that trees provide, advancing environmental justice, mitigating heat impacts, and improving our quality of life. Our recreation centers are for everyone. So, we have been extremely gratified to see how quickly the local community has embraced the new newly opened Shirley Chisum Recreation Center in East Flatbush, Brook, Brooklyn, where we have already enrolled over 11,000 new members. Later this year, we look forward to opening the brand new Mary Cali Dalton Recreation Center in Staten Island, as well as reopening well-loved recreation centers after extensive and muchneeded renovations, including Lost Battalion Hall in Queens, Owen Dolan Recreation Center and Miss St. Mary's Recreation Center in the Bronx, and Sunset Park Recreation Center in Brooklyn. Last but not least, our city's swimming swimming beaches are for everyone. Though the weather was not quite what any of us had hoped for this Memorial Day, it was still a great start to the season as we opened up all of our public beaches for swimming. Our tireless maintenance and operation staff are out in full force keeping our beaches and boardwalks clean, and our dedicated parks enforcement patrol officers are keeping swimmers and feature goers safe, as are our incredible beach lifeguards. We are pleased to report that over the weekend the AY's active lifeguard core currently stands at 370 a significant increase over this point in LA in time last year. As we continue to train and certify additional new and returning lifeguards, our staffing levels will increase typically reaching their peak around the 4th of July after our outdoor pools have opened and we hope to ultimately exceed last year's staffing peak of 1,082 lifeguards citywide. We were especially thrilled to reopen the beautiful and historic Orchard Beach Pavilion to the public for the first time since 2009. This $114 million reconstruction project advanced in partnership with the New York City Dep uh economic development corporation restored the historic architecture of the landmark building, providing greater ADA accessibility and revamped concession and community spaces, enhancing the visitor experience. We are proud to have restored the pavilion to it its historic glory with a level of investment that properly reflects this incredible beach's place in the hearts of Bronx sites and all New Yorkers. Turning to the specific topic for this hearing, the fiscal year 2027 executive budget reflects the administration's ongoing commitment to fiscal responsibility amid economic and fiscal challenges facing the city while maintaining critical services for all New Yorkers and investing in a greener, healthier city. The operating budget for our agency in the FY27 executive budget is $685.4 million, a $31.4 million increase from the preliminary budget, reflecting the addition of a significant new needs expense funding, including, as you mentioned, the $15 million in baseline funding for what was known as oneot funded staff lines in our natural forest management, manage maintenance and operations, and ranger divisions. the first time in recent memory that this funding, typically provided uh once one fiscal year at a time, has been mayorally baseline before budget adoption. The FY27 executive plan also provides new funding for continuation of our in-house tree planting program pilot program so we can continue exploring ways to more efficiently green our city and grow our tree canopy as well as an expansion of our seasonal staffing plan to support increased park usage during the summer's World Cup sale forth 250 and Saleforth 250 festivities. Our AY's 10-year capital plan is $ 122.1 billion, including over $93 million in new additional funding to complete necessary repairs on park bridges around the city, which will be managed by our sister agency partners at New York City Department of Transportation. Though I am still new in my tenure leading this agency, I could not be prouder of the dedicated parkies that give their all to make our park system the very best it can be. And I could not be more excited about this coming summer. I'll end my testimony with a short history lesson. In the summer of 1936, 90 years ago, New York City held a series of opening ceremonies for 11 new gorgeous outdoor pools funded and constructed by the WPA or Work Progress Administration, a New Deal agency that employed millions of Americans during the depths of the Great Depression, lifting families out of poverty while delivering sorely needed public infrastructure projects to underserved neighborhoods. These 11 majestic pools are still beloved and enjoyed by local New Yorkers, but they stand also as a testament to what government can achieve when it marshals in the political will and resources to deliver for its constituents. A level of commitment that our agency strives to honor and embody every single day. We're going to be celebrating this historic anniversary in some very fun and unique ways as our outdoor pool season kicks off later this June. So, please stay tuned for more details as I hope you all can enjoy join us and enjoy some fun in the sun this summer. I want to thank the council for its support in improving our parks and open spaces for all New Yorkers and for the opportunity to testify today. We'd now be happy to answer any questions that you may have. >> Great. Thank you, Commissioner. Um, all right. So, let's just get right into things. By the way, I did um actually I'll tell you that story later. um um for oneshots. Um I as well as I know the chair have always hated that there were hundreds of people working um at the parks department that have their jobs as oneshots and it's very hard to plan budget all of the things that we need to do hiring um which takes a long time in and of itself. Um so we know there's a lot of challenges around the oneshot funding. Um, so in terms of the city park workers and rangers, I know that those were the ones that I believe were not baselined. Um, and so, oh, wait, sorry, those are the ones that were baseline. Sorry. While the parks enforcement patrol positions were not and so just wanted to get some insight if you >> had um, you know, insight with your conversations with OM or the mayor's office as to why those were not included. Yeah, you know, um first and foremost, I want to just uh lay the groundwork and say that we all understand that this was an incredibly difficult budget year that uh that this administration was really focused on delivering a budget that was transparent and and fair and balanced. Most importantly, we knew that as an agency, we also played a role in this. So I want to recognize uh first our our team that works directly with OM that continues to work directly with OM uh every day to talk about the needs of the agency but also kind of our role in overall uh delivering a balanced budget. Uh right I also want to recognize that $15 million baselined is truly something that not has not happened under an executive budget in in anyone's actual memory here and parkies go backways. Um, and so the idea that the mayor would and this administration would step up to baseline these items uh prior to an adoption of a final budget is really exciting. Um, but certainly I think that it was about just overall delivering on a kind of full picture of what was allowed and what could what could be happen in this budget. And we're very excited to see uh you mentioned the rangers. This is over 50% of our ranger program was in oneshot funding. To have that uh baselined is gamechanging when it comes to this division. Uh our maintenance workers, we know how important every single maintenance and operation staff member is. I cannot emphasize that enough. So to have 73 additional staffers who are included in our ranks fully uh is absolutely fantastic news and we know very much the significance of these other divisions. PEP, Parks Enforcement Patrol, Green Thumb, and others. So that's, you know, I would argue I can argue all day that every single component of my agency is is value added. >> And then in terms of But just going back to the the PEP, you know, the parks enforcement patrol, um, in the conversations you're having, does it sound promising that hopefully those things will get baselined or, you know, if not, then I guess we have to go through the usual process. >> Yeah. You know, I think uh like our our relationship with OMB has never has arguably never been better. We're very we're very grateful. Um I I think that we we hear a lot from the administration are in regular conversations around the significance of all the divisions, particularly the ones that are still oneshot funded. And so we're having regular if not daily, if not twice a day, conversations at this point around what our what these uh units are bringing to our park system and how incredibly valuable they are. >> Okay, perfect. Um and then in terms of the previous uh I know previously the Ranger one shots were 4.1 million per year and when they were baseline this year the total cost was 5.8 for the same level of headcount. So just wanted to know if you could um let us know what the delta of that is caused by. >> Sure. I'm going to um probably defer to our uh ex exe executive financial officer to talk about that that shift, but I believe that this is really just uh like the same amount of rangers that this is just an increase in their overall benefits and and kind of uh lines there. But go ahead, David, if you'd like to add any more to that. >> Well, if I don't have to tell the truth or Okay. So, uh yes, so OMB added that money there. There's a uh heavy cost associated with both Rangers and PEPs for uh bulletproof. >> Hold on one second. You have to be sworn in. >> Do you do you affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth before the committee and to respond honestly to council member questions? >> Yes. Now I will >> now. >> Okay. Yeah. There's additional costs associated beyond the costs of the individuals for bulletproof vests and equipment that they have and it's very heavy. So they've actually increased that so we can cover those costs and it was very >> I see. Okay. So it's not just the personnel, it's also OTPS as well. Okay. Got it. >> Perfect. Thank you. Um and is there any budget limitation for why PEP officers um cannot be baseline from the best of your knowledge or is this uh you know something that could be included in that? Just wanted to get clarification in the baselining. So there's nothing I guess um legally, logistically or whatever that would prevent them from Okay, perfect. Um okay, now sort of adjusting a little bit to tree planting. >> Uh I would like to sort of the plan included a new need >> of 2.1 million and 19 positions for tree planting. Um so would you be able to break down how this money will be spent and how many tree plantings will this support? >> Yeah, it's a great question. So to actually provide clarity here, the the uh positions that were funded in the executive budget were for forestry management, which Oh, is that >> No, this is a reference to the in-house pilot. >> Oh, in in the in-house pilot, I'm sorry. Yes. So the Sorry. So uh we've been running uh an in-house tree planting uh pilot for at least the last year, if not a little bit longer. This was done for a number of reasons. Uh we are always paying very close attention to the overall kind of industry of of contractors of work that's out there, the cost of these of these contracts, kind of the the es and flows of the tree planting industry. And we're seeing kind of overall kind of uptick year after year of uh kind of higher costs associated with tree planting. um uh just under the last two years we decided to undertake our own in-house tree planting pilot program to see if we could uh do this work ourselves in house. It's been going very well. We've focused predominantly on uh in Queens Village uh with this which is has an H yes uh and it's been going very well. So we're very excited to have again this uh another year of this pilot to continue to see how our running our own operation inhouse uh really impacts the overall market. Yeah, would love to hear more about that. If it's more efficient, if you're finding that there's less red tape to go through. >> I'm actually going to ask our assistant commissioner, Ben Osborne, for forestry to come up just to see make sure I didn't say anything incorrectly, but also to see if he would like to add anything about how the pilot's been going since it's been a year and we're very excited to see it undergo another year. >> Uh, yes, good morning. Um, >> you may have to swear. >> Yes, I'm ready to be sworn in. Thanks. Do you affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth before this committee and to respond honestly to council member questions? >> Yes, I do. >> You may begin. >> Um, okay. Thank you, commissioner, and thank you, uh, council member for for the the question and the interest in our in-house tree planting program. So, as the commissioner uh noted, we began planning for this in-house tree planting program during a time when we were seeing uh contractor costs increasing and we wanted an alternative to uh contracted tree planting partly as a way to control costs. Um, in the intervening years while we've been working out this plan, we've actually managed to stabilize and in fact reduce our contracted tree planting costs which we're very proud of. But we're also really happy with the initial success of this in-house tree planting program. Um, to date uh this uh team which has consisted of 13 people uh so far has planted over 1,800 trees in Queens Village which is a high HVI neighborhood. Um with uh this additional funding which will the funding is for uh the headcount uh as well as associated OTPS um we're going to be uh increasing the the number of personnel on the team um which will hopefully increase the number of trees that we plant. Uh so you know we're continuing to focus in Queens Village for the time being. >> Nice. And the deputy speaker and I share Queens Village. This is great news for us. Um, and just to so you said 13. Um, I believe the budget has 19 positions and so you're going to increase that. Do you know what the timeline for that would be? >> Um, well, we'll begin uh hiring uh early in the fiscal year. So, >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Um, and what specific titles will be supported uh by the funding? >> Yeah, those are um they're gardeners uh and APSWs primarily uh as well as supervision. >> Okay, perfect. Um, and then do you expect this to be oneshot or fully funded or hopefully this will be in next year's budget? >> I think we're I mean we're looking at the pilot for the for the second year as we as we do with any of our other kind of pilot programs or uh programs like this where we are very hopeful about the outcomes. will continue to be in con in communication with OM and uh and the administration around the results of this and we'll we'll happily bring you back the results as well after the second year. >> Perfect. And then with the additional funding because with 13 you're already doing 1,800 and so how much more do uh trees do you hopefully expect to plant with the increased? >> Uh yeah, I mean we're we're hopefully going to be planting over a thousand trees every year. And then just to flag also and forgive me, but um of course our planting season. While we've had some really wonderful planting years and and frankly like new peaks in terms of our overall planting, it's always of course dependent on weather and and kind of the season, what the season brings us. >> Okay, perfect. Um and then going into the savings program, um and as with all other city agencies, we know that you had to meet the targets that were laid out. And so parks met this target through a combination of additional revenue and vacancy reductions. Um and the plan includes uh revenue of additional revenue of 9.2 million in FY26 and 14.6 million in FY27 and the outy years from tree replacement fees. Um so just wanted to know how will the agency be altering its fee schedule to secure this additional revenue? >> Yeah, it's a great question. Um thank you for that. So, uh, the our our goal was very clear, um, and was and from the administration was to look very closely at all the different operations that we have under our portfolio and to look at ways to never reduce services, but also to look for efficiencies. And so in so doing with our chief savings officer, uh we recognized that some of the tree replacement fees that we were receiving uh were not being actually credited as funds going into the general fund, even though they should be. And so we're very happy and very grateful to be working with OM to properly give us credit for the funding that was already going into the general fund um in order to meet those marks. And so that's primarily where we're going. We're not actually increasing any any fees across the board. This is really uh really writing what was not being credited to us um in the overall um kind of larger general fund. >> Okay. >> Um and then what is the current fee for a tree replacement and what would be the update cost? >> Um just one second. See >> um I'm going to look to Ben while I look this up for you just in case Ben you have it faster. Um so to I I can jump in commissioner. Yep. Sorry. Thank you. Go ahead. >> Yeah. So, the average citywide uh tree replacement fee right now is $2,900. And, you know, as I noted earlier, that's a reduction pro from uh previous costs. It's actually 18% lower than it was in 20 uh fiscal year 22. We don't know what the FY27 fee will be as of yet because it uh each fiscal year the fee is based on our contracted cost from the prior fiscal year. So, we calculate that after the end of this fiscal year. >> Okay. And when in the fiscal year usually does that take place for the following? >> Um, so we, you know, we have to finish up our contracts, you know, in July. Uh, and then it, you know, takes us a couple of months to, you know, uh, make sure all those numbers are accurate and update the fees. So, uh, late summer, early fall. >> Okay. Um, and then can you break down the cost of the tree replacements, um, in terms of PS cost, contract cost, cost of actual tree? um >> when the payments are made. I don't know that it's broken down in in quite that way. Obviously, you know, when when the planting funds are, you know, delivered to parks to go ahead and provide those added, you know, then obviously, you know, staff is used in whatever way is deemed necessary. So, I don't think the payments that are made for replacement are are subdivided or broken down in in quite that way. >> Yeah. No, I was just wondering if you guys um calculated it that way because obviously there's the cost, right? the fee itself, but then in that fee is usually like a lot of other things that go into it like the the cost of the labor and other things like that. So, I just wanted to know if you had a breakdown of that. >> I don't don't have it here currently, but that is something we can follow up with. >> Okay, perfect. Um, and then last question is about the vacancy reduction. It's for 40 positions with savings of 9.2 million in FY26 and then 27.6 million in FY27 in the out years. Um so it was you know disheartening to see these vacancy reductions after years of the council fighting against um the previous administration's cuts and vacancy reductions at the parks department. Um we had hoped for um you know the 1% as the chair mentioned um you know 1% of the budget to the parks department. Um, but this is definitely something that the council included on our side in the preliminary response. And so, has the department decided which specific positions will be reduced? And if so, can you please provide that information? >> Sure. Um, you know, I want to thank again the council for their continued advocacy for of course increasing our budget. We, as a head of an agency, we love talking about bigger budgets and in bigger capacity. Um the the truth is is with these vacancies, we've uh been under uh as you know the two for one hiring freeze for a while and we see we've been talking about vacancies for far before this administration and so the vacancies that we had there were were not able to be filled. So, we've uh it's it's you know, we've uh worked very closely with OM to to have a lot of close conversations about vacancies that are that we've had long had empty versus new ones that are coming up every month and have come up with a essentially a a plan to move forward uh with the ability to fill our positions as they become vacant. Again, we're very excited about getting rid of the two for one piece and really what your what your constituents what our city is feeling right now in terms of our parks department, they're not going to really feel any sort of difference in those vacancies because they've been gone for so they've been gone for quite some time. >> Um, and since FY21, I don't know if you have the data for this, but if since FY21, how many positions have been reduced as part of the PEG's uh savings plans, and what level of savings were achieved by the reductions? I'm sorry. I don't think I have that information available, but worry, but I'm happy to have follow up with you all on that. >> Okay. And um what is the current budgeted and actual headcount for FY26 and 27? And if you could break down the numbers by full-time and part-time, that'd be great. >> Sure. So, while I flip over to this, um our agency full-time budgeted positions for FY27 is 5,141. Um I do have a historical uh perspective on that for you as well, but um that is significantly up. And then in terms of part-time or seasonal positions um >> 3,000 >> oh sorry we have around 3,000 yes full-time equivalent positions but that results in around roughly 5,000 additional employees. 5,000 33 34. >> Got it. So 3,000 FTE which equ which equals 5,000. Okay, perfect. Okay. Um I have a lot of other questions on trees and everything else, but you know what? Um I'm going to pass it off to um our chair Hankerson. >> Thank you, Chair. Uh just a few questions. Just going back to the oneshots. Can you please provide a breakdown of the remaining oneshots uh that were not included in the executive plan along with their funding amount in FY26 and any supported headcount? >> Sure. So, uh, of the remaining oneshots that are still, uh, up for up for question. Um, we have, uh, there are three real buckets. There's our parks enforcement patrol, our green thumb program, and stump removal funds. Um, which we're very grateful for. I'll take them in backwards order. So, for stump removal, it's approximately $2 million of stump removal. Um, this has not yet been baselined. Uh, it also complements a $1.4 4 million um or last year it complemented $1.4 million of mayoral baseline funding for in FY26 $3.4 million total. Um the number of stumps that that comes out to kind of depends year to year based on um the uh based on type of stump and the removal kind of period, but it's some roughly between 4,000 to 550 5,500 removals um per year. Um, in addition to that, our green thumb program, uh, the oneshot funding was in FY26, $2.6 million. That results that really equates to 15 positions with additional funding for OTPS. Um, our green thumb program is around is uh 32 baselineed year-round lines. And so these 15 additional positions do represent a significant portion of our uh workforce there. And I'm happy to talk more about the green thumb program and what that does. The oneshot fun the OTPS funding uh for this program also goes to tree pruning and removal tree removals within the green thumb community gardens. >> I appreciate that. Um let's just say >> Would you like me to talk about the PEP? >> No, not yet. >> Um let's just say PEP or Green Thumb, you know, don't receive funding in the adopted budget. Uh what will parks do with those employees who will no longer have jobs? Will they be given jobs elsewhere in the agency or the city? Will they receive severance checks? What's the plan? >> Yeah, we would typically in that case, which we hope is not the case, um we would typically work with uh each of these individuals to see if they would be eligible to be moved into other open lines or any grant funded lines. We have unfortunately seen this happen in the past where uh programs or portions of our departments are are not funded in another year. And so we work very hard to try to ensure that as many of our staff that can be accommodated in other portions of our agency can do so. It's of course though based on availability of open lines and positions. >> So if there are no open lines or positions, what what happens to >> then their lines are only funded until the until the end of the fiscal year. >> They would be without a job to be clear. Okay. >> Will all baseline positions be filled by those who are currently employed in those roles or will they be open to the public to be filled? I'm sorry. Can you repeat that question? >> So, will all baseline positions be filled by those who are currently employed or are you opening it up to the public to apply? >> Yes. Yes. Uh, by and large, unless there's some uh like uh disciplinary infraction that is pending, which I don't know of any right now, yes, all the positions would be filled by those who have them. Now, >> will parks continue to push for expanded positions in those areas or do you feel that you have the adequate amount uh with the current numbers? >> Sure. As I've said before, more is always more in in leading our agency. We are very uh thrilled to have the positions that we have. We're really excited about these $15 million of baseline positions. Again, historic and very very promising and a real indication of our value within uh the city. Uh but of course, we'd always welcome more resources whenever available. The plan included an additional 7.9 million beginning in FY27 for recreation staff. Um, which centers will those will these staff be stationed at? And can you provide a breakdown by title? >> Sure. Um, we are happy to give you a breakdown of title, but at a later date for a couple reasons. The plan is the plan is funding three different recreation centers. Owen, Dolan, St. Mary's, and Mary Cali Dalton. Mary Cali Dalton is still being built, so we won't be actually hiring until uh closer to when it's opening up. And St. Mary's no Dolan, same thing. We'd be hiring a little bit closer to when these are opening up. They're all opening up very soon this year. Uh which we're really excited about. There are a number of lines uh when it comes to management uh recreation centers. We have center managers, deputy center managers, CPWs, recreation associates, pep officers, lifeguards, uh sometimes IT folks who are there. So there's a number of different titles that we have. Sometimes engine resident engineers depending for new buildings like Shirley Chisum and others. So we're happy to give you that information as it becomes available. We'll be making those decisions closer to when we're hiring so that we can really see how particularly for those two rec centers that are reopening, how that balances out with our existing staff. >> Is it the practice of parks to hire from the local community that the rec center is in or being built in? >> Uh I mean we'd certainly try to as much as possible. I think that we have I'm very proud of my agency's relationship and how we engage with local communities. I think it's really important. I think that we should be continuing to not just rest on our laurels, but push ourselves further and harder to make sure that we are truly uh community- based entities and an agency that's rooted in the communities that we are very proud and privileged to serve in. So, uh, certainly with Shirley Chisum, um, which is my my first big recreation center opening, our first big one in the last 10 years, we're very proud to be working handinhand with the community. I think our center manager is actually from uh, East Flatbush, if I recall correctly. Um, not that that's always a mandatory piece, but we're always looking for opportunities to engage more local New Yorkers. >> We're also excited about the center that's coming to our deputy speaker's district very soon as well. So, looking forward to that. >> Groundbreaking this year. this year. I hope >> she said it, not me. Are there any additional part-time staff that will be hired along with uh the staff uh that are currently uh at the centers? >> No. What we have uh presented to us in the in uh this year's executive budget is what we'll be hiring for. >> How long does the agency believe it will take to fully hire these positions? >> Uh I I don't think it takes very long. We this is uh something that we are very good at doing. We will start predom um I believe as soon as the new fiscal year begins as we get closer to these openings. Okay. Uh just to jump over to capital projects. Parks has one of the largest capital budgets of any department, $3.9 billion between FY26 and 2030. Yet it consistently has long project timelines and issues with delays to which I know all my colleagues can probably speak to. I've seen this firsthand in my district with police Edward uh police officer Edward Burn Park uh to which comfort stations were funded by my predecessor's predecessor uh and construction is finally starting next month sorry July um what is the current budgeted and actual headcount for the capital projects division? >> Sure. So, our uh our budgeted headcount for capital is approximately 400. I'm just looking this up to make sure. 450 uh staffers. Sorry. Um and then I think that our actual headcount is 390 with 60 vacancies. >> 390 with 60 vacancies. >> Okay. Are there any issues with hiring capital analysts, engineers, project managers or architects? you know, I wouldn't say issues, but there are certainly unique challenges of hiring for these uh of hiring for these specific positions. Um, most importantly that we are competing with the private industry when it comes to these roles. They're highly specialized and oftentimes even competing with other agencies uh for the same type for very simil similar uh positions. Um, I'd say that we're looking very closely at this. I um would like to see this division completely staffed staffed up and looking very closely at how um to your first point we can shave down the time of these capital projects. I completely agree with you. I think that our capital timeline I understand the length of time but I also think it it is far too long and so however we can work together and we are talking to our sister agencies on this because a lot of it does come back to regulatory uh responsibilities that we have in in meeting other uh other rules and let pieces of and laws. Um we're going to look very collaboratively at how we shave this timeline down. >> Sure. Is there anything that you could suggest since you know we're we're here and I believe most members if not all of them on this day is have the same issues when it comes to timeline with capital projects. Is there anything the council can do? Um do you have any suggestions for us? >> Yeah, I really appreciate the question. Um you know I think that there are a few things. One is that we we really should and would love to have an ongoing conversation with you about pieces of legislation that could be moved along. There were pieces of legislation in past administrations, past members of the of the council who have talked about various kind of um efforts that could potentially shorten this timeline down. Um without getting too into the weeds, something like uh suggesting that a vendor gets registered with MOCS once uh as a vendor, but not necessarily specifically for every project could maybe close uh could shorten timelines for registration or things like that. We're working with our uh sister agency depart uh DP as well as OTI right now under my leadership to uh with uh Commissioner Garcia and others to um look at the SWIP process which we know has significantly added to our time frame um both in time but also in cost. looking at ways that we can uh shorten down that be it through rule changes or just through um maybe even having staffing from different agencies sit within our own agencies so that we can streamline these processes. We'll happily report to you more on that. I'd also say that a lot of times we see our projects expand in timeline because we see a lot of kind of scope creep in these things. We see a lot of times scope kind of expanding projects. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does complicate the overall procurement design processes and other things like that. And in large part, I I'd say that's a good thing because we also it's because we are rooted in community input. We start every capital project with community input. I think we're the only agency that does so. And that also means that because we have im many times where we're going back to the community, we are adjusting our designs every time. And and that also can just add to the timeline. One ask I would say is that um just working in close in close collaboration with your burough commissioners and with our capital team would be very helpful because we can help uh in collaboration together uh direct like you on projects that we know are just over the just just there to get fully funded or that um have like some other ways that we can group these projects together to kind of move the move the needle forward kind of faster. So, I'd say close close working relationships, which we're very grateful for already with our council members and the capital team is a big piece. Happy to talk to you more about other pieces of legislation. And then we'll be continuing to come back to you to discuss ways that we are specifically trying to shorten this whip process. >> Thank you. Um I I do want to acknowledge uh we've been joined by council members Nurse Hudson, P. Sanchez >> Wong >> and on Zoom we have council members Ang and Brooks Powers. Uh I just have a couple more questions. I'm going to turn over to my colleagues and then I'll circle back again with some some more questions. The admin has gone back to the baseline. The admin has not baselined 100 PEP officers who are on expiring contracts. Roughly what percentage of the total PEP do these 100 positions represent? Would you say these positions are critical to the agency? Uh uh yes absolutely. Uh our our PEP officers as anyone who is uh in our parks know are absolutely critical components to our agency. They are peace officers first and foremost but they also have an extraordinarily difficult job that they do very well every day. Uh they are there to essentially enforce our rules. And it's never fun to go up to a stranger and tell them that they're not following a rule or that they need to do something differently. But that's what our officers do. They also educate the public on on all things around um our parks and and making these spaces welcoming for everyone. They represent the 100 officers that are that were in oneshot funding represent a a strong component of our overall numbers. We have 350 roughly 354 uh officer lines and this is including those 100 officers. >> Do they specialize in conflict resolution? >> Absolutely. Yes. So we train they go through rigorous training for I believe it's 16 weeks uh and much of that is in conflict resolution. >> Would you say that without them we may see an increase in crime in parks? >> I'd say that PIPE officers are our one of our best tools to to enforce rules can keep people safe and engaged in our parks in appropriate ways. >> Thank you. The admin has not baselineed um 15 positions for green thumb. What do these particular roles do? And how many community gardens do does green thumb serve? >> I believe and I will double check our green thumb program ser has around 500 gardens in our entire portfolio. Although I can get that number confirmed for you. Our um as I mentioned before the 15 green uh staff lines represent again a significant number of our overall uh unit of uh they are 15 and then plus another 32. So 47 uh total. Um our green thumb green thumb program is incredibly important and a very a very um just culturally significant program because they allow for everyday New Yorkers to have a a very different type of relationship with the land and with our park system. Um it's through our green fund program that that families that New York residents are able to cultivate the land. They are able to create spaces for their communities that celebrate community, the differences in our communities, that celebrate the diversity of our communities and um have been oftenimes uh created when it feels like the surrounding neighborhood was just in so many ways falling apart. And it's these gardens that have turned communities around. They've uh they've really kind of become pillars um in every neighborhood that they that they are in. Um so they are significant. They provide tremendous benefit way beyond they punch before above their weight I would say in terms of what they bring back to their communities and um every single one of those staff members is incredibly vital vital to our agency. >> I just have two more questions and then uh I'll circle back. Where would you commissioner like to see additional positions if additional one shots were funded by this council? >> Thank you for the question. Um I uh as the leader of this agency, I don't necessarily like choosing between my children. Um so I will defer on that, but I'd say that um there's not one corner of my agency that is is um not being used to its full capacity. We provide incredibly wide range of programs and services. It's a very, you've heard it me in my testimony talk about 30,000 acres of parkland, 14 miles of beaches, and reading up about this. We have 160 miles of of coastline in our city that we actually are taking care of in our wetlands or 160 acres, sorry, not miles, 160 acres of coastlines that we're uh caring for in terms of our natural areas as well. There's not one division of my agency that's not ab absolutely uh serving New York and delivering on a very full rich and diverse public realm. So I of course would welcome additional resources in any component of that. I'm, you know, happy to talk about specifically these oneshot positions or the other historical positions that were oneshot previously and now baselined, but every department I'm extraordinar extraordinarily proud of and um can make a very strong argument that they are absolutely essential to our agency. >> Thank you. Uh my final question, the mayor campaigned on a promise um to get parks to 1%. What is the plan? >> Yeah. Well, uh happy I you know I certainly was very enthusiastic, very excited to hear that same um that same promise of the 1%. I think that um what I'd say is that we are in constant communication with the mayor truly um even as earlier today and every day we are talking about what the it looks like to expand parks budget. We were talking about what the real felt experience of what that looks like on the ground. I'm extremely grateful for our advocates and partners in this because we are in regular communication about um not only what 1% means but what it means to expand uh staffing across the board and and what that will feel like when we're able to achieve that. In the meantime, I'd say that our plan is always the same to deliver high the highest quality public realm possible to all New Yorkers regardless of who they are with the resources that we're given. >> Do you think we'll get there? >> I hope I Yeah. Yes, I do. >> Thank you, Commissioner. I'm going to turn it over to our colleagues. >> Great. So, also want to recognize we have been joined by Majority Leader Breu as well as Council Member Krishnan. and we will start with our deputy speaker followed by council member Brewer. >> Hello. Um, I just had a few questions. Um, I'm going be a little bit all over the place, but the permit division, can you share how many people work in the the citywide permit division? >> Um, sure. One, if you don't mind, one moment. I may ask our um assistant commissioner David Cerrone to join us to give the specifics on our permit division, but um while he's coming up, I'd say that our permit division is divided kind of in twofold. Um we have our burough permit offices which handle um everything from your average birthday party to I'd say kind of more run-of-the-mill events. Um, when it comes to specialized kind of citywide or specialized uh permitting, be it large scale events or permitting that has special elements to it, commercial elements to it, or otherwise just big events that goes to our citywide permitting office, which I think is probably what you're asking about. >> I'm 100% talking about citywide. >> Okay. So, I'll turn to David Stone then. >> Burough permits office is not the problem. >> Great. >> As you know. >> Yeah. >> Good afternoon. Do you affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth before this committee and to respond honestly to council member questions? >> I do. >> You may begin. >> Uh, it's nine. Council member, thank you for the question. >> And how many permit requests get funneled to the citywide division every year? >> Uh, they're processing approximately a thousand. >> Do you think that is an adequate amount of staff to process a thousand permit requests every year? Uh we we're we're happy to work with with the resources that we have. Of course, it's always it's always helpful to have more resources like like you know, every city agency. Uh but we're we're going to continue to do the best with with the uh the team that we have. >> Okay. Um a question about the PEP officers and Roy Wilkins. So, I know when my um predecessor fought really hard to like baseline about $1 million to Roy Wilkins, um the PEP officers were specifically for Roy Wilkins, but as I understand it, the PEP officers are moving around multiple parks in Southeast Queens. And as you know, we had the tragedy um a month or so ago and I love my Queensboro commissioner and I understand the thinking around having the pep officers move around considering there may not be a lot of activity in one particular park, but considering that Roy Wilkins specifically has a very large volume of young people that go after school in the summer, I just wanted to know if the parks department was thinking about increasing the number of PEP officers in Southeast Queens so that they don't have to rotate. Um obviously prior to my predecessor I don't think there were any PEP officers um in our area. So I just wanted to understand um the thinking around that how many PEP officers are assigned to um Roy Wilkins. >> Sure. So thank you for uh the question. So certainly we can look at this. We uh of course we're we have our 350ish 354 officers for the entire city when it comes to we try to cover as much ground as humanly possible when it comes to that specific funding. Happy to look into this and and to to see we know how important Royer Wilkins is. We know how heavily used it is throughout the really every season but particularly during the summertime. So happy to look at that. And in terms of overall staffing numbers, we are constantly trying to take a datadriven approach as much as possible towards deploying our staff. Uh trying to cover our hotspots, our spots where we know a lot of people are going. We also of course during the summertime are extending our pep officers also then to beaches uh and pools as well. So we just try to cover as much ground as we can, but we'll certainly >> Yeah. And in Southeast Queens, we're always one big happy family. And so for me, it's fine to have the PEP officers rotate between Council Member Hankerson's district and mine, but what I don't want to see is that the resources that were technically supposed to be for one particular park get stretched thin versus your department deciding to just invest a little bit more in Southeast Queens. That money was for Roy Wilkins and for the PEP officers in Roy Wilkins, which again, I think it's fine for us to share, especially if the activity is not as much in certain parks, but I just want you all to review that and not like continue to use the PEP officers that technically were not for other parks. >> Sure. >> Um I have just one more question and then I guess I'll come back for round two, chair. Okay. So, the um other question I have is I know I spoke to you. I can't remember the name of the title of the rec staff that technically which I didn't even know this existed, but that does the pickup play games in the park. >> Playground associates. >> Playground. Yes. Can you just share how many playground associates um exist across the city because I've never heard of that position. I don't think there's any playground associates in Southeast Queens, but prove me wrong. Um, but yeah, I just I think that is a low-key equity issue because I don't think I would love to know where the playground associates are and if they are like equally distributed across New York City. >> Sure. Um, I'm going to look to our deputy commissioner, Margaret Nelson, to give us a little more information, but while she's coming up, I'm happy to talk a little bit more. So, the program that I think you're referring to is our playground associate program. It's uh the same group of people who are also helping staff our uh summer camp program, but we have I think last summer we had 73 playground associates that we put. You'll see them in yellow shirts. They should be wearing yellow shirts and they are stationed throughout parks throughout the city. And we will definitely get you a list of where they are located. I don't know if we've actually come up with Oh, we did come up with a list of locations. Oh, by burrow. We can give you that list of by by burrow, but we can also give you a list by park. Um after this how many parks do we have? >> Of course we have we have we have thousands >> and we only have 73 playground associated. >> Yeah. So we do them strategically. We pick the locations where of course there's a public restroom building of course where there's some sort of like water play. Um and then we uh where we know that we're able to reach as many kids as possible. It's an incredible program and I'm grateful for your question because it gives me an opportunity to talk about it in more detail for we know that often times and I I was one of those kids um where you work dur your mom your parents work during the summertime and you just have no place to go. So you either hang out at home in the apartment or you go out in the parks by yourself and we know that for many kids parents myself included it's a terrifying idea to have your kids go out there without any sort of adult presence. Our playgrounds associates create that adult presence. They are there to engage kids in any sort of activity. They're there to make sure that they're drinking water, that they're cooling down. It's board games. It's basketball. It's uh playing on the so it's play it's playing doing uh kicking a ball around on a soccer field. It's all of these things and more. Um they're out there keeping an eye out and looking for kids. And I'm sure Margaret can give you some of the numbers, but when it comes of how many kids we're actually reaching, the while it's it is a small program of 73 playground associates, we're reaching thousands, if not tens of thousands of kids every summer, and it's tremendous. I want more families to know about this program. I'm really enthusiastic about it. It is a tough job to be out there all day just looking out for kids, but that's what we do. It is meant to complement the a number of other very affordable opportunities that we provide to New Yorkers. Um I believe that that this is like a network of services that is absolutely our job to provide and I'm very proud of what this program brings. Margaret can give you some of the more specific numbers. >> Good afternoon. Do you affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth before the committee and to respond honestly to committee questions? >> I do. >> You may begin. >> Thank you. Um I think you summarized it, you know, amazingly, but just to give you some of the numbers, um we do have 73 sites currently. Um and that's pretty much been our historic average for the past couple years. We have 13 sites in the Bronx, 14 in Brooklyn, 23 in Queens, 13 in Manhattan, and 10 in Staten Island. And I don't have the list of the exact uh parks, but we can get that to you. Um uh in terms of especially Southeast Queens. And then in 2025, uh, we served over 440,000 participants during the summer. Um, and that is a big increase from 2024 where we served, uh, approximately 300,000. Um, and I would also just like to add in addition to, uh, what our commissioner said, uh, you know, these are seasonal positions, so we are recruiting people with some experience working with kids, and they are out in those playgrounds every day working with these kids. And if you can do that that job, we're like, you should be in recreation. And so it is a good pipeline for us too to hire folks from the community, work with our kids in the summer, um, and then when we have positions available, kind of bring them into our full-time workforce. >> Thank you. And I appreciate all the details and I would love to just see it expanded because I agree that it's a good program and nobody knows that it exists. >> Great. Thank you. And we have you down for round two. Uh, Council Member Brewer, followed by Council Member Narcissis. Thank you very much and congratulations commissioner on your hard work. I am aware of your hard work and it's showing. Thank you. Um on the pep officers what I know you have 354 100 hopefully will get included in that. There are included how many do you really need? Um I mean right now our pep officers are Thank you for the question and thank you for your comments. Right now, our PEP officers are uh predominantly running on, as uh the deputy speaker mentioned, really trying to cover as much ground as we possibly can. There are situations where we have them be stationary in in parks, but we're trying to cover as much ground as possible. I'd say again, we'd welcome as many resources as possible. We know the benefit of PEP of PEP officers here. Um it would be lovely to see as many we we'd love a presence in >> even Central Park needs them. They have their own ranger core, but between the ebikes and the 42 million people and other parks similarly, you need more pep officers. So, at some point, I think you should tell us how many you need and then we should be advocating for that. Just a suggestion. Number two, trees. You know, I hate your program. >> Yes. >> So, my question is, how much because we're never going to get another freaking tree in Manhattan. So, my question is, how much does it cost? Maybe you answer this. I didn't get an answer. per tree. If you're I know if it it costs you in-house 2,900, I got that, but I have I can't use you. So, what's where else can I where do I go? Do I go to New York trees? Do I get do I can somebody just put a tree in the in the in the pot in the pit? How do I get more? How does that work? >> Yeah, thank you for We did answer your question, but we're happy to talk about this. And thank you. I I >> Well, you didn't say how else I can get a tree. >> So, you can There are a couple ways. So constituents or any anybody yourself included can um plant purchase their own tree and they could work with us. We can help give directions on the type of tree to plant any sort of planting guidelines. We do like to advise on types of trees that are that are you know here and complimentary to the trees that we have. You can also go to tree time which is our partner in this and that and that kind of fasttracks also trees being being put in um in plant in uh tree beds and then um I'd say that those are the two primary ways. I'd also say though that in terms of the work that we're doing of course I would remind you that it's not just about planting trees but it's also removing stumps um and then covering up tree pits that are no longer viable trees. >> Honestly, I just want more trees. They're dying like crazy. And so I guess what you're I mean I'm still trying to get rid of your program and find another program, a complimentary program, something. I have the same question. You need X number of PEP officers, but how much do you need to actually have a real tree planting program that would plant 1,800 in every neighborhood or whatever is needed? >> Yeah, thank you. I I mean I think our our four street in terms of our street trees that we have and and that we care for and including also the landscaped uh parks are around 880,000 trees. So it's a tremendous amount of trees that we're caring for and are we're able to care for that many trees through a combination of of contracted work in in our in-house unit. >> Okay. and lifeguards now I don't want are they out of Chelsea I mean out of um 60th Street rec center and how thanks to Iris lifeguards are increasing I give her full credit so my question is do you have enough for the summer can you move them out or they moved out of what's the name of that stupid thing that Adrian >> I don't hate that name that was Adrian's idea the 60th Street rec center >> are they out of there >> no we're still we're so uh our life. So, thank you. Um we are still certifying reertifying and reertifying our lifeguards. I'll turn to our first deputy commissioner to give us more information about this. We'll be continuing to do this and get them all trained and get them out into our beaches and pools up through the 4th of July is where we'll hit we'll hit our peak. Um we right now are looking very good at our numbers. We're higher this year at this point in time than we were last year. We'll be very excited to share with you the final numbers on the 4th of July, but I'll let our first deputy commissioner talk about specifically the use. We are we're training and resertifying our lifeguards at a number of our facilities and I know Gertude at the 60th Street Recreation Center is one of them. >> Yeah, we want them out of there. Go ahead, sir. >> Thank you, Commissioner Council Member. Um, we are training and certifying lifeguards in all five burrows in Manhattan. We're in uh Chelsea and 60th Street, Gertude Utterly. We conclude training and certification right around July 1st into the fourth right around there. And then after that we'll be done with the training and certification. >> Then we can get the teen room back for the rest of the year >> until we start training again in the fall. >> Okay. But I need that teen room back because it's right next to Nicha and nobody can swim there. It doesn't it needs to have a lot of NICHA residents swimming there and to be honest with you the lifeguards are preventing that. So I further discussion. And I've been asking about it for about 10 years. >> Sure. >> Okay. And then just finally, the other um quick question is maybe you did this already, but how many I have the number of 5,000 seasonal workers? Again, it's still they start when because it takes a while I think to get them on board, right? Or do the seasonal workers start exactly when they're needed. That seems to be a problem in Riverside Park. And then finally, the bathrooms. How are we going to fund some of these bathrooms? >> Thank you. So, um, let me, uh, take the bathroom piece and then I'll turn to our first deputy commissioner to talk to you about the the seasonal hiring piece. So, certainly our, you know, as I've said before, our capital, I definitely understand and hear the concerns around the timeline for our bathroom projects as well as the cost. As particularly in your district, but in many districts across the board, we see that these are not just bathrooms. They're bathroom plus or bathroom plus+. They're historic landmark bathrooms with staff spaces associated with them. many of them embedded into hillsides. All of this actually adds tremendous amount of costs. Now, we certainly can't we're not making up the numbers in terms of the market, in terms of the overall cost, but where we do have some control and where I believe that we should be focusing is on the timeline of these projects. I really want to see this timeline shaved down. I want to work collaboratively with our other agencies to try to shut uh shave down some of these processes, uh reduce inefficiencies and deliver capital projects faster. Um, when it comes to the overall costs, I think we're all hands on deck and thinking through ways in order to do this. Certainly, we have tremendous partners and I know that you have some infamous ones in 13 million >> and so we're working very closely with our partners to think through ways that we can that we so that we can deliver bathrooms faster and hopefully for less money. Um, it's an ongoing conversation, but I definitely hear it. And then for the hiring, I'd actually say that we we are one of the agencies that hires the VA the largest kind of seasonal component plan uh in the city. And so we've become very good at this. We have become very nimble when it comes to the seasonal hiring. Um and have been working very we haven't had any hiccups, but I'll let our first >> I've heard differently. That's what I'm asking. So go ahead. I've heard it takes by the you know takes a while to get them hired and therefore the season kind of moves along. But go ahead. >> Uh thank you council member. No, we have no issues with no constraints with hiring. Um, we're very efficient at it. As the commissioner said, we have three tranches. We hire in midappril for spring startup and ball field, May 1st for beaches, and June 1st for pools. So, the last of those three tranches will be coming on within the next week because again, we open pools in the end of June. So, each of the tranches comes on about a month before their work is needed. >> How about the what I call horiculturalist or season the people in the parks? That would that would be uh April for April 15th. That's >> April. So they and they start for the whole summer and they're already on April 15th. >> Yep. Six months begin April 15th. >> All right. Thank you. >> Okay, great. Um so we've been joined by Council Member Juan as well. So we have Council Member Ni Narcissis followed by Council Member Juan. >> Thank you Commissioner and thank you for the leadership and everyone that's here. But it seemed like the question I was going to ask about the staffing again, do we have enough staff? I know you came with your dream and so is the leadership here. So, do we have enough staff or do we need um funding to make sure that all the things that we asking because I'm going to ask too what we need in our district and New York City at large. Do we have enough funding to cover you feel like we going to be you're going to be able to run the parks safely with you know efficiency and everything? >> Thank you for your question. Uh, I will again say that I'm extremely proud of the work that we're doing with the staff and resources that we've provided. I of course would always welcome more resources and more staffing. However, we also understand the mandate that we have and the responsibility that we have to deliver a safe, welcoming, open park system that is well cared for and we'll continue to work on doing that with the resources that we have. >> You know, we love parks, right? So, um, in 2024 in adopted, um, budget that we had, right, the plan was we had a $800,000 for a pilot program, um, to provide menstrual products in the parks bathroom. Can you please give me an update on that? >> Sure. I'll uh turn to our first deputy commissioner. Do you have any >> I'm not aware. >> Yeah, my my my recollection is that I believe uh in a series of PEGs that might have been I can't remember the exact plan, but my recollection is that the funding for that pilot was withdrawn before the pilot started. >> Okay. So, we're not going to have menstrual products in our bathroom the way that we expected. >> It is not a standard amenity. >> Moving forward, we talk about pools in the city of New York. you know that a lot of areas we don't have any pools including mine um one of the gold because we talk about trees a lot and which I spoke to the commissioner to me rec center is just like a preventive um approach when it comes to so many problems we're dealing with in New York City with our youth. So in term of planning like for for instance right now I push very hard to get a study done and it's in EDC right now. So I want to know how commissioner I can push forward to make sure it happen not in 10 years um ahead but right now what can we do to make sure it happen? Thank you for your question and let me just reiterate to you I too believe very much so that our parks and our recreation centers are absolutely a part of should be part of the public health discussion and should be part of the public safety discussions. So much of uh putting down places like Shirley, places like Mary Kelly Dalton, the work that's happening at Walter Gladwin and other places and in the Bronx and and across the city really does result in safer more uh oper safer neighborhoods, creating creating more opportunity, more upward mobility, and so many other things. And it's it's a joy and a privilege to be able to do that. I'm grateful for your $500,000 that you've allocated to to look through this and I'm very happy to work work with you on this. As you know, with something like Shirley Chisum, we saw funding coming in from city from city and the state. I believe in terms of making this a reality. I think that we should continue to have conversations particularly now because we we are able to show communities what can be possible when you have purpose-built spaces, when you have new spaces being built for modern-day recreation. And when we say recreation, we know we mean so much more than just an athletic basketball court or a gym where we which is great, but we we see so much more. We talk about arts, technology, and culture and other pieces to this. So, we're happy to continue to give to work with you in terms of spreading that narrative of what recreation centers, what New York City parks and recreation centers actually mean, which is way more than your gym space. It is we're talking about e economic development. We're talking about safer and healthier neighborhoods and I'm happy to to work on you work with you and to champion that narrative. >> Yeah. Thank you. And I would like to be the catalyst to that process because it say so long. Everything that we have to do in parks is just forever and that's the reason I'm with my colleagues what can we do because we feel like we are sitting like waiting and and things not happening. It's just like um it's just frustrating to to some to some level. Look at Charlie Chism. You have 11,000 new members already. I was there. It's a beauty. So, we can continue doing that. That's all I'm saying because I'm here. I mean, ready to work with you. And even for the plants, like we're talking about the trees 2,900. If we can help, we have some kind of organization locally. Maybe we can help speed up the process. That's what I'm saying. So, thank you for your time and thank you, Chair. >> Thank you. Okay, Council Member Juan, followed by Council Member Brooks Powers on Zoom. >> Thank you so much, Shirley. Uh, good to see you, Commissioner. I want to I have a few questions on um some of my parks. So, first and foremost, the capital tracker for parks is severely broken and is never updated. It's extremely frustrating for myself and all my constituents. So, Murray Park was found to have severe remediation issues. It's the only dog park and um playground in Court Square and we're still waiting for that park to come online. Can you give us a clear update on when that park is going to come online and when it will go into construction because it's been four years. >> Yeah, thank you, council member. I um I appreciate the comments on the capital tracker. I will tell you first and foremost, I will will have to get back to you specifically on the updates, which we will. We have a very good track record of following up with every request when it comes to these. So, we'll happily give you that update. I'll happily look into this myself, but I want to just tell you with the capital tracker, um, I hear you. Uh, we want to make sure that that the information is up to date, but also that is realistic on our timelines. Of course, sometimes we see those timelines slip back for whatever reason, but we'll look into this specifically and make sure that the information is as updated as possible. >> Okay? Because it's it's extremely important that that park comes back online and that all the soil is remediated. And next, as part of the one law and city reszoning project, the city committed to developing 5 acres of new public open space under the Queensboro Bridge by 2031, including $97.3 million in capital funding. The capital plan states on page 113 that this commitment is funded through four different projects with planned commitment dates starting from June 31 to June 33. In correspondence with members of the parks planning team, we have received confirmation that this funding was supposed to begin in FY28 through FY31. So it is severely behind. So the project project ID numbers are L I Q NB P2 SED S E D- QB AQ seed- OS QB and then seed- QBBP. Can you clarify the start date for the capital funding for new open space under the Queensboro Bridge as promised? And will the funding timeline present any delays in the city's commitment timeline to the completed new open space by 2031, which is what we're assuming because of the dates that you've printed? And do you expect any additional funding to com uh it will be needed to complete these projects given the timeline has been pushed back according to your latest print? >> Sure. Well, we'll have to again get Thank you for the the specifics. We'll have to get back to you specifically on where those projects stand. However, I will tell you that I was just and thank you frankly. Let me just also say thank you for your advocacy. Um I think that additional open space is always really exciting. I know that you fought very hard for this and specifically were really involved. I think that will to my knowledge and I was just briefed on this project recently. I have not heard of any delays here. So we'll we'll have to get back to you to be sure of that. Um sometimes we get that funding and it's allocated for funding in out years. So that may be when funding is coming to us, but I have not heard today any sort of delays with these projects. I know that they were very important. They were a big win for you and we'll continue to give you updates on them. >> Okay. And then the city also committed $30 million in renovations to renew Queensbridge Park as part of 1LIC resoning with design beginning in FY28. >> And the capital plan states on page 113 that this project is funded with planned commitment dates of June 32. So again, another delay, far beyond what was promised to us and committed to when we um in writing. In correspondence with members of the parks planning team, we have received confirmation that this funding was supposed to begin in FY28 to FI through to FY32. Um project ID SE-QBRG. Can you clarify the start date for the capital funding to renew Queensbridge Park? And will funding timeline present any delays to the city's commitment timeline to begin design FY28? And do you expect any additional funding to complete this project? Because the speaker, Adrien Adams, the former speaker, has also committed $12 million to this project. And this is extremely vital for the largest public housing um community members to have access to this park on time. >> I'll interject here uh just for a moment to clarify. Uh with every financial plan uh the agency worked closely with OM to to go through what we call a rationalization exercise which is when the capital fundings are actually placed in the fiscal year in which they are expected to be registered. So the vast majority of a capital project's budget gets spent down during construction. So therefore when a project begins that means it starts design but then there is the expected design time the expected procurement time you know other additional time. So it is very common and in fact necessary that the uh relevant funds the bulk of the relevant funds will be placed in and out year. So it's a you know as as the commissioner I think noted at but just to provide additional clarity that sort of spreading out of capital funds is extremely common not specific to those projects whatsoever happens throughout our capital uh portfolio. Okay, great. I just want to make sure that it's on record that the Queensbridge um under under the Queensbridge park, it will be completed by June 2031 and also the Queensbridge Park itself will be completed by um we'll begin design in FY28 and be completed by 32. So, I just want to have that on record and I'll we'll follow up with you um via email to make sure that we are continue to keep this project accounted for. Thank you so much. >> Okay, great. Um, okay. Unfortunately, we lost quorum, so we're going to have to skip ahead to Council Member Wong, followed by Council Member Nurse. >> Thank you, chairs. Um, thank you, Commissioner, for coming. Um, we'll be chatting later on the phone. Yes. Um um my first round of question is regarding um the biggest park in my part in my part of Queens in my district, Juniper Valley Park, particularly uh the bathrooms and uh capital project that's involved. Uh right now Juniper Valley Park currently has zero functioning bathrooms. uh one building is out of service due to an active capital project and the other closed recently due to unforeseen circumstances something to do with the sewer line. Um this park is heavily used uh by seniors, families and children especially during the summer and we have an upcoming concert in a in a couple days this Thursday. Uh and then we need the bathrooms. Uh, can can can your agency give this council today a firm completion date for the station house bathroom near the tennis court because we need it. >> Sure. >> Yes. >> Thank you for your question and I will just say um that I'm in I'm we are incredibly proud to be the largest a the agency that provides the vast majority of public restroom buildings throughout the entire city. Over 700 that's more than there are Starbucks in the city. It's a it's a tremendous responsibility that we take very seriously. Um, so we'll get back to you specifically on the updated date of the restroom project that's going on in your district, but I want to also flag that we can also I would love to work with you council member offline to see about um I'm of course concerned about big gatherings happening in the parks when there's no public restroom availability available. We can look at whether uh like some sort of portaand situation or something else that can can be happen there. Oh, there are already. Great. So, I know that we're we it sounds like we have some portisans or some other temporary toilets that are there. It's not ideal and it's certainly not the long-term strategy, but we want to make sure that that we are also working closely with you to to accommodate uh these big events when they're happening. That's what that's my next question because uh it took it took me several phone calls to finally get the uh temporary sanitation facilities uh and the answer I was told was uh the cost of these temporary porta parties uh are not baked into any capital projects uh >> and and how how would >> park attendees uh uh go to the bathroom if uh if there's no budget for these porta parties. And in this case is is serious because we have this huge park and both bathrooms are closed and first we we ask and as only two porta parties were provided and only recently another two and there we're still uh asking for more because in an average concert we have 4 500 people going and uh four porter parties is clearly inadequate and that's my question why why are porter parties not budgeted in capital projects? Yeah, >> because it makes no sense. >> You know, it really and and I I appreciate the question and I'm glad to hear that we're working with your office and we work with others. I was just talking to another council member, I think of Elis about uh Portisans in her district 2 while we have uh while we have u a capital project going on. It it's difficult to bake something like that into our contracts. Um one because I I don't actually know if that's a capital eligible piece to it, but two um it's not. And then two, um every park project is different. We may have a park where we have one capital project going on where it doesn't require it because there's another port uh there's another public restroom building in that park. So they would be able to find the a bathroom elsewhere while uh some we think are going to be are going to be handled in the winter time where we think it's can handle it versus others where unfortunately at Juniper at Juniper Park you have kind of unfortunately all the bathrooms are down at one time. So it's difficult for us to predict and it's also not capital eligible. So it's it's imposs unfortunately not something that we're able to do. But I will say that I'm you know we are very sensitive towards wanting to make sure that even when these capital projects are happening that that communities are still able to use their parks. So in the cases like this I'm very happy to hear that we're providing those public those temporary public bathrooms is as is not the ideal situation but at least there's something there. >> So we'll talk later about this and there's some other other issues that we need to res resolve with you. Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you chair. Great. Thank you. Um, and next we have Council Member Nurse and then the chair will be asking Council Member Brooks Prow questions. >> Thank you. Um, I'm going to talk about my district parks because that's what we do um at parks hearings, but uh I want to say Highland Park, amazing. Thank you. I always love the maintenance and attention given there. Tiger Playground, great. I have no issues. Um, my issues are at Irving Playground and Irving uh Square Park and uh Bushwick playground behind Bushwick campus. Um, and that is where I need at least for Bushwick campus extraordinary attention this summer um for enforcement. I've done years of walkthroughs. There's a thousand emails to you all. You you all know about this area. Last summer we had a couple stabbings. Um, it was really bad. um all the time. It was a source of non-stop complaints and Bushwood campus, that park, we really need attention this year. So, I don't know how many PEP officers you have in Brooklyn. Every time I call and ask, there's like only 12 in the whole bureau or whatever. I don't know where we're at now, but we do need extraordinary attention this summer. I'm only asking for one park to have attention, and it is that park. Um the 83rd does what they can for it, but we really we really need attention there. With Irving, it's less about enforcement, but I do often see a lot of our volunte volunteers pushing um non-electric mowers to mow the grass. I mean, it would be great if we could get the grass cut on time. I don't know if there's a schedule, but I I hate to see that. I mean, I love people doing their part, but I don't want these folks having to mow the grass in our little park. Um, and then we have a a bathroom there now. So, I'd love to talk with you all about a playground associate there and also making sure that that bathroom is stocked on a regular basis because we've gotten a lot of complaints about that. >> Yeah, thank you so much, Council Member. Let me just um thank you so much for your comments. I really appreciate it. We can certainly look at uh Bushwick and Irving. I wrote those down. And I just want to clarify that for our PEP staffing, uh we uh we have 53 uh staff staff members uh that are baseline for um Brooklyn, 53 in the Bronx, 53 in Manhattan, 53 in Queens, 32 in Staten Island. Um again, that's for the entire burrow. So >> do how many are assigned to North Brooklyn? >> I I would have to get back to >> Yeah, I would lift every time I call >> it's like we only have five people on. I just can never get anybody there. Yeah. I'm always call the precinct. Call the precinct >> and the precinct's busy, >> you know. >> Absolutely. And and I will say also that I I know that that doesn't feel it has a very different feeling as well when it comes to also we see our our pep officers who that are then at our pools and at our beaches and so they do cover a lot of ground and we're very proud of it. Every single one of them. Um >> you had mentioned uh in terms of bathrooms and um mowing so I wanted to mention the grass. Yeah. Uh so certainly while we're h we do have a regular schedule. Um I'll look to our first deputy commissioner to share a little bit more about that regular schedule of grass cutting. If there's anything in particular that we're not seeing, we appreciate your feedback on that. >> Well, I always let I always let the Brooklyn commissioner know when it's time, but it would be nice to not have to do that. Yeah. And then um for the bathrooms, our I'll ask our first deputy commissioner also to speak on this, but we do monitor everything from so soap to toilet paper to working fixtures in our public restroom building. So we will certainly look at this because it would be coming up. We monitor this on a regular basis. Um and we're happy to have the first deputy commissioner speak more to this. >> Uh council member, the site should be moan on a twoe cycle. Um so we'll look into it. Uh we track the data. I can look at a dashboard. Um, as the commissioner said, our public restrooms, we have three touch points a day at every one of our public restrooms because we unlock them in the morning, check to make sure they're stocked. They're cleaned at least once a day, if not more times, and then obviously at the end of the day, we close them. So, there's a minimum of three touch points. Um, so there should there may be any moment in time when we may have gone in stock and it, you know, it happens regularly. >> I understand. I understand. And sometimes you go in there and clean it an hour later. It doesn't look like that. I get it. I I just I'm advocating for attention there. There have been many uh nights we've had events there. We've let parks know, hey, we're going to have an event there. Can you make sure the bathroom's open? Make sure it's stocked. It's not open. It's not stocked. We got to chase people for an hour. It's it's just like some just some like baseline of um maintenance I think would be especially when we proactively let you know about certain things going on in the park. We'd really love just some attention this summer because I don't really ask much for parks just those two. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> All right. I'm just going to um you can put the timer on. I'm going to ask questions uh on behalf of Council Member Brooks Powers who's online. The executive plan includes a baselineed increase of about $121,000 of city funding beginning in FY26 for lifeguards covered by the additional compensation fund CBA. How many vacant lifeguarding positions remain across New York City? And if you can just answer, you know, >> very quickly. Okay. So, we so we are funded for uh 1400 lifeguards. We that's our we have said that that was pre- pandemic our height. Uh we last year were at 1,00 a little less than 1100. We won't have our final numbers until later on this July. Things are looking very good. We're very we're very optimistic about hitting a higher number than we were at last year. At this point in time last year compared to now we are at higher numbers. So we'll be able to fully answer that and give kind of our full numbers by the 4th of July. >> Thank you. With this baseline increase, does parks intend to increase the number of staffed lifeguards? >> I'm sorry. Can you repeat that question? >> With this baseline increase, does parks intend to increase the number of staff lifeguards? >> No. Yeah. Sorry. I believe it's a so it was a collective bargaining sort of essentially a pay increase. Uh so not not a not a headcount change. >> Given the recent drowning deaths on Rockway Beach, how does the parks department intend to prioritize lifeguard staffing for the Rockway Peninsula this summer? >> Sure. Let me just say before I pass it over to our first deputy commissioner who um oversees the lifeguard division that we are incredibly sad to see this uh the drowning that happened at Rockaways. Um I want to thank the NYPD and and FDNY and emergency management and of course our lifeguards who are all uh there and looking into this further. I just want to use this as an opportunity because I have yet to say it, but I want to just ask all of our elected officials help in reminding everyone that it is only safe to swim in our water when there's a lifeguard sitting in a chair when they are saying that it is okay to swim. Otherwise, you should not be in the water. It is incredibly important to to remember this as as kind of a simple rule of thumb. Um, when it comes to our overall water safety plan, this is something that is has been truly kind of honed in over years of experience, over years of working with colleagues and looking at other other uh other operations across across the country. Tr tr truly we believe in our water safety plans. We believe in our water safety protocol. We are looking to fully to again follow through on our lifeguard plan that we had last year and it was tremendously successful. But I'll look to our first deputy commissioner to give more details. >> Council member, as I mentioned earlier, as of today, we have 153 lifeguards at Rockaways, which is more than twice the next closest beach, which is uh 70 at Coney Island. We traditionally staff of all of our beach lifeguards, which is about 600 when we're at our peak, over 55% of them go to the go to the Rockaways, 45% cover our other seven beaches. So, the majority of our lifeguards always go to the rockaways. >> Thank you. How much funding does parks department have allocated for the trees and sidewalks program to repair severe sidewalk damage caused by root growth? We have heard from constituents that the wait time for this program takes years. What is the agency doing to expedite this service? >> Yes, thank you so much. We have a we do have a program that is uh that uh kind of it deals with uh trees and sidewalks concerns um for uh qualifying uh qualifying applicants. Um the funding is uh $13 million which allows us to repair approximately 1300 sites per year. Are you planning to explore the implementation of an emergency system along Rockway Beach? >> You know, we um have had a lot of conversations about this. We are always interested in um in looking at additional ways to get emergency alerts out there to increase safet safety. Um, Rockway Beach is particularly difficult because there's not, to our knowledge, a system that can allow for the five plus miles of boardwalk to receive that notification system through the PA system that has been discussed. We're happy to continue to look at this. We do have a audio system at Orchard Beach, which is much smaller. So, if there is a system out there that can like provide this, we're happy to in to continue to look into it. Rockaway Beach is a very large beach in order to cover all of that. So, always interested in additional notification systems. It's just the size of it is really difficult to find a system that can work. I'll let our first deputy commissioner add more to that. >> I would just note that we're uh always push notifications out through NYC notify uh for folks that subscribe to that. Uh we it's we really emphasize that frequent beachgoers particularly folks in the Rockaway should uh subscribe to NYC notify. And also, as you're aware, uh, we're purchasing new emergency response vehicles specifically for our lifeguards to use on the sand to respond to emergencies. >> Thank you. Final question. This is from Council Member Chanel Thomas Henry. Uh, the executive plan includes an additional 1.7 million for 200 additional seasonal positions due to the World Cup. The Queen's FanFest is in her district in Flushing Meadows, Corona Park. How many of those positions are for this event in particular? and is any effort being made to hire locally for those positions? >> Uh so our so we're very excited about and grateful for the the 200 positions that we'll be uh we'll be able to bring on board as of um the start of the fiscal year. I think that they are truly we always use when it comes to deploying staff a data driven approach towards looking out for our sites that are most in need and we know are going to be hot spots. So we'll continue to be in communication around where those where those staff go to. But I'm I want to just say a huge thank you to the administration and OM for understanding that our parks are where everybody is going to be this summer. It is going to be an incredibly busy summer in our parks. It always is, but with but a lot of the best viewing locations are going to be in our park system and we'll be continuing to have being in close communication with NISM and others about uh where we expect to see the largest crowds. >> Thank you, Commissioner. I'm sorry. There was one more question, final question from um council member Brooks Powers and I'm going to turn it over. On May 12th, uh the council member sent a letter to the parks department regarding compliance with local law 132 of 2023. The law requires the city to survey city- owned property that may be suitable for the construction of new public swimming pools and release survey results by October 1st, 2025. Despite repeated outreach by the council's compliance division to DPR, DOE, and city hall, the council still has not received any report, nor has the administration told the council which agency will be responsible for the implementation of uh uh council Brooks Power sponsored local law. Can the agency please provide an update on the compliance with this law? >> Yes, thank you for the question. Um uh my recollection is that the the bill is draft uh as passed uh required the mayor's office to to designate a you know an entity to lead the effort. We're going to have to circle back to mayor's office and and and get an update. Uh my understanding is an entity to this point in time had had not been identified. >> Okay, great. Um and next we have council member Krishnan before we go to round two. Thank you chairs and good to see you commissioner and team as always and all the parks advocates here. Um I just have a couple quick questions to to follow up on some points that were already discussed but my first one is it is concerning to see the um the underfunding of PEP officers um in the budget so far and I just want to get understanding. So, normally we have 300 PEP officers, which we know not enough for the whole city, 60 per burrow. Um, >> as of right now with the executive budget, only 200 >> have been funded and we and the council are pushing for another 100 on top of that. Is that is that right? >> Your numbers are almost are almost there. So, 354 officers total. That's including 100 of our oneshot uh oneshot officers. So in the case where which we hope would not happen but we in the case where we would not get that oneshot funding um either baselined or in one shot then we would lose that those 100 lines. Um but uh but currently I think the like discussion has been whether or not those 354 those 100 officers could uh be baselined into like into fully into our ranks. And then of course we would of course always welcome additional PEP officers through new oneshot. >> Right. Right. Okay. And right now that those 100 so those are you know obviously officers right now who are funded their positions are funded only through June 30th of this year. Correct. >> Yes. >> Um and then without a one shot or without them being baselined their positions would not exist after July 1st. Right. I mean I know parks will make every other effort to to find their places for them but I just want to get an understanding of what that would mean for PEP starting July 1st. >> Sure. I mean that's with every single oneshot position we are only funded through the fiscal year and after that that's there's no more funding. >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean obviously the first and foremost and I've always said this too the parks budget is such fundamentally a workers's budget. I know they're they are all as workers very concerned about their positions. um what have the conversations been like to the the best that you can share uh with city hall uh and OM because there with all that's going on in our parks this summer and you're hearing it from you know everyone too whether it's uh the World Cup um whether you know it's uh NBA finals um and other park celebrations and things like that it is concerning that we haven't been able to get the pep officer count much higher and so what what have the conversations been with city hall and the OM so far And how does parks plan to adequately staff the uh parks across the burrow when there's basically at best 60 officers per per burrow? >> Yeah, thank you for your question. Our conversations have been pretty robust and ongoing and overwhelmingly positive. I'd say um I believe that this administration understands the impact that our PEP officers bring. I'm very grateful for the advocacy of the council, yourself of course included, and many parkies know how much you fought for us and so we are grateful to you. I think that we uh we also understand that it is our it is our absolute goal to to serve our city regardless of the actual number of resources. So whether it be with our with our current ranks now or you know unfortunately in a situation where we would have fewer staff, we will continue to we will continue to meet the mission that we have. Um I I would say overwhelmingly this administration understands the absolute incredible impact that parks have and the role the vital role that we play in creating an affordable city, an incredible an affordable future for our city and I'm very proud to continue to uphold that. Thank you and look forward, thank you for your for your kind words. Also looking forward to working with you all and city hall to make sure we get that number to where it needs to be. Um and then just the hiring freeze in preliminary budget um time. We talked about the hiring freeze. What is the status of uh uh lifting that hiring freeze at this point? Um how is that looking so far? Um and and what more can you comment on on >> Yeah, very I mean honestly we're we're very th we were as many other agencies I'm sure will say we're very excited about uh having the two for one kind of freeze lifted and having the ability to actually uh fill the vacancy spots that we have when they become available. I'm very grateful to OM. We've worked we had a lot of conversations about uh the 40 positions that were that were kind of vacancies in our in our uh ranks and um are very much looking forward to being able to uh right now we're pretty much full. Um but as what but we also see on any given month just through nature of attrition and retirements and things like that we see empty species uh empty seats come up across the agency and it is very exciting to think about a world in which we get to hire uh for those for those seats. >> Great. Glad to hear it. And then just concluding by just saying uh I'm I'm glad to hear the progress on the lifeguard issue is a big crisis. Um a lot more to do on that. um you know any ways that we can work together um to to keep increasing lifeguard count. One of the things that I've been focused on and we can talk more about it you know later too is um you know not only st fully staffing our pools and beaches but I also feel like our pool and beach season is too short given how warm it's getting earlier in the year, how warm it stays later in the year. And you know it would really help a lot if we can extend pool and beach season. And I think also will improve water safety because you'd have lifeguard staffing at times when it's hot and people want to swim um where right now the beaches are closed. So uh I hope it's a conversation we can continue having to find a way to uh staff up and then also look at expanding pool. >> Sure. I appreciate it. You know this is it comes up a lot and I and thank you so much. I would happily have continue to have conversations around it. I will point out that this is this particular summer is going to be our long longest uh beach season ever. It'll be uh I think it's four full months. Four four full months uh 16 weeks of open beaches. It is a lot. I also, you know, a part of our regrowing our life ri lifeguard ranks has uh also included we rely heavily on a kind of college and young person workforce that is only available when school gets out. And so a lot of these factors kind of definitely factor into and of course our training which is starts in February uh to train new lifeguards and to bring them on board. So it it is um a system that I don't think a lot of people of course council member you know this very well and we're grateful for that but when we talk about making shifts to that season we really are talking about making shifts to essentially six months of our operation because that's how long it takes to really roll this out. But of course, I I'm I've particularly loved in my first few months better understanding and learning all about our beaches. It is an insanely complex operation that I am so proud of our team for currently doing. So, I'm always happy to talk about ways that we can get more people to the water safely and keep everybody safe in our in our public realm in total. >> Absolutely. And expand that pipeline, too, as you're saying. Well, thank you for your work. Thank you for your leadership and looking forward to our continued work together. Thank you, chairs. Great. And then we are going to actually I'm just going to kick it off to uh Chair Hankerson for round two. >> Okay, we're going to go into round two. Uh I'm going to somewhat speed through this. As they say in church, the time is well spent. So let's see if we can get to this quickly. As I am sure you know, I have been incredibly I've been incredibly vocal about my belief that equal work should result in equal pay. This came up when I raised the issue of park staff being paid less than sanitation staff for clearing snow during the series of blizzards that we saw earlier this year. It is entirely unacceptable that our park staff not only had to sleep in rec centers, but were also not paid in par with other city agencies. Will the parks department support pay parody with sanitation workers that performed the same work but received greater pay? This is an issue of fairness for equal work for equal pay. Yeah, thank you for your question and thank you for your advocacy. I I absolutely am always on board with all of my staff for getting paid more money uh and and getting recognized for the incredibly difficult work. I will just point out that during the snowstorm that we had um on was I think day negative one or negative -2 for me, but it was right at the beginning in February um it was tremendous the and I talked about it before, but it's worth repeating. um hundreds of our staff uh working alongside DSNY, thousands of our staff going out and clearing our perimeter sidewalks. I'm incredibly proud of the job that our park staff do 365 days a year. But really on those snowstorms, they really showed up and I'm very proud of them. When it comes to their salary, that is something that is negotiated by and large by the city and by u our brothers and sisters in labor. And so, of course, we're always happy to, but this is something that when it comes to their specific titles, and we'll just flag that they are there are different titles involved in and those who were doing the clearing, that's all negotiated beyond kind of the parks department and really with uh with labor and the city. >> Kind of had a feeling you were going to say that. So, will park support pay equity uh in the next round of contract negotiations? I'm always I I'm don't know sanitation numbers, but I'm thrilled to champion additional funding for our our workers. >> We I appreciate that. >> Additionally, parks had to move $3.7 million in this plan to cover the cost of snow removal over time since it was not previously included in the budget. >> Will parks add a snow removal overtime budget in the future to better prepare for potential snowstorms? So I I think that this is one where we're happy to I'm very grateful to OM because uh they also recognize Parks' role in this. It was a very exciting conversation to hear that we were going to receive additional funding and recognition for the for the overtime that was spent in that snowstorm. um whether it be through a diff different line or working directly with OMB, I'm not sure if there's that much difference there as long as we are continuing to get support from our city in terms of our response to those snowstorms, which I'm extremely grateful that that we did receive. >> So, will would parks be willing to change its budget for snow removal and preparation similar to how DSNY changes their future snow budget based on previous expenses? I I think I mean our our budget is uh in terms of like our overtime we will be using all of our overtime budget. There's no question about it. We'll uh likely be going over that and we'll be working with OMB to to uh correct this is this is not something where we are, you know, necessarily like saving some and and then spending less later because ultimately we know that parks that people are using our parks every season and so we'll have our staff out every season. Um, you know, again, I'm always happy to I will just say here that the conversations that we've been having with the city, with the administration, and with OM have been extraordinarily promising when it comes to their support of um their support of our overtime and the snowstorm and their continued support. Now, I think as s seen in this budget around the staff needed to respond to the needs to what we expect to be increased uh increased usage of our parks this summer. I'm going to jump to the deputy speaker really quickly uh before I continue my questions. Sure. >> Doctor, >> thank you so much, chair. Um just a few questions on the racial equity plans and I really want to thank our central staff for preparing these questions. Um we're excited about the racial equity plans and um its use in these budget hearings. So, one of the goals of the parks department and the prelim racial equity plan is to establish human capital practices that support and accelerate equitable hiring and staffing in close collaboration with senior leadership. This is listed as a me a medium-term goal to be completed in 2028. Under section 1C, it states that identifying race and ethnicity is optional. In a footnote, can you please explain how demographic analysis focusing on race can be done if identifying race and ethnicity is optional? >> Yeah, thank you so much for your question count uh deputy speaker. Um so we have uh so our the way that we are gathering this data is through our DEIB office that does an annual survey. uh it is we in that annual survey of our employees it is we do give them the option of identifying uh based on their race and and they can either they can identify or they can't and that's what we're reporting on. So um is that what your question is referring to? I'm sorry if I understand like essentially like you all established this goal around equitable hiring >> but it's not a requirement for people to identify their race. So we're just trying to understand how can you have an analysis >> if I can just sorry quickly clarify in addition to the survey uh the D by uh there's also every city employee you know through employee self-service the sort of employee portal uh there's a uh again it is voluntary it is self it is self-reported uh but that data is also uh available through that that mode as well and then then the percentage is is actually only about 93% of parks employees do report so there actually is a we would argue a pretty healthy uh base of data uh to to assess from uh which informs the goal there. >> Yeah. And I think also looking at um actual title so there have been many reports about various positions in city government like typically unfortunately like lower wage titles tend to be black and brown people um senior level executive positions tend to be white people. So, um I just, you know, want to understand how you guys are like doing that analysis and making sure that, um, the parks department is equitable from the top to the bottom. >> Absolutely. So, this is something that's very near and dear to my heart. I frankly don't believe that I would be in the position that I was in. I'm in now without without people believing that people who look like me and people who come from my background were able to be in these roles. And so, I take it really seriously. Um, I'm saw too and was very happy to see our racial equity plan, but I saw too that we are going to start to disagregate this data and start to break it down by title. We have a lot of titles. We have a a wide range of uh of workers in our agency. But I am very much looking forward to building this in because I do believe it's not just about those entry- level jobs. We have to be building pipelines. We have to be building uh ways to elevate workers of every background. And so I'm looking forward to digging this into this further. >> And then why will the review of the demographic data take almost two years? >> You know, again, this is where this is where I'm hoping that we can get we can deliver something sooner than that. Um, but certainly we uh we do have a lot of titles. We have a lot of different and we're looking at again then the breakdown of who's reporting this data. We're doing this on an annual an annual basis, but I would love to see if we can speed this up. Do you have any insight on any areas of significant disparities of race or gender within the agency? >> I mean, I and I only have right now our agencywide numbers and I don't think it's uh I'm happy to share a little bit of that data if you if you'd like. I >> Yeah. In any current demographic breakdown of the agency. >> Sure. So, I'd say that so based on our last DEIB annual report, uh, we have 30% 33% of our agency is a identifies as African-American, 28% Hispanic, 23% white, 6% Asian-American, 7% did not disclose, and then we have a breakdown of 63% male, 36% female. Um, we also I think were just uh I think the Commission on Racial Equity just put out scores for every agency and I saw that we ranked 66 out of 72. It was a good this is a good thing uh because 72 I think is the best you can be in this case. And so I'd say that again it's all based then I think we need to dive deeper down into this data to look at the specific titles and the specific roles. I would love to see uh abilities for growth and professional development and growth and promotion in every in every kind of title that we have. So we'll love to work with you closer on this and bring you bring you back additional information. >> Yeah. I would love to also know like out of that breakdown again like job function like the demographical data by job function as well. >> Yeah. So, where are the like pretty much 50% of black and Latino workers like what type of position and titles do they have within the agency? >> Where are like the 6% of like Asian employees? Like where are they working? >> Sure. And we'll happily give you that information as we continue to compile it. >> Thank you. Um just out of curiosity I I guess continuing in the line of questioning >> um are there pathways to promotion uh in in the department and if so what what what are they? >> Absolutely. I mean I think um I'm going to ask our deputy commissioner Margaret Nelson to come up too and between our first deputy commissioner and our deputy commissioner who represents some of our biggest uh units within the agency I'm sure that they can talk about it. So Margaret, come on up. But let me just say that some of our I mean um Iris Rodriguez Rosa was uh was well known within this agency. She started I believe as a recreation specialist uh and has like worked her way up. You talk to a lot of parkies who have been around for 30 to 40 years and a lot of the time that's been the upward trajectory for many people to find those pathways for promotion. Um, we do, uh, see like with our playground associates program, which is really a very tough but very exciting job, you see that you get a lot of on the ground experience working with the public, working with kids, and you often times see those playground associates, which are seasonal jobs getting turned into full-time recreation staff. Not to cut you off, but I think we appreciate that. But I think uh to the deputy speaker's line of questioning, um I think it it leans more towards not those who may have worked their way up, but those who are being hired at executive and management levels um from the start. Uh and so I would be interested in the data that you provide to her as well. Sorry. >> Sure. Sure. Sorry. Those to who end up in like leadership in Yes. No problem. And um I mean not to be super dramatic about this, but like even looking at my the staff who are here I know have like worked their way up in the agency and uh under different commissioners and have like served different roles kind of moving their way up. So there is definitely that culture at parks. Um but I also want to say to the deputy speaker's points that I I truly believe that that can't we should and can be doing more. I think that pipelines particularly for for underrepresented uh under underrepresented workers be them workers of color or women particularly in a male-dominated a agency like is like that is mine is extremely important to to name outright and to think about fully. I think that we should be looking at this data as closely as we can and I'm quite frankly very proud of the 93% reporting rate. There's always an opportunity for someone not to not to identify. Um I think I myself have ident have opted not to identify sometimes when I take those sur those types of surveys but I think that still 93% is a good enough number to know with some assurityity that the data that we're looking at um is showing some truth and um I'm very eager to continue to look at this. I take it really seriously. Thank you. >> Um I'll let Oh, >> and just sorry and just really quickly just for context just just as a reminder that like promotional opportunities also exist in sort of ecosystem of the civil service system, right? So there are exams and promotional opportunities. So, it's a very important overlay, right, that these promotions aren't necessarily, you know, done at an individual discretion. >> Absolutely. And I understand that. But when I when I say pathways, I'm referring to are there uh programs to assist folks are, you know, for instance, the NYPD recently had a panel um you know, for black and brown officers who are looking to get promoted. Um and so that that's what I mean when I say pathway. So, but I do appreciate that answer. >> Yeah. and and we do have so there's a lot of people who want to talk about this just because we have a lot to say about this topic which is very good. So I'm going to look to Margaret really quick to share a little bit more about that promotional track and then uh we also have Joy Wang on our team who can speak a little bit more to like we have apprenticeships and internships and other like we have a parks academy that helps with other like professional development skills. There's a lot here that we do and we are very enthusiastic about. >> I'd love to continue that conversation but we only have 5 minutes. Okay. So then I'll just say that we have pathway we have apprenticeships. We have internships. We have parks academy. We have professional development trainings. We are so we have uh we have our own group of like rising stars that we want to like see promoted higher and we develop them with additional kind of training and like being part of another group that we're investing them within a year. Go ahead Margaret and share a little bit more about recreation. Go ahead. >> Yeah sure. I mean recreation and PEP. Think for PEP, you know, we hire hire seasonal CSA officers who are out in the summer with our beaches and pools sometimes and we also have um yearround CSAs. Often we pull from them to become permanent PEP officers and then they go through the academy training and become peace officers. So that's one of the pipelines. I will say even though we're working hard to reduce attrition uh for our PEP officers and we want to keep them in PEP, um when they leave sometimes they're not necessarily leaving to go to other law enforcement. they're staying within our agency and going to other divisions. So, you'll see a lot of PEP office people who started out in the PEP um division who are in other divisions in our agency and moving up in the agency. So, again, given that we're a large agency, it's really nice to see people kind of move around in the agency and work their way up that way. And then obviously in recreation when we hire seasonally for our PAS or summer camps, that that is a good pipeline into uh year- round work. Um, and then moving up, you know, recreation specialists and they come a deputy center manager, the center manager, then burough recreation. And again, we have people who start out in recreation and maybe move over to the M division, you know, with their skill set in recreation and again stay in the agency, but move around to other positions. >> Thank you. Uh, I'm going to, uh, try and combine, uh, these last two or three questions. The executive plan includes $1 million in additional revenue from a park concession expansion. The council's pl excuse me, preliminary budget response included a proposal to expand parks concessions to generate additional revenue. How many concessions are currently operated in New York City parks? Can you please explain how parks plans to collect the this additional revenue and does the agency have any plans to expand the number of concessions in parks? >> Great. Um, so we have around 400 concessions in our parks and they really have the wide range. It is everything from ice cream and sandwiches to uh major uh circuses and big events uh to pizza fests and everything in between. Um we uh expanded the amount of revenue going into the general fund from this and in part it is because we already achieved that. We know that this is what our concessions are building in. It's also baked into our contracts with those concessions. It's we know uh with some with a high level of assurityity that the that this is what our concessions will be giving in because it's baked into their contracts. Um that being said, we are also I also should have started out this way, but I want to make sure to be clear about my view on concessions. Um this is not about monetizing our parks. This is about creating amenities uh and additional activations that really serve to complement the user experience. As a mom of a three and a six-year-old, I couldn't stay in the park longer if I didn't have the ability to buy a sandwich for my kids or be when I'm stuck in February and it's raining outside to find as a way to get my kids back into the parks uh through be it through some sort of concession event is a really special experience to allow me to be in the parks with my family 365 days a year if I wanted to. Um, and so I, you know, that's really where we're looking at to complement, uh, the park system and make sure that we're serving the needs of New Yorkers who want to see a little something extra. Uh, and we're really excited about not only there was a a cuff report recently talking about additional revenue building in, and we're really excited to be following up on that. We have, I think, 19 new concessions starting in the next year. Um, and we're very eager to see more of these spaces activated in very creative ways. I also want to point out that um one major huge win this year for us and a true honor was to open up the workers justice project deliveristas hub which will be fully operating come June um which is not it is a technically a concession but it's a very low income concession that we don't expect to really be generating a ton of money but really serves our New Yorkers uh and serves our workforce in a way that I am just so incredibly proud of. Um, so I'm very proud of the entire team. I want to see if David Stone, if I hopefully didn't misspeak any of that, but um, you know, I hope that answers your questions here. And, um, David, if I missed anything, please say it. But, um, we're really excited about kind of the future of concessions in our parks. >> Did you want to add anything? >> You covered it very well, Commissioner. I'm here just in case. >> Um, so I don't get in trouble, I want to ask this question. As part of the contract that DPR has with the Wildlife Conservation Society, the agency will reimburse the zoos for any revenue shortfalls at the end of the fiscal year when revenues are lower than uh when revenues are lower than expenses. The executive plan includes $10 million in FY26 for the zoo funding shortfall. How does this total compared to previous years? Are there any efforts by DPR andor WCS to increase revenue? And can you provide a breakdown of revenue and expenses to uh at each zoo and aquarium? Actually, you can don't worry about the last one. >> Okay. Okay. Sure. So, um, so I mean this is the WCS contract. Wildlife conservation society's uh relationship with DPRs is one of the oldest relationships I think uh that we have. I I actually think the Arsenal building used to be the part of the zoo way back when. Um, that may be mistaken, but I I think like we we have a very long-standing relationship and uh yes, it is this is like pretty standard across uh like across our budgets. This is what we've had for some time. And actually I think we did the agency did notify our council uh partners that last year we did they did actually increase the ticket cost a touch. Um my I can say this with a lot of experience actually that we know that the zoos are a beloved portion of a way to enjoy our parks. It was once time a part of the parks department believe it or not. And um and we know that like that the our partners at the Wildlife Conservation Society do some incredible work with our public schools with low-income programming to really make sure that they're as accessible uh to every New Yorker as possible. It's a a point of pride that we're very excited to be close partners here. But that budget piece of the $10 million has not really significantly changed uh over the past several years. And we are very keenly looking at ways to slightly increase costs uh in increase revenue while still making sure that it's uh accessible as possible to New Yorkers. >> Thank you. And and my final question, this one uh is a little off script. Uh since this is both you and I are first budget in these capacities. >> Um my question to you uh and I'm going to ask you this probably in three years as well. >> What do you want your legacy to be in this agency? Thank you. Um I really want uh New Yorker Thank you for the question and I'll be sure to ask you the same thing uh after this at some point. Um uh I really want um New Yorkers to understand the incredible significance of this agency in their lives. I want us to be valued as such. I want New Yorkers to understand that we're not just a place that should come top of mind uh after Memorial Day weekend and and when Labor Day hits, I want uh I want the entire city to and all of our council and our administration and everybody to understand that this is an agency that is full of essential public workers that are really creating excellence in the public realm for free. Uh because everybody deserves a park. >> Parks for everyone. Thank you, commissioner. Thank you, chair. >> Great. Thank you. And I believe that is all for now and we will that concludes our second day of budget hearings. Thank you. Thanks for joining us.