NYFalls.com Talk

Gene:

I'm all for keeping our parks open and maintaining them within the constraints of our ability to do so.

But what irks me about the "parks closing" information being reported by the media is that Commissioner Ash has failed to mention that in her proposed "parks closing" budget she is actually increasing the administrative staff by 20%!

How can she justify a 20% increase in administrative staff while at the same time closing parks? She is also proposing increasing the opertating staff by 30 people (about a 3% increase.)

It shouldn't take more people to administer and operate fewer parks, should it?

There will be an overall decrease in employees but the decrease isn't associated with the operating staff or administrative staff.

Moreover, most of the funding reductions are in the capital improvement lines of the budget.

We need a lot more answers and a lot better management of our state parks then what is being presented to us.

Instead of running around claiming "if I don't get more money then I'll close hundreds of parks to punish you" Commissioner Ash should be working to find ways top maintain the park system during the economic crisis.

Gary

Gov. Paterson proposes to spend $800,000 on prison trailers