Recent budget cuts in New York City have left things in some public parks around the nation’s largest metropolis a little trashy.
“It’s all over the park. Just garbage, garbage, garbage everywhere you look. I come here to enjoy myself, but this is not enjoyable,” city resident Marisol Jiminez told the New York Post. “It’s just disgusting to look at.”
Two months ago, the city council cut the park’s department’s budget by more than $80 million in an attempt to rectify what they estimated to be a $9 billion revenue shortfall caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The department said it was forced to lay off more than 1,500 workers since the cuts went into effect on July 1.
“Despite the loss of 1,700 seasonal maintenance and operations staff, our Parks staff’s continued service on the frontlines during the pandemic demonstrates how committed we are to keeping up our city’s parks for the health and safety of all New Yorkers,” a spokeswoman for the department told the paper.
Meanwhile, city residents say garbage and trash are piling up in areas near where they live, work, and exercise.
“I used to love coming here because it’s usually not so crowded, but I’m shocked by the bad shape it’s in,” said Benny Einhorn of Brooklyn. “Who wants to spend time in a park that looks like a garbage dump?”
Since the pandemic began, thousands of New Yorkers have said they are fleeing the city for safety and financial reasons. Some mothers have in recent weeks expressed concern that the city’s uptick in violent crimes this summer is making life in New York difficult.
