By Liam McGowan
Parks are an essential part of city life. They provide an outlet for community, a space for people to escape crowded streets and city noise. As we’ve seen in recent weeks, parks are also a place of refuge, providing shade – and even water features for kids – to get relief from the brutal summer heat.
In order to ensure our parks are well maintained and serve all city residents regardless of their zip code, the city must increase investments in the Department of Parks and Recreation. NYLCV and our Play Fair for Parks coalition partners have long advocated for the city to allocate 1% of its budget toward parks. While most major cities dedicate 2–5% of their budgets to parks, New York City remains stuck at approximately 0.6%.
[Tell the Mamdani Administration you support increased parks funding!]
New York City parks encompass 30,000 acres, or 14%, of the city’s land mass. However, inadequate parks access persists: the city’s more affluent neighborhoods have 33.5% more access to parks within a 10 minute walk compared to low-income communities and communities of color, according to a 2025 Trust for Public Land report. Communities like Jackson Heights and Elmhurst in Queens have significantly less access to parks than neighborhoods bordering Central Park, like the Upper West Side.
This gap in park proximity makes a profound difference. It has been proven that access to parks drastically improves mental health and provides long lasting physical benefits, according to two studies – one from Nature and one from the National Library of Medicine. Additionally, parks alone bring substantial economic benefits to New York City–up to $9.1 billion annually in recreational value and $1.14 billion in health care savings.
For centuries, parks in New York City have been about community. The first public green space in what was then the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam was Bowling Green, originally known as “The Plain,” a small common green used as a cattle market, parade ground, and meeting place before becoming the city’s first public park in 1686.
As the city expanded at the start of the 19th century, limited space was available for parks. A dense population in Manhattan made the city feel increasingly overcrowded – a problem addressed by the creation of Central Park in the mid 19th century. The city set aside 700 acres to design a public meeting space and refuge for New York City residents. And in the centuries since – like many parks in New York City – that’s exactly what the space is used for: community gatherings, concerts, festivals, and sporting events, and an outlet to nature.
Today’s New York City Department of Parks & Recreation was established in 1934, when Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia combined the city’s five separate borough park departments into a single agency.
Not much has changed over the years, with programs like Summerstage hosting concerts in parks across the city alongside tons of other community activities: restoration and habitat projects at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, outdoor salsa events in Prospect Park, and many, many more. Check out a list of events happening now at www.New York Citygovparks.org/events.
Part of New York City’s parks network connects to New York State’s Empire State Trail, a 750 mile bikeway running up and down the Hudson Valley and East/West from Buffalo to Albany. In New York City, the trail uses parks like the Van Cortlandt Park and Hudson River Greenway to keep cyclists safe and off road.
While parks serve as places for recreation and leisure amongst residents, they simultaneously provide habitats for wildlife, help mitigate climate change, and contribute to the well-being of New Yorkers.
[Tell the Mamdani Administration you support increased parks funding!]
New York City is adding more coastal green infrastructure to shorelines in order to protect against coastal flooding, storm surges, and sea level rise. Water-smart landscaping in green areas captures stormwater runoff and filters out as much as 95% of major pollutants. This reduces the risks of flooding and also ensures healthier water quality.
Parks are also a major source of the city’s urban tree canopy. These trees provide clean air by storing carbon and removing pollutants from the atmosphere. They are also critical for reducing the urban heat island effect. While street surfaces and buildings retain heat, green areas deflect radiation from the sun, thus lowering air temperatures. But like parks more broadly, too many New Yorkers are not feeling the benefits of the city’s urban forest.
There tends to be less canopy in parts of New York City with higher proportions of people of color and lower median per capita income. Majority Black and Brown neighborhoods in New York City have 33% less tree canopy on average than majority white communities. On average, low and moderate-income (LMI)- dominated neighborhoods have 25% less tree canopy than non-LMI-dominated neighborhoods. Neighborhoods with the highest poverty rates have 41% less tree coverage than the wealthiest neighborhoods.
Parks and open space have been part of NYLCV’s mission from the beginning. The organization was founded in 1989 to advance environmental protection broadly – including conserving land and open space – and has consistently advocated for funding for state and local parks throughout its history.
Following the creation of the Environmental Protection Fund in 1993, the League has consistently fought to protect and expand the program, which is one of New York State’s most important investments in parks, in addition to a source of critical funding for clean water, open space conservations, and environmental protections. It is one of the organization’s longest-standing budget priorities.
In 2007 in New York City, NYLCV strongly supported Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC, the city’s groundbreaking long-term sustainability plan. Among its many initiatives, the program sought to expand access to parks and open space, ensure that every New Yorker lived within a 10-minute walk of a park, and increase the city’s tree canopy.
In 2019, NYLCV, along with New Yorkers for Parks and District Council 37, co-founded Play Fair for Parks, which has grown into a 400+ member coalition that advocates for a cleaner, safer, and more accessible parks system for all, and is collectively pushing for 1% of the city budget to be allocated to the Department of Parks and Recreation.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, funding for New York City parks was slashed drastically and many parks workers lost their jobs, revealing the fragile nature of the parks system – and ironic, considering that parks were one of the few places for the community to safely gather during the pandemic. In 2020-2022, Play Fair for Parks tirelessly worked to baseline those staff roles and bring back adequate funding to the New York City Parks system.
In the ensuing years, despite promises from past administrations, funding for parks has remained stagnant.
[Tell the Mamdani Administration you support increased parks funding!]
“City parks are unique in that they are critical to both climate resilience in the face of extreme weather – like the dangerous excess heat we are experiencing now – and community resilience where nature and open space are lacking,” said NYLCV President Julie Tighe. “It is critical for all New Yorkers that we fund our parks like the essential spaces they are.”
Where We Stand
In New York City’s Final Adopted FY27 Budget that was passed on June 30, the Mamdani Administration and the City Council established baseline funding for 276 parks staff, including GreenThumb community garden staff, forestry management workers, parks workers, and park rangers.
“Nearly $30 million [invested in the budget] for New York City Parks will mean more workers, better upkeep, and more robust management of our urban forest,” said Alia Soomro, NYLCV’s Deputy Director of New York City Policy. “After years of underinvestment, this funding is a step toward achieving the Mayor’s promise of allocating 1% of the City budget to our parks.”
How Can You Help?
Sign the petition by clicking this link:
PARKS 2030: World Class Parks for All New Yorkers
Parks 2030 outlines five urgent priorities for the Mamdani Administration:
- Thriving Parks in Every Neighborhood – Fully staff the Parks Department with permanent workers, lifeguards, rangers, and forestry crews.
- Fund Parks Like We Mean It – Dedicate 1% of the city budget to parks, providing stable, long-term funding.
- Build New Parks Where They’re Needed Most – Expand access with new parks, schoolyard conversions, and greenways in underserved neighborhoods.
- Cut the Red Tape – Streamline capital projects, permits, and contracts so repairs and improvements reach communities faster.
- Make Parks a Climate Solution – Expand the tree canopy, restore wetlands, and invest in resilient waterfront parks to protect against climate change.
New York City has the resources to lead the nation with the best parks system. But it will take both the Council and the Administration working together to restore funding, expand access, and deliver safe, clean, and equitable green spaces for every neighborhood.
Liam McGowan has been a Communications Fellow at the New York League of Conservation Voters since November 2025, and intern since September 2025. He graduated from the University of Vermont in May 2025 with a B.S. in Environmental Science. During his time at UVM he assisted with projects in the Rubenstein Ecosystem Science Laboratory. To learn more about Liam, visit his LinkedIn page located here.