Saturday February 28th was the 21st Annual Bronx Parks Speak Up. Who better than NYC Commissioner of the Parks Department Mitchell Silver to have on hand to speak up for our parks. Over 350 people enjoyed an afternoon of discussion and displays from various organizations from around the Bronx.
Commissioner Silver spoke of the inequality that has gone on in New York City when it came to the parks of New York City. He went on to say that 215 parks citywide need over 1 billion dollars to be fixed due to lack of funding and maintenance. He hopes to change that, but for now the 134 neediest parks will get fixed. Mayor deBlasio has set aside 131 million dollars that will go into 35 parks of which 20 million will go into 9 parks in the Bronx.
Councilman Andrew Cohen was on hand to speak about his participation in the city councils 'Participatory Budgeting Process'. Councilman Cohen has set aside monies from his budget for projects in his district that will come from people or groups in the district and be voted on by the people of the district.
As you will see below groups from 'Restore the Highbridge', 'Friends of Van Cortlandt Park', 'Bronx Council for Environmental Quality (BCEQ), 'Friends of Ferry Point Park', 'Bronx Transportation Alternatives', 'Bronx River Alliance', and many others were on hand. This year was even larger both in turnout and in exhibits of what is going on in the Bronx related to the parks. Everyone could agree with Commissioner Silver that our parks need to be fixed and maintained.
Below - Left - BCEQ, Right - Earthsavers.
Above - The Pugsley Creek Park Community shows where the Bronx - Manhattan ferry will go.
Below - Left - New Yorkers for Parks. Right - The Bronx Children's Museum
The Department of Sanitation was in the house to inform of upcoming new regulations in certain areas of the Bronx about composting.
