Comptroller Returns $90M Central Park Conservancy Contract; Asks Mayor to Revise Agreement, Level Playing Field for Parks
City
Comptroller John C. Liu has returned a contract that would enrich the
privately funded Central Park
Conservancy (CPC) by $90 million in City funds, asking Mayor Bloomberg
to revise the agreement in order to more equitably distribute revenue to
the many parks and playgrounds that don’t get the same attention or
service as Central Park. Comptroller Liu’s
office is also reviewing another CPC contract, this one for $60 million
in City capital construction funds, with the same purpose in mind.
“Central
Park is very important to New York and is indeed an icon of our City.
However, the City should do more to ensure that parks across the five
boroughs are being funded adequately and equitably,”
Comptroller Liu said. “The City should provide funding for basic
maintenance and much-needed capital projects across all parks before
sending this much-needed taxpayer money to a well-funded private
organization. Let’s work together to maintain Central Park
and provide equity among all of our parks.”
On
Monday, June 17, Comptroller Liu returned a $90 million operations
contract between the NYC Parks Department and the CPC because of
insufficient
information. Comptroller Liu then wrote Mayor Bloomberg asking that the
structure of the contract be revised to provide a more equitable
distribution of resources. Comptroller Liu suggested that the City:
·
Eliminate or reduce the CPC’s revenue-sharing
agreement, which gives the CPC substantial funding based on City
concession and special events income unavailable to most other parks.
·
Reallocate capital funds to higher-needs parks.
·
Require greater financial transparency from the CPC.
·
Encourage the CPC to do more to help support other area parks.
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TEXT OF COMPTROLLER LIU’S LETTER TO MAYOR BLOOMBERG:
June 19, 2013
Honorable Michael R. Bloomberg
Mayor
City Hall
New York, NY 10007
Dear Mayor Bloomberg:
My office has returned the
ten-year, $90 million Central Park Conservancy contract submitted by the
NYC Department of Parks & Recreation and is currently reviewing an
additional $60 million capital contract with
the Conservancy.
I write
to ask you to reflect on the wide disparities that exist among parks in
the five boroughs. For example, St. Nicholas Park, located just a few
blocks north of Central Park in Harlem, recently
received a score of 77 out of a possible 100 points from New Yorkers
for Parks because of trip hazards, litter, and out-of-service drinking
fountains.
The Parks
Department can and should amend both Conservancy contracts so that they
help provide more equity among parks. These modifications should also
take into account the exceptionally strong
financial condition of the Conservancy.
We recommend that the following changes be made:
·
Eliminate or reduce the Conservancy’s revenue-sharing agreement.
Currently 50 percent of the estimated approximately $12 million Central
Park net concession and special event revenue is distributed to the
Conservancy. In contrast,
very few if any other City parks have such a beneficial arrangement.
·
Reallocate capital funds toward higher-needs parks. If
we are serious about equitably distributing scarce resources, we need
to reallocate a portion of the City’s capital contributions for Central
Park to parks with higher needs
that are over-reliant on discretionary funds.
·
Increase financial transparency. The
Conservancy’s 2011-2012 tax filings show revenues of $47 million. Other
public sources indicate that the Conservancy has a workforce of
approximately 300 employees, ranging from seasonal grounds
technicians paid $18,228 to the President and CEO, who received total
compensation of $456,319. Like the Parks Department and every other
City agency, the Conservancy should publish spending and payroll data on
Checkbook NYC, the City’s financial transparency
website. Mandatory federal tax filings do not provide adequate
transparency.
·
Encourage expanded support of area parks.
The Conservancy should work with the Parks Department to identify
struggling parks throughout the five boroughs that would benefit from
the Conservancy’s operational and development expertise.
Such a collaboration could help mitigate some of the widespread
concerns that public-private partnerships favor only a handful of elite
parks.
According
to its most recent tax return, the Conservancy has more than $215
million in assets. This staggering number does not take into account the
recently announced $100 million private donation.
The City
should ensure that parks across the five boroughs—and not just Central
Park—are being funded adequately and equitably. When the City is unable
to provide funding for basic maintenance
and much-needed capital projects, one must question whether it is
appropriate to provide our wealthiest park with $150 million of new
resources.
Let’s work together to maintain Central Park
and provide equity among all of our parks.
Sincerely,
John C. Liu
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
City
Comptroller John C. Liu called on the Department of Education today to
invalidate the four Regents exams – Living Environment, U.S. History,
Global Studies,
and English – that have been outsourced to McGraw-Hill for help with
grading and have encountered numerous problems and delays, according to
published reports.
“It
is unconscionable that students, families, and schools should suffer
through fake graduations because their Regents
grades are unknown. The more than $3 million paid to McGraw-Hill should
be returned to the City immediately, the grades students received on
their regular final exams in these subject areas should be substituted
for the Regents, and normal graduations should
go on starting today and through the rest of the school year.”
Background:
“Serious glitches with electronic grading delay Regents scores,” Gotham Schools:
