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    • Play Fair
    FY26 Parks Budget Statement

    This year, Play Fair advocates showed up for parks—at rallies, hearings, on social media, and in your community. Thanks to our collective advocacy alongside our allies in the City Council, we were able to secure a number of important restorations in the City’s budget that began July 1.

    The Adams administration once again failed to deliver the full funding our parks need and deserve, but our Coalition's efforts helped prevent deeper cuts and moved us closer to a more livable and equitable city. Thank you for standing with us.

    Here's what we accomplished:

    • Restoration of 200 previously cut full-time Parks Department positions eliminated in past years, including a full restoration of 100 Parks Enforcement Patrol Officers, plus partial restorations for city parks workers, gardeners, and forestry staff.
    • Additional positions for new needs and programs, including 230 permanently funded “Second Shift” maintenance workers stationed at high-use parks across the city.
    • $670 million for NYC Parks – the agency’s largest budget ever as a dollar amount. Due in part to routine wage increases, this nevertheless shows parks investment trending in the right direction.

    But our parks system is still grossly understaffed, with nearly 600 previously cut positions remaining unfilled. As park usage intensifies and climate change increases the frequency of flooding, heatwaves, and fires citywide, this persistent lack of resources jeopardizes the health and safety of these spaces and the New Yorkers who rely on them.

    Click here to read the full FY26 Play Fair budget response.

    About Play Fair

    Play Fair for Parks is an advocacy campaign and 400+ member coalition calling for transformative investment in New York City's parks system and elevating parks issues citywide.

    New Yorkers for Parks co-founded Play Fair along with the New York League of Conservation Voters and District Council 37, the NYC Parks workers’ union.

    14% of New York City is parkland, but the New York City Parks Department's (NYC Parks) budget is just 0.6% of the total city budget. Parks are critical infrastructure which have been overlooked and underfunded for fifty years. The Covid-19 pandemic revealed longstanding inequities and highlighted the dire need to invest in the development and maintenance of a 21st-century parks system for all New Yorkers.

    The Play Fair Coalition calls on the Mayor and City Council to adopt our Parks 2030 platform and dedicate at least 1% of the city budget to fund NYC Parks maintenance and operations.

    Our Coalition has over 400 groups and organizations focused on parks, transportation, the environment, social justice, and infrastructure from across the five boroughs.

    The Play Fair Coalition includes: