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January 21, 2026
Honorable Zohran Mamdani
Mayor of the City of New York
New York City Hall
New York, New York 10007

Dear Mayor Mamdani,

Congratulations from parks advocates across the city on your historic victory.

We write on behalf of the Play Fair for Parks Coalition, founded and led by New Yorkers for Parks, New York League of Conservation Voters and District Council 37 and comprised of over 400+ organizations calling for transformative investment in New York City's parks system. Free to the public, our parks are central to an affordable and thriving New York City.

We appreciate your commitment to dedicate 1% of the city budget for NYC Parks maintenance and operations and applaud the recently announced investment in modular bathrooms in parks, one of the goals in our Parks 2030 platform and First 100 Days for Parks agenda.

As we approach the start of the FY27 budget cycle, your administration has the opportunity to rebuild an agency crippled by decades of disinvestment and, more recently, four years of disproportionate budget/PEG cuts and a hiring freeze. It is time for New York City to lead the nation and the world in its vision for parks and open spaces.

A recent New York Times poll asked readers to vote on 17 ways your administration can improve New York City. Fully funding our city’s parks won handily, with 35,551 New Yorkers identifying this investment as a key priority. Why? New Yorkers love and rely on these spaces, yet they have seen the steady depletion of NYC Parks and its workforce. They experience inequitable conditions based on their zip code. And they see how forward-thinking cities across the country have invested in their parks systems to improve quality of life, address climate change, strengthen public health and so much more.

Investing with vision in NYC Parks means investing in thousands of union workers who steward 30,000 acres of public parkland, or 14% of New York City. It means investing in working families in every borough who depend on our parks. Parks are the original universal free childcare in that they are the playgrounds that our entire city relies upon for physical and social resilience.

Your administration can change this negative trajectory now. The following are the critical staffing investments New Yorkers need for our parks system:

1. Baseline the 274 parks positions currently funded by one-year contracts (Parks
   Enforcement Patrol, Rangers, Forestry, etc.) to retain staff long-term.
2. End the hiring freeze and restore 600 eliminated full-time baselined union parks
   positions (City Parks Workers, Forestry, Capital Projects, frontline staff).
3. Add 460 Parks 2nd-shift cleaners to staff 400 high-use sites and keep parks and
   restrooms clean.
4. Add 227 forestry staff to address a backlog of 20,000+ uninspected tree conditions and 35,000+ open work orders.
5. Create borough-specific mowing crews by adding 80 dedicated lawn-care positions to
   address the agency’s documented inability to care for park lawns and playing fields.
6. Restore 59 capital team positions and add 60 more so that the nearly 100 stalled capital projects can resume, unlocking ~$450M in neighborhood green space and resiliency investments.
7. Increase trades staffing by 40% (130 tradespeople: plumbers, electricians, carpenters,
   masons, roofers, painters, etc.) for faster repairs and violation clearing.
8. Invest $21.2M to expand hours/services at all 36 recreation centers so 22 centers can
   operate 7 days/week, providing more programming and access.
9. Add 250 PEP officers to increase the uniformed presence at 120 high-need parks.
10. Increase overtime funding to $40M so Parks can respond to storms, emergencies, and
    routine repairs outside regular hours.

The impact of the lost staffing lines is clear. The remaining Parks workers are overburdened by the sheer volume of users—millions of residents who crave spaces to connect with our fellow New Yorkers. As a result, New Yorkers are visiting parks that are poorly maintained, with just 65% of parks across the city achieving the agency’s own Vital Parks score goals.

As the city confronts rising costs, deepening inequality, and climate threats, your administration now has an opportunity to not only fully reverse the staffing cuts to NYC Parks, but to put our city’s parks, and all New Yorkers, on the path to a prosperous, safe, clean, and green future.

Sincerely,

Adam Ganser
Executive Director, New Yorkers for Parks

Julie Tighe
President, New York League of Conservation Voters

The 400+ members of the Play Fair for Parks Coalition

CC:
Dean Fuleihan, First Deputy Mayor
Elle Bisgaard-Church, Chief of Staff
Julia Kerson, Deputy Mayor for Operations
Sherif Soliman, Director of the Office of Management and Budget
Louise Yeung, Chief Climate Officer
Tricia Shimamura, New York City Parks Commissioner
Julie Menin, City Council Speaker
Linda Lee, City Council Finance Committee Chair
Ty Hankerson, City Council Parks Committee Chair
Jumaane Williams, New York City Public Advocate
Mark Levine, New York City Comptroller
Shekar Krishnan, City Councilmember