Press Release Archives - #406-96 - Cleanliness in Parks

Archives of the Mayor's Press Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: August 27, 1996

Release #406-96

Contact: Colleen Roche or Kim Serafin (212) 788-2958

MAYOR GIULIANI ANNOUNCES CLEANLINESS RATINGS, GRAFFITI RATINGS AND OVERALL CONDITIONS RATINGS FOR NEW YORK CITY PARKS

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, joined by Parks Commissioner Henry J. Stern, today reported that cleanliness ratings and overall conditions ratings at City parks rose significantly in all five boroughs, while graffiti levels continued their three year steady decline.

Summer 1996 park inspections show that:

Citywide cleanliness ratings rose to 91% in Summer 1996, up from 81% in Summer 1995, 70% in Summer 1994 and 69% in Summer 1993.
Overall conditions ratings rose substantially, with Summer 1996 ratings reaching 60%, up from 44% in Summer 1995, 35% in Summer 1994 and 42% in Summer 1993.
96% of City parks and playgrounds are graffiti-free, up from 94% in Summer 1995, 89% in Summer 1994 and 73% in Summer 1993.

"New York City's parks are the finest in the world, and are enjoyed by millions of New Yorkers and visitors alike" said Mayor Giuliani. "Thanks to the efforts of the Parks Department, the City's Work Experience Program, and the creation of hundreds of public/private partnerships, City parks conditions have improved consistently over the past three years. Overall conditions are almost twice as good as they were three years ago and park cleanliness has reached an unprecedented 91% rating."

The improvements can be attributed to several factors. The Work Experience Program (WEP) has brought more than 5,000 additional workers to Parks. WEP participants pick up litter, remove graffiti, clear weeds and perform clerical duties. Parks Career Training (PACT) provides the City's parks with almost 500 former WEP participants who work full-time, performing duties like horticultural work, construction and security, while receiving job training and placement assistance. In the first 50 days of FY97, 73 participants were placed in full-time jobs.

Partnerships for Parks has formed hundreds of public/private partnerships, bringing the hard work and good intentions of nearly 1,000 civic associations and park advocacy groups to help care for their local park facilities. Thanks to a dramatically revitalized capital program, more than 250 projects were completed in the last two years, and over 165 reconstructions are scheduled for the coming year, upgrading the quality of the entire park system, and making City parks and playgrounds easier to maintain. The requirements contracts program allows Parks to bring in outside contractors to immediately address a dozen different structural problems, ranging from fixing play equipment, to laying asphalt and repairing fences or benches. Their work has led to greatly improved overall conditions of parks and playgrounds across the city.

Year round, Parks inspection teams travel to city parks, playgrounds, gardens, seating areas and recreation facilities to determine their cleanliness. They scour the sites for graffiti, litter, weeds, broken glass, and poorly maintained lawns. If three of the five features are not perfect, or if there is an overwhelming problem with any one of the five conditions, the site fails. Overall conditions ratings are similar to cleanliness ratings, except that inspectors examine twelve features: litter, glass, graffiti, weeds, lawns, sidewalks, paved surfaces, safety surfacing, play equipment, benches, fences and trees. If three of the twelve features are considered unacceptable, the entire site fails the inspection. If any one of the features is overwhelmingly problematic, the site fails.

Inspections are performed randomly, so borough crews cannot prepare beforehand. Inspectors use hand-held computers which, when plugged into the mainframe computers at the Arsenal, can send the information directly into the database, saving our inspectors valuable time, and allowing them to return to the field to perform more inspections.