Edgemere park set to
close due to budget cuts

The Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) has released a list of closures and service reductions – and among the parks targeted to close is Bayswater Point State Park, located in Jamaica Bay in Edgemere.
The cuts, say officials, are order to achieve a proposed 2010-11 agency savings target and help address the state’s historic fiscal difficulties. As part of a comprehensive plan to close an $8.2 billion deficit, the 2010-11 Executive Budget included necessary cost reductions to each executive state agency, as well as cuts to education, health care, social services, and every other area of state spending.
OPRHP’s plan includes the closure of 41 parks and 14 historic sites, and service reductions at 23 parks and one historic site.
“New York State is proposing not just locking the door of many of the state’s historic sites, but recalling collections of furniture, artifacts, and paintings to Albany, turning off heat and water, and abandoning these buildings to the storm of budget cuts. The consequence could be irreparable harm to buildings and materials that are central to our state and national history,” said Daniel Mackay, Director of Public Policy for the Preservation League. “Closure puts these buildings and sites at great risk of damage from the elements or vandalism, and many of our treasured historic sites could be lost forever.”
The plan also assumes $4 million in park and historic site fee increases that will be identified at a later date, and the use of $5 million in funds from the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) to finance OPRHP operations.
These two actions were part of the 21-day amendments to the Executive Budget and are intended to reduce the number of parks and historic sites subject to closures and service reductions.
“New York faces an historic fiscal crisis of unprecedented magnitude,”?said Governor David A. Paterson. “It has demanded many difficult but necessary decisions to help ensure the fiscal integrity of our state. The unfortunate reality of closing an $8.2 billion deficit is that there is less money available for many worthy services and programs. In an environment when we have to cut funding to schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and social services, no area of state spending, including parks and historic sites, could be exempt from reductions.”
He continued, “We cannot mortgage our state’s financial future through further gimmicks or avoidance behavior. Spending cuts, however difficult, are needed in order to put New York on the road to fiscal recovery. Going forward through the budget process, I look forward to a productive dialogue with the Legislature on parks and historic sites, as well as other issues.”
If approved, the changes would start April 1.