As goes Nassau parks, so goes Nassau County

Nassau County is not alone facing major budget deficits. Most counties find themselves in similar positions and even New York State itself has a shaky road ahead of it. We’ll forego cataloging all the reasons, if you are alive and literate you know them by heart now anyway.

In the days leading up to the MTA-TWU contract settlement, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced new and increased taxes he wanted, to get NYC though its own fiscal ordeal. In his discussion of his intent he noted that he would not cut city services any further because he indicated when you took away all the reasons people want to live, work and visit the city, they will stop and the city will die. A basic level of service must be maintained. To destroy the city to “save” the city is self-defeating. A ghost town with fiscal stability is still a ghost town.

Nassau County has yet to learn this lesson. While our officials love to tout our county as the finest in the country, they make or allow decisions that insure its decline. The Nassau County Park system up to the 1980’s was a textbook example of suburban excellence. It provided county residents and taxpayers unparalleled recreation in every conceivable way. In the 60’s and 70’s tax revenues were used to acquire almost 6000 acres of land, throughout the county, that were then developed into both active and passive parks. Donated buildings and homes from the “Gold Coast” and elsewhere were either maintained as historic sites or converted into museums for the pleasure and education of our residents. Our tax dollars bought and maintained all these facilities and a modest fee structure was set up to pay for extra services provided, such as seasonal lifeguards for the pools.

Through good and bad economic times, we could count on the county park system to be there for all its residents, at all income levels and social status. It insured our neediest (seniors, young families with children and those on fixed incomes) the same recreational opportunities as our most affluent. These parks were a major component in making Nassau one of the finest if not the finest American county in which to live or work. Government knew then that an investment in our parks, preserves and museums were an investment in the future of this county and sufficient tax moneys were allocated to support the system. Parks, schools, open space, and affordable housing were important reasons most of us fulfilled our “American Dream” by moving here.

This all changed in the early 1990’s. Fiscal mismanagement had brought the county to the brink of bankruptcy and in desperation county government began to lay off employees and cut services instead of eliminating waste, abusive patronage and inefficiencies to save public moneys. And raise taxes? No politician had the intestinal fortitude to stand up and say that revenues had to equal expenditures. Park employees were cut by half and the park budget slashed to a point where the facilities could not be properly maintained. In 10 years, the parks were devastated and became mere shells of their former selves. The public had had enough and the old guard slinked away as we looked for a new voice that would promise to run a mean, lean machine that could cut away years of political abuses and restore the basic services that caused us to select Nassau County as our home in the first place.

With high hopes, in 2001, we made our choice between two candidates that promised a return to principles that would rebuild the Nassau we were once proud of. Appointments based on ability and not political affiliation. Restoration of important county services especially parks and fiscal responsibility. This was not to be. Under the threat of a state takeover, the new administration developed tunnel vision where the budget became the primary if not the only factor used to make decisions. In Parks and other agencies, political patronage was still the criteria for appointments, not experience or knowledge or ability. Pension incentives chased out most of the middle management that knew how to run the system. The layoffs in the early 90’s insured there were no capable replacements to fill these critical positions. The Parks have continued their decline.

The new park administration has had the legislature institute many new fees and double most existing ones, effectively excluding the very residents that need public parks the most in these uncertain times. Maintenance has ground to virtual standstill due to lack of personnel and funds. Now they are proposing to close the Technical Services Division and transfer the remaining workers to the Department of Public Works. What little maintenance is still being done in parks will now disappear. On the list of priorities, work benefiting parks and the user public will be at the bottom. Unable to manage or maintain its facilities, the Parks Administration will support privatization of any service it can. Only the revenue producing services will be of interest to prospective private operators. They will then add their expected profit to the fees, excluding even more residents from the recreation they already paid for through their taxes. Private operators will not put any money into maintaining those facilities that they might lose on the next bid process. The Park System as we know it will be destroyed.

One of the most depressing things we can hear is our friends and neighbors telling us they can’t wait to move away from Nassau and its problems. We hear this more often every day. The County Executive, The County Legislators, Senior Officials and the Political Establishment must realize that allowing the loss of those services, such as parks, police protection and social services will drive more and more residents away. It is time to reinvest in competent, professional management, economical and efficient operations with sufficient funds to begin the process of rebuilding Nassau County, including the Park System insuring it is affordable by all residents. There is a basic level of service that must be maintained even if we delay balancing the budget. If not, we risk creating our own “ghost town”. Don’t the people who invested themselves, their families and futures in Nassau County deserve better? It will take real leadership and understanding of the values that built Nassau to turn it back into a home we can all be proud of. It will then truly be one of the finest counties in which to live and work.

Bruce Piel is Chairman of the Park Advocacy & Recreation Council of Nassau (PARCnassau), a coalition of 120 park advocacy and user groups.