Senator Kenneth P. LaValle called the closing of New York State Parks “the wrong strategy at the wrong time. It is a bad move, particularly in tough economic times when ‘staycations’ are quickly becoming the only affordable getaway for many of our residents.
“Now is also the wrong time to put pressure on the Legislature to come up with more money. The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation should have fought for more funding when the Governor was making his budget. It’s obvious that they did not do a good job advocating for their own agency.
“I will be asking the Finance Department to do an in depth analysis of the Parks Department’s budget. I want them to provide a breakdown of exempt positions, non-personal service contracts, etc., to determine whether savings can be found by making cuts within the agency and not at the public’s expense.”
