For families ruling out far-flung vacations because of the still-slow economy, our State Parks, Recreation, and Historical Preservation [9] system keeps our state's history, culture, and natural beauty available for everything from a quick getaway to a full-fledged "staycation"! It's no wonder that this year, Memorial Day Weekend attendance at our state parks soared by nearly 250,000 additional visitors. More than 1.17 million New Yorkers took advantage of our parks this Memorial Day Weekend.
State budget shortfalls threatened many of our state parks with closure, but the Senate acted quickly to keep our parks open for the millions of New Yorkers and out-of-state visitors who will be visiting them this summer. Had we allowed our parks to be shut, the people of our state would have been deprived of one of our greatest natural resources, and the state would have lost significant revenue. Westchester and the Hudson Valley would have suffered as a result. Senator Oppenheimer played a key role in the effort to keep state parks open this year.
Westchester residents use the state park system enjoying parks in our area, upstate New York, or on Long Island such as Jones Beach State Park.
The Taconic Region's parks and other sites:
- Attract an estimated 3.1 million visitors annually
- Have created nearly 1,000 Hudson Valley jobs
- Spur nearly $102 million in annual related sales and output, strengthening our region's economy
Our state parks are an asset to our state, an economic engine, and a treasure that all New Yorkers share. We need to keep them open to everyone. To learn more about our state parks and find out which ones you might like to visit, check out our state parks online [11] at the Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation web site.
