Another City budget is on the negotiating table, and difficult decisions lie ahead as we brace for the chaos Trump could inflict on our city. But one thing is clear: we must finally fund our parks and greenspaces like the critical infrastructure they are.
The Parks Department maintains 30,000 acres of public space citywide — that’s more land than the entire borough of Manhattan. Yet its budget still hovers at just 0.6% of the City’s total spending—less than a quarter of what cities like Chicago and L.A. invest in their parks.
For years, advocates and elected officials have called for a simple fix: dedicate 1% of the City budget to our parks. Because New Yorkers deserve better.
New York City’s parks are not a luxury. They are an integral part of our lives and communities, and they are essential climate infrastructure—cleaning our air, cooling our streets, strengthening communities, and in some cases, saving lives. As our summers get hotter, storms grow stronger, and rainfall intensifies, we must invest more in trees and green spaces.
Yet year after year, we ask our Parks Department to do more with less. This isn’t just about mowing lawns. It’s about scaling up green infrastructure to prepare New York for a hotter, wetter, and more extreme climate.
We laid out this vision in our Million More Trees plan—an ambitious proposal to re-green the city by planting or restoring one million additional trees across the five boroughs.
Trees aren’t just beautiful; they are urban workhorses. A street tree can cool the surrounding area by up to 9 degrees, essential as our summers continue to get hotter. Trees filter our air pollution, absorb stormwater, and boost mental health.
We need more of them, and we need to take care of the ones we have. That means fully funding tree planting and maintenance—not just on Parks land, but along streets, schoolyards, NYCHA campuses, and other under-canopied areas.
We also know where investments are most needed. Low-income neighborhoods and communities of color typically have the fewest trees and parks—and suffer the worst urban heat and pollution. That’s not a coincidence. It’s the result of environmental injustice. Investing in parks is also investing in fairness.
In the past year, my office has worked alongside the Parks Department to plant and maintain street trees across our borough, including in communities that have long been overlooked. From our Cherry Blossom and Chinese Scholar planting event with the Chinatown East Neighborhood Council to our tree giveaways in Upper Manhattan and Harlem with the New York Restoration Project, we are chipping away at our Million Trees goal. But as a city, we need to do much more.
Today, our Parks Department is short 795 workers—the very people who keep our parks clean and safe, care for trees, and run family programming. Without restoring these jobs, even maintaining our current canopy will be a struggle.
That’s why my fellow Borough Presidents from the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens and I are calling on the Mayor to restore funding for these critical jobs.
The bottom line is this: Mayor Adams has a chance in this year’s budget to commit boldly to our city’s parks. Not with slogans—but with real investment. Now is the time to dedicate 1% of this year’s budget to our parks for a greener, healthier, climate resilient city.
