Park advocacy groups are urging New York City’s mayoral candidates to commit to a long-term plan for the city’s green spaces after years of what they call chronic underinvestment.

New Yorkers for Parks (NY4P) and the 400-member Play Fair for Parks Coalition recently launched their new Parks 2030 platform: a guide to help mayoral candidates understand how they could develop and improve the city’s 30,000+ acres of parkland.

Mayor Eric Adams has failed to fulfill his promise of allocating 1% of the budget to parks, so advocacy groups have developed a roadmap for the next administration to strengthen NYC parks. Parks 2030 urged the city to reverse decades of underinvestment in the parks system and promote building a climate-resilient park network by 2030.

Adam Ganser, executive director of NY4P, said that Parks 2030 is, in some ways, an offering to the candidates’ campaigns because it can help them develop ideas about how to invest in New York City’s parks and open spaces. NY4P is in talks with the Zohran Mamdani campaign about presenting a briefing about the platform to the candidate and possibly taking a walk in a park with him. The Andrew Cuomo campaign has not yet responded to the proposal of a briefing about Parks 2030.

Among the candidates still in the race for mayor, the Curtis Sliwa campaign was the only one to reply immediately to questions from the AmNews about a planned strategy for supporting parks. Maria Sliwa, media director for Curtis Sliwa for NYC Mayor, said, “Curtis has been on record saying 1% doesn’t go far enough. We need closer to 2%.” 

Both Mamdani and Cuomo previously pledged to dedicate 1% of the budget to NYC Parks during an April 8 “Mayoral Candidate Forum on Parks, Recreation, and Open Space,” but neither has a defined parks platform. When the AmNews asked each campaign about the details of their plans and whether they would work with the Parks 2030 initiative, no responses were received by press time. 

The policy framework for Parks 2030 advocates dedicating 1% of the New York City budget to park maintenance; establishing a permanent, well-trained parks workforce with additional Urban Park Rangers and Parks Enforcement Patrol officers; constructing at least one new 20-acre park in each borough so all New Yorkers have 5-minute walking access to a park or open space; using reaching a 30% tree canopy coverage as a tool in climate change mitigation; and reforming the capital process for repairs and new construction in parks.

NY4P’s Ganser emphasized the vital role of parks in city life. “The importance of parks, open space, and equity in open space and quality of life: These are issues that affect every New Yorker,” he told the AmNews. “Having access to safe, clean, green spaces in a city like New York is essential. I feel this is one of the most important issues that our city is facing.”

He argued that investment in parks is a low-cost, high-impact way to improve quality of life and encourage residents to remain in the city.

Ganser acknowledged that Mamdani, who represents a Queens district that he described as “starved for parks,” has spoken about the importance of parks, and he suggested that Mamdani’s constituents are highly aware of the need for parks. Cuomo, Ganser said, has in the past supported New York State parks and will ideally do the same for the city if he wins the election.

“I don’t think there’s a scenario where these candidates don’t mention parks,” Ganser said. “They have generally spoken about parks, though they haven’t yet responded to this ‘Parks 2030’ platform, which was just released, so we’re still early in the process. I don’t see this as a problem at the moment, but if they don’t discuss [any plans for parks] in November, that will become an issue.”

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