All 58 New York State parks and historic sites that had been targeted for reduced services or closure, including the swimming pool at Montauk Downs State Park, are safe for the summer, State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. announced in a press release on Friday.
If not for a three-way agreement between the Assembly, the Senate and Governor David Paterson, which was reached early Friday morning, according to a representative at Mr. Thiele’s office, the pool at Montauk Downs would have been closed indefinitely, and “numerous local jobs would have been lost or threatened.”
In February, Governor Paterson asked the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to slash 16 percent of its 2010-11 budget, a cut of $29 million, in an effort to reduce the state’s $8.2 billion budget deficit. As a result, the office released the list of closures and reductions to parks and facilities around the state, including 11 on Long Island.
“Keeping the parks open is absolutely the right course of action, and it’s essential that they’re open for Memorial Day Weekend,” Mr. Thiele stated in the release. “Yes, New York is facing very serious economic challenges, but closing the parks made no sense at all because they generate far more revenue than they cost to operate. Between the jobs they provide and the tourism dollars they bring in, the parks are critical to supporting local economies and the state’s economic health as a whole.”
The Montauk Downs State Park facility operates an Olympic-size pool and a children’s pool from June to September. According to the state parks office, attendance at the pool for 2009 was 13,428. Throughout the state, attendance was up by almost 2 million visitors, according to the release.
The state park system, which includes 178 parks and 35 historic sites, provides 20,000 jobs and produces about $1.9 billion in annual sales for private businesses in areas near the parks, according to the press release, which went on to state that, as a whole, the parks generate $5 for every $1 spent by the state in operating them.
“We live in a time when affordable entertainment options for families are especially important, and that’s exactly what our state parks provide.” Mr. Thiele said. “But beyond economics, this is about morale, too. The parks made it through the Great Depression without being closed, and it would have been a huge blow to New Yorkers for our parks to close now—when we need them most.”
on Jun 1, 2010