NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – Due to savings achieved in managing the migrant crisis, Mayor Eric Adams announced on Thursday the restoration of select services to the Department of Sanitation and New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, a day after certain cuts were reversed for the FDNY and NYPD.
DSNY
Funding will be restored to maintain 23,000 DSNY garbage cans and allow the agency to continue to install its “Litter Basket of the Future,” an updated trash bin that is cheaper, lighter, reduces the chance of injury to sanitation workers, prevents the dumping of large items and has a perforated shell to impede rats.
According to DSNY Commissioner Jessica Tisch, the cut was originally going to remove about 40% of litter baskets across the city, which amounts to the removal of over 9,000 bins.
“What a terrible shame it would have been to have had to remove baskets just when one this beautiful, this rat‑defying, this clean, was beginning to appear in our streets. Instead of being what could have been, these baskets will be what is. They will continue to shine like the beacons of cleanliness and modernity that our city deserves,” Tisch said.
The Adams administration noted that this reversal is an important service that helps in its “War on Rats,” and builds on existent efforts to containerize 100% of the city’s garbage and reduce the time trash sits on the street.
NYC PARKS
Funding will be restored to NYC Parks and NYC Department of Social Services’ Parks Opportunity Program, an initiative that gives thousands of low-income New Yorkers six-month paid opportunities and training programs each year.
In these programs, chosen New Yorkers help maintain and operate parks and facilities in preparation for full-time opportunities with NYC Parks.
“For 30 years, the Parks Opportunity Program has been instrumental in placing thousands of the most vulnerable New Yorkers into full time-employment,” NYC Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue said. “We are incredibly grateful for the commitment from this administration to continue on this legacy of providing access to green jobs and job training.”
City Hall and migrant savings
In August 2023, Adams projected that the cost of the asylum seeker crisis would swell to more than $12 billion by Fiscal Year 2025, prompting City Hall to announce a series of controversial budget cuts in November.
Officials said that due to the city’s “strong fiscal management that included implementing measures to reduce household per-diem costs and helping put migrants on the path to self-sufficiency,” there will be a reduction in city-funded spending on migrants, allowing for the reversal of certain cuts.
“When we came into office, we made it clear: out with the mean streets and in with the clean streets, and today’s restoration into programs at the Sanitation Department and the Parks Department help us continue to make the right investments in our ‘Trash Revolution,’” Adams said. “We’re building a city where New Yorkers won’t have to dodge rats or tiptoe around mountains of smelly black bags anymore.”
However, Adams did warn that the city’s economic situation remains tenuous, before making yet another call for state and federal support.
“While we can celebrate this good news today, we still have a massive budget gap to fill in the next fiscal year and need more support from our state and federal partners going forward,” Adams said.