State to Public: Stay Home This Summer, We're Closing The Parks

It’s no secret that New York State is facing a very tight budget year, worse than usual. One proposed cut is to close 14 historic sites and 41 parks, and reduce hours at 23 parks and one historic site. When the state says "close" they mean, turn off the heat, haul out the artifacts, lock the door, lock the gate and walk away leaving historic sites to rot. For parks, its allowing facilities to corrode and become unmanageably overgrown. It seems like the state legislature is trying to grant a reprieve to these sites on the chopping block, but the Assembly and Senate differ and the budget is still being negotiated. But in this state, nothing is certain.

While some people are concerned that closing these sites will lead to their physical disappearance, this is only part of the problem. It's not only that historic resources are being lost but so are are jobs and real public amenities.

The state is talking about closing public pools and swimming areas, shuttering educational sites, picnic spots, and parklands. Yet, in leaner times, people are staying closer to home and often discovering treasures that are in their proverbial back yard. If preservationists are interested in only buildings it is to miss the message that these places can mean more. Heritage and local tourism are growing and New York will be missing the boat.

And about those jobs, back during the Great Depression park sites were places of job creation not job loss. These historic and park sites are places where New Yorkers were put to work through WPA programs like the the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Historic American Building Survey (the lone New Deal program still active which has documented more than 500,000 historic buildings). Maybe its time to think of these places not just as historic objects or pretty parks but as contributors to local economies and places of employment.

So who's going to propose WPA 2.0? Anyone?

Ironwork at Schuyler Mansion, Albany, NY
Historic American Buildings Survey, Thos. T. Waterman, Photographer.