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Parks & Public Spaces
Request to City Council for Oversight of Local Law 28 and Consideration of Int. 1084
At the regularly scheduled monthly meeting of Community Board Five on Thursday, December 12, 2013, the following resolution passed with a unanimous vote of 34 in favor; 0 opposed; 1 abstaining:
WHEREAS, Local Law 28 was passed unanimously by the City Council in 2008, requiring the Department of Parks and Recreation of New York City to submit an annual report to the City Council every December, outlining in detail the contributions of nonprofits and other private donors for every park in the City; and
WHEREAS, Elected officials and parks advocates heralded the passage of the law at that time as an exemplary piece of legislation, for its requirement of increased transparency in reporting funding information for those public-private partnerships which govern many of the public spaces in the City; and
WHEREAS, Compliance with the law has not been satisfactory since its passage, with annual reports omitting major donors, exact dollar amounts, or the mention of entire parks; and
WHEREAS, Despite the intention of the Law to foster openness and transparency for purposes of public review, the annual reports have not been made available to the public or posted online; and
WHEREAS, The Parks and Recreation Committee of the City Council is also considering hearing Int. 1084, which has similar aims as Local Law 28, but additionally would amend the administrative code to require any public-private partnership managing a New York City park to report its expenditures in a similar annual report; and
WHEREAS, The City Council of New York is responsible for oversight of Local Law 28; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, Community Board Five exhorts the City Council to increase its oversight of Local Law 28 and ensure its full compliance; and be it further
RESOLVED, Community Board Five encourages the Parks and Recreation Committee of the City Council to give Int. 1084 a public hearing.