Pennies can save our parks

Erik Kulleseid is the director of the Alliance for New York State Parks, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Albany.

Many New Yorkers breathed a sigh of relief when the state parks office announced earlier this month that no further park closures were expected this year - despite an additional budget cut of more than $17 million. But the agency has yet to detail how it can continue to do more with less and less. This is hardly the park system that was envisioned by Robert Moses or that helped to shape the very character of Long Island.

Significant service reductions are already in place at more than 100 state parks and historic sites because of prior-year cuts. Facilities are closed, hours have been reduced and seasons shortened. Looking ahead to this summer, New Yorkers are left to guess which pools, bathhouses, beaches and campsites will not open - resulting either from operating cuts or because continued deterioration has taken them offline.

The sad reality is that this year's budget further depletes our once great state park system. Despite record attendance and proven public support for our parks, the proposed state budget continues the trend of reduced funding, reduced services and reduced investment.

While the Alliance for State Parks actively supports and is engaged in efforts to secure private donations and partnerships to bolster state parks, it's a fantasy to suggest that friends groups, philanthropists and private interests, alone, can operate, protect and restore our state parks.

The solution is simple, timely and "green." What's needed is a one-cent fee on disposable plastic grocery store bags. "Pennies for Parks" would generate $60 million a year for our chronically underfunded state parks and historic sites, while reducing the number of bags that end up in landfills. The fee would be avoidable if shoppers turned to reusable bags. Polling shows that 73 percent of New Yorkers support the penny surcharge if the generated funds are dedicated to keeping state parks open and well maintained.

In other areas of the country that have implemented plastic-bag fees and bans, consumer resistance was minimal. In Washington, D.C., a five-cent fee on plastic bags has been in place since January of last year with little disruption. Proceeds from the fee go to the Anacostia River Protection Fund.

The generations of New Yorkers who grew up in the parks and took their families to the parks and beaches are now watching them deteriorate before our eyes. A state parks assessment completed last year estimated that more than a billion dollars is needed to repair, restore and update the system of 178 parks and 35 historic sites - $260 million right here on Long Island. Included on that list are hundreds of health and safety projects that are unlikely to entice private support and too big to be taken on by dedicated friends and advocacy groups.

The needs include renovating the worn-out and crumbling historic West Bathhouse and rehabilitating restrooms and shower facilities throughout Jones Beach; replacing the failing swimming pool and restrooms at Heckscher; updating Sunken Meadow's drinking water, sewer, electrical and septic systems; upgrading the electrical wiring and installing a fire-suppression system at Bayard Cutting Arboretum; and replacing deteriorating campground bathrooms and showers at Hither Hills. But these projects are all going nowhere. From one end of the Island to the other, our parks, once a source of great pride, are broken, dingy and failing.

Unless we take meaningful steps to fund and repair them they will continue to crumble. Every year that we forgo tending to our parks and sites, we fall further behind. What good is an "open" park if trails and piers are off limits, bathrooms don't function, and there's no swimming or camping?

Last year, the public stood in forceful support of the parks. Now, New York State must restore the majesty and vision of Long Island's spectacular, historic and defining state parks by enacting "Pennies for Parks."