Overflowing garbage cans and debris-filled pathways are familiar sights for visitors to Claremont Park in the Bronx — but the parks department has limited money to clean things up.
The 38-acre park sits atop a hill in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, and has to compete for $29 million allocated this year for the maintenance and operations of more than 300 parks in the borough. Joe Thomas, a staffer at the park, said he’s one of just three employees tasked with keeping the space clean — but argues at least 10 people are needed to do the job.
“It’s something that’s always talked about among my coworkers, we’re under the gun,” said Thomas, 55. “We can’t keep up with the amount of trash that’s being put out here.”
That budget squeeze isn’t an issue for parks in some of the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods, which have nonprofit arms that raise millions of dollars to keep them nice and tidy. The Central Park Conservancy, which runs the city’s most famous park, brings in more than $140 million every year through donors, events and concessions, according to tax filings. And filings show that the Madison Square Park Conservancy, which presides over a significantly smaller park, generated nearly $5 million in the same year.
Advocates say this discrepancy divides the city’s parks into the haves and have-nots, and it’s raising calls for funding reforms by lawmakers.
The parks department itself brings in about $55 million a year from sources like concessions and permits, according to records. But due to rules in the city charter, that money isn’t retained by the parks department and is sent to a general fund instead. The funding for areas like Central Park, which keeps all the revenue it brings in, isn’t available to pay for maintenance at parks like Claremont. The city agreed in January to pay the Central Park Conservancy $160 million over 10 years to maintain and operate the park.
“Folks with power, they see places like Central Park…
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