BY NICKI MAYO
CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO REPORT ON BUFFALO.YNN.COM
Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy CEO Thomas Herrera-Mishler says there are more than four million dollars worth of projects lined up for city parks in 2010.
“A lot of that money is contingent on this contract with the city being nailed down,” said Herrera-Mishler.
Erie County managed Buffalo City parks since 2004, but the power will shift back to the city by 2010. The city takes over Buffalo’s 180 parks, playgrounds and recreation centers January first.
Buffalo’s Common Council members say they are ready to review the Mayor’s plans for area parks… but they haven’t gotten it yet.
“We’ll be submitting to the council before the deadline but the focus is to make sure the transition is as seamless as possible December 31st,” said City Attorney Brendan Mehaffy explaining the delay in getting the documents to Common Council members.
Mayor Byron Brown’s administration is working on plans to hire back 50 workers and request a deputy parks commissioner position. That leadership role would reportedly pay $85,000 a year.
“We don’t know who this person is. We don’t know what their duties and responsibilities will be,” said South Buffalo Councilman Michael Kearns.
Some council members say the December 31st deadline is fast approaching and they are not getting enough time to carefully review the mayor’s plan.
“This has been something that has been going on for six months. Not six weeks,” said Kearns. “This is a very detailed contract with a lot of things that have to be discussed,” he added. The Council plans to stringently vet the mayor’s parks plan.
Members of the Council majority are openly skeptical of creating a new $85,000 position. The Council as a whole wants to know what role will Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy will play in the plan.
Common Council Parks Committee Chair Demone Smith says he has asked repeated times for the Mayor’s parks plan. So far he’s been told there are employee, union, and various operations issues that need to be ironed out. Councilman Smith says he is willing to hold additional committee meetings if necessary to get the plan through council review by the December 31st deadline.
“We can have a committee meeting whenever you want. It doesn’t necessarily have to fall on a timeline,” said Smith.
“As soon as I get a finalized document detailing what we want to do in the parks I’m ready to go,” the Masten District councilman added.
Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy leaders say 2009 was a tough financial year for the parks, but they are ready to start winter preps and activities around the city.
“We’ve been really struggling this year like all non-profits this year to do what we need to do. We really need our public partners to do what they can,” said Herrera-Mishler.
