BRONX, NY July 21, 2003 —

The Cost of Living: Stories from the Front Lines in the Five Boroughs
The Bronx
Staten Island
Brooklyn
Manhattan
Queens

On a recent morning, 52 Park in the Longwood section of the south Bronx doesn't look neglected by the city Parks Department. Three trucks are parked among the pillars, benches and jungle gym, and a dozen workers are sweeping, blowing and weed-wacking. Aldeliz Marrero is firing up his power washer to buff' some tagging' off the clubhouse with a power-washer.

Marrero: When they have special events, we go and we clean the area. We take the graffiti off. We prune the trees and everything, like we're doing now.

--What's the special event today? I don't know some reporters are coming here

Well one reporter - without a camera. But if passing along exaggerated intelligence to the Parks Department is what it takes to get workers down to 52 Park, that's what local activist Al Quinones will do.

Quinones: Hey John? John, there's a tree over there, right? And the pegs are in, but they're loose, I don't know what you wanna do

52 Park is about two square blocks, and is named after the school across the street, which used to be I.S. 52. Almost 25 years ago, Quinones came home to Longwood from college and noticed his childhood park was on the floor, as he says. He and a few friends decided to mobilize.

Quinones: So we started painting handball lines, with a little can of paint, and then we started painting benches, and then that started to grow. And as it grew and grew and grew, we just started to get better at it, and we said, We could do some things here!'

Quinones actually sympathizes with the Parks Department's plight. He's used to the city's lack of resources. This year, the agency's nearly $200-million-dollar budget dropped by about 11 million dollars, or 6 percent. David Lutz, the director of the Neighborhood Open Space Coalition, says parks funding has been in free fall for decades - ever since Robert Moses ended his 30-year tenure as Parks Commissioner in 1960.

Lutz: What makes Parks different from other departments, is that budgets don't go up in good times. The Parks budget has been cut drastically in the city's bad times and been cut moderately in the city's good times. So as a result, we have the smallest Parks Department we've had in the history of the consolidated Parks Department.

The results, Lutz says: less cleanup, less lawn-mowing, fewer capital improvements. In some relatively affluent areas, private donations have helped offset budget cuts. But working-class and inner-city communities, if they donate anything, give volunteer time instead of cash. Quinones urges all neighborhoods to scream for their fair share from the Parks Department, and not to sit around waiting for help.

Quinones: You gotta show people they certainly can make a difference in their community parks -- that if they don't do this, don't complain about the glass on the floor, don't complain about the litter on the floor, because the realities are you're not doing anything about it, but waiting for someone to come and sweep it, and your kids gotta play there.

Quinones says he's getting tired of his second job as the un-official superintendent of 52 Park. But he probably won't retire anytime soon. He enjoys playing paddle ball too much, and watching kids grow up. And besides: Who else in Longwood will keep the Parks Department on its toes? For WNYC, I'm Fred Mogul.