Riverbank State Park in Harlem is Losing Rangers to Layoffs

By Welcome to Harlem on Dec 15, 2010

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MANHATTAN — Riverbank State Park in Harlem is losing all four of its rangers, just months after its operating hours were cut to help close a state budget gap.

The state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation sent layoff letters to the rangers earlier this month, telling them their jobs would end Jan. 1.

That means the 28-acre park, which runs along the river from West 137th Street to West 145th Street, will be without any full-time rangers, who patrol the grounds and help people navigate the facilities, union officials said. The rangers are considered by many to be the public face of the park.

The rangers’ union representatives complained that they weren’t given enough notice of the layoffs, and complained about the timing, in which workers were given pink slips just before the holidays.

“We understand the fiscal implications, which we’ve all been dealing with for several budget cycles. But these are human beings,” said Chris Hickey, executive vice-president of the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, the union that represents the rangers.

A parks department spokesman declined to comment, and referred questions to the state budget office, where a spokeswoman also declined to comment.

Although they are responsible in part for the parks’ security, the rangers are not armed, and are not police. Riverbank has its own team of state park police.

The layoffs are part of nearly 900 across state government announced by Gov. David Paterson, who said he needed them to meet a goal of $250 million in workforce reductions. He blamed union leaders for failing to give concessions that would have gone toward the savings goal.

Earlier this year, Paterson cut hours at Riverbank as part of a plan to close a $8.2 billion deficit. Hundreds of residents rallied at the park in protest, accusing the state of reneging on its commitment to the facility, which was built in the early 1990s in exchange for the construction of a sewage treatment facility below it.

Brad Taylor, who chairs Community Board 9’s waterfront and parks committee, said the layoffs portended further cuts at Riverbank.

“It’s just not right that the community continues to have this burden put on it daily, and the park keeps getting put on the cutting block,” Taylor said.

In addition to the four rangers at Riverbank, the state is laying off the one ranger who works at Roberto Clemente State Park in the Bronx.

No other rangers at any other New York state parks are being let go, Hickey said.

Patrick Robinson, the Roberto Clemente ranger, said he has been worked there for 23 years and is now trying in vain to find another job. He is 46 and married with five children.

“I’ve been working there forever and it’s like they don’t have any respect for me,” Robinson said.