Audit Report on the Effectiveness of the Department of Parks and Recreation in Maintaining City Playgrounds

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The principal mission of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (Parks) is to ensure that the parks and recreational areas (e.g., gardens, marinas, stadiums, squares) of the City are clean, safe, and attractive for the health and enjoyment of people. Parks maintains approximately 28,000 acres throughout the City, managing more than 1,700 parks and recreation facilities. These properties include 614 ball fields, 550 tennis courts, 43 swimming pools, 14 miles of beaches, 13 golf courses—and 971 playgrounds used especially by children and equipped with play facilities.

The maintenance and operation of parks and recreational facilities managed by Parks fall under its Operations division. To measure how well Operations maintains parks and recreational facilities, the Parks Operations and Management Planning (OMP) division has established the Parks Inspection Program (PIP). PIP inspectors evaluate various park "features" (such as litter conditions and paved surfaces) and document the results in site inspection reports that include recommendations outlining the work needed.

In fiscal year 2001, Parks spent $164,100,124 on park maintenance; $130,972,673 of this amount was for personal service.

The objective of this audit was to determine whether Parks adequately maintains and inspects playground areas at City parks.

The scope for this audit was July 2000 through February 2002. We assessed the cleanliness and safety of the playgrounds, as well as the maintenance and availability of the play equipment.

We requested all documents setting out procedures and standards that PIP inspectors must follow when conducting inspections. We identified the various features tested by inspectors and reviewed the standards they employed in assessing ratings for each feature.

To determine whether playground areas were clean, safe, and well maintained, we sampled 48 playgrounds throughout the City, randomly selected from within community board districts identified by highest and lowest percentages of families receiving public assistance. We conducted our first inspections from June through July 2001, and revisited the sites in December 2001and January 2002 to determine whether the conditions we observed during our first visits remained.

To determine whether the conditions we observed were consistent with those found by PIP inspectors, we compared our findings with those documented in PIP site inspection reports.

We conducted our audit in accordance with Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS) and included tests of the records and other auditing procedures considered necessary. This audit was performed in accordance with the New York City Comptroller’s audit responsibilities as set forth in Chapter 5, § 93, of the New York City Charter.

Parks satisfactorily maintained 42 (88%) of the 48 playgrounds that we sampled in regard to overall cleanliness, based on our inspection of these parks from June through July 2001. During our second visits to these parks in December 2001 and January 2002, the overall cleanliness of all 48 playgrounds was satisfactory. Furthermore, Parks fixes unsafe conditions that are identified. We did not observe any clear health or safety hazards (e.g., broken play equipment) at the playgrounds we visited. The conditions we observed correspond with Parks’s own inspections. For fiscal year 2001, Parks reported, based on PIP inspections, 91 percent of the City’s small parks (including playgrounds) were acceptably clean, and 84 percent were in satisfactory condition overall.

Overall, the vast majority of play equipment was present in the playgrounds we visited. However, when equipment is missing, it may not be replaced for six months or longer. Of the 25 swings that were missing during our first visits, only 13 had been replaced by the time we visited the playgrounds approximately six months later. According to PIP inspection reports, 14 percent of all swings citywide were missing during inspections conducted during the period July 2001 through February 2002.

The audit resulted in one recommendation, specifically, that Parks should improve its timeliness in replacing play equipment that is missing from playground areas.

The matters covered in this report were discussed with Parks officials during and at the conclusion of this audit. A preliminary draft report was sent to Parks officials and was discussed at an exit conference held on April 11, 2002. On April 18, 2002, we submitted a draft report to Parks officials with a request for comments. We received a written response from Parks officials on May 1, 2002. Parks officials agreed with the audit findings and recommendation and stated:

"We are very pleased that your overall findings have indicated that playground areas at City parks were adequately maintained and inspected. . . .

"Parks will continue to place a high priority on replacing play equipment, in this case, swings. Usually, swings are replaced in the spring when usage begins to climb."