Deader Geese, Dumber Children
by Henry Stewart
In fiscal year 2010, the 24-year-old, non-profit Prospect Park Alliance invested in the restoration of the Grand Army Plaza arch, a new facility for maintenance staff, the transformation of the Wellhouse into a public bathroom, and in the ongoing restoration of the lakeside and skating rink. It set off fireworks on New Year’s Eve, maintained playgrounds, and sponsored tree-care initiatives. It also devised ways to reduce the goose population from hundreds to dozens because the feds want the population reduced; officials from the department of agriculture entered the park in 2010, rounded up all the Canada geese under cloak of night, and gassed them in the name of aviation safety, though Prospect Park isn’t near enough to any airports for its geese to pose a legitimate threat.
Because of reductions in funding to the parks department, the Alliance has had to make cuts to its own budget—$300,000, or three percent—by slashing expenses and trimming staff. Here’s how they’ll do it, and how they won’t.
