Robbing Peter to pay Paul

"We concentrate our maintenance efforts on the parks that people use," Mr. Benepe said, noting that existing resources don't permit every park to be kept in perfect condition.

Parks Dept. Scrambles To Rid Parks of Illegal Activities

"We always gave priority to developed parkland," a former parks commissioner, Henry Stern, said. "They're basically triage decisions as to what you can fix and what you can't."

"A lot of these areas — you might call them the untended fringes of the emerald empire — simply don't get the attention that Rome does," he said.

Translation: "We like to keep the money in Manhattan, where we live and the tourists visit."