State lags on upkeep of parks system

More than two years after Governor Mitt Romney promised to create a ''world-class" parks system, advocates say many of the state's ice rinks, bridges, and pathways are crumbling and the newest head of the parks department acknowledges that he does not have the staff to correct the problems any time soon.

Stephen H. Burrington, commissioner of the Department of Conservation and Recreation, blamed a ''legacy of neglect" for a backlog of projects that he said preceded Romney's governorship. But in response to criticism, Burrington acknowledged that the department has difficulty managing everyday upkeep such as cleaning graffiti off signs and bridges.

''When you don't have enough people to go around and there are only so many hours in the week, even the things that any ordinary person would think there ought to be a way to do can't get done," Burrington said in a interview.

Among the problems:

Since 2003, the DCR has lost 158 employees, 13.5 percent of its workforce, a Globe review of payroll data found. The funding for the parks department has dropped by more than 10 percent since 2002. Governing Magazine recently ranked state spending on parks and recreation and found Massachusetts last in the nation.

The department, which oversees swimming pools, parks, ice rinks, and parkways, has been headed by four commissioners since Romney took office. While parks advocates were encouraged by the appointment of Burrington in September, they complained that the changes in leadership have undermined morale and the department's focus.

The department estimates that it faces a backlog of $750 million in maintenance projects. For example, bright graffiti mars concrete and signs along the Charles River, a Revere ice rink has been shuttered for three years, and high-profile properties like the Longfellow Bridge are deteriorating.

Romney, who is considering a run for president in 2008, had pledged to improve the state's park system shortly after he took office in January 2003 and targeted the former Metropolitan District Commission -- infamous for its patronage hiring and wasteful spending -- for elimination. In July 2003 the Legislature accepted his plan to merge the commission with the Department of Environmental Management, which also managed green space, to form DCR.

''We should not accept the status quo," Romney said in February 2003. ''Every park in Massachusetts should be world-class and the way to achieve this is to create a unified, world-class management system."

But in the midst of a state budget crisis, funding for the department plummeted. Overall spending sank from $201 million in fiscal year 2002 to $160.6 million the year Romney took office. The following year, it fell further to $157.8 million, a nearly 22 percent drop from 2002. In the 2005 fiscal year 2005, which ended in July, spending rose to $180.2 million.

Along the way, the department made some showcase accomplishments; its North Point Park near the Zakim Bridge is viewed as a gem by parks advocates and Massachusetts became the first state to receive certification from the Forest Stewardship Council for environmentally sound forest management for its entire forest system, Burrington said.

Much of the last two years has been spent trying to synthesize the two former agencies. ''There was extraordinarily little for them to work with when they began," said Burrington. ''Both agencies were operating at a very primitive level in most ways." As a result of that work, he said, ''DCR is a lot closer to being a really first-rate parks department than a lot of people outside realize."

But those who work to protect the parks, campgrounds, and preservation lands across Massachusetts say the department seems unable to maintain its resources or handle the most rudimentary upkeep, such as cleaning bathhouses; they say the administration's limited financial support for the department has made it impossible for its staff to manage well.

''I hate to say it, and I really do not mean to be malicious, but their agenda is a financial agenda, not a policy agenda. If I were going to encapsulate the way they've done the merger, I would say it's 'merge it, then starve it,' " said Mark Primack, executive director of the Wildlands Trust of Southeastern Massachusetts.

One of the most prominent advocates for more money is former DCR commissioner Katherine F. Abbott, whom Romney ousted over the department's failure to effectively plow and shovel parkways in February, when four students were struck by a truck on the VFW Parkway in West Roxbury.

Abbott is now director of the Common Cents Campaign, a project of the Trust for Public Land that aims to bolster public and private funding and appreciation for what she calls the state's ''green infrastructure." Abbott envisions a marketing campaign that would attract people to Massachusetts on the strength of its environmental resources.

She said DCR has succeeded in eliminating overlap in areas like human resources and has made smart moves, such as collating all information about the state's assets, needs, and construction projects in one database. But regardless of the efficiencies found by merging the agencies, she said, ''it's all about money and resources and lack of that." While Romney has tried to focus attention on needed repairs, she said that the state still is not devoting enough operating money to ''have our infrastructure be something that we're proud of instead of something we're not proud of, or we're afraid of."

The governor and the Legislature have begun trying to address the maintenance backlog with capital funds. In fiscal year 2004, the state spent $27 million on Conservation and Recreation capital projects; last year, the figure was $45.5 million, according to DCR documents. This year the Legislature is proposing to boost spending by $7 million to $10 million through earmarks for hometown projects such as boat-launch ramps, playground improvements, and ice rinks.

But the needs keep mounting. In a report issued in January, DCR estimated that it needed $728 million for maintenance; now, the backlog stands at $750 million. The repairs include not only pools, playgrounds, and ice rinks, but structures that affect the safety of the public -- including roads, bridges, and dams.

''The legacy of neglect is enormous. I've become the proud owner of a half-million-acre fixer-upper," Burrington said.

Correcting that neglect takes extraordinary time and money. The famous Longfellow Bridge, built in 1908 and last overhauled in the 1950s, is deteriorating, with concrete curbs crumbling along the pedestrians' walks that link Boston and Cambridge. The steel beams that support the arch show signs of corrosion from water and road salt, and cracks are emerging in the salt-and-pepper towers. ''It's literally falling, piece by piece, into the Charles," Office of Commonwealth Development Chief Douglas I. Foy said early this year.

Still, though Romney called for action in 2003, the preliminary design for the massive reconstruction project will not be completed until the end of next year. Work could begin in 2008 and is expected to take 3 1/2 years and cost more than $110 million.

As a result of the demand for funding, DCR is trying to get creative -- getting the Massachusetts Highway Department to fund the Longfellow project, for instance. The department is also now leasing 26 of its 40 ice skating rinks to private contractors to avoid maintenance on the aging structures, which needed at least $32 million of work. As private companies shoulder some renovation costs through leases, Burrington cites the program as a resounding success

But the process has lagged in some cases. In Revere, youth hockey players have been dispersed for three years to programs in Lynn, Everett, and the North End since the Cronin Memorial rink shut down. The state plans a long-postponed, $8 million reconstruction, but the renovation has yet to start.

''They're saying 2007, but I'm not holding my breath on that one," said Mary Ann Zizzo, a past president of the Revere High School Hockey Parents' Club.

State Representative Mike Moran of Brighton, who sometimes beseeches the city for help in cleaning graffiti on DCR-owned land in his district, said that years of inadequate funding preceded Romney.

''He wants to have a world-class parks system. Today we have a Third-World parks system," Moran said. ''I don't think Governor Romney understands how important these pools and rinks and recreation areas are for people that don't have them at their disposal down the street or in their backyard."

Stephanie Ebbert can be reached at ebbert@globe.com