(
)
What a hypocrite!
Critics yesterday blasted Mayor Bloomberg for getting on his high horse in a relentless campaign to control what New Yorkers eat and drink to fight obesity — while jacking up the fees at city recreation centers where they go to work off those calories.
“I actually kind of like what Bloomberg is doing with the sodas — people don’t always make good choices. But this is hypocritical. How can he do that and raise these fees at the same time?” asked William McKenzie, 53, a youth organizer at the Pelham Fritz Recreation Center at Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park.
Donald Agarrat, 42, was furious that the city’s Parks Department boosted its fees to use recreation centers, which spurred 50,000 people to drop their memberships over the past year as the costs doubled.
“That’s a huge increase!” Agarrat, a Harlem resident who works out at Pelham Fritz.
“I always thought these are the type of places that should be free for us. It shouldn’t be so expensive to work out and get healthy,” he said.
The Post reported yesterday that the Parks Department lost about $200,000 in revenue last year after it doubled fees at 32 recreation centers in a bid to raise more cash for city coffers.
“People we’ve been seeing for years have stopped coming. No one wants to come in to say, ‘Sorry, I don’t have the money,’ ” said a rec-center staffer who didn’t want to reveal his name.
“We miss a lot of our regulars.”
More than 50,000 people dropped their memberships during the fiscal year that ended on June 30, after the annual admission charge for adults jumped from $50 to $100, and from $75 to $150 for facilities with pools.
Also, half of the 36,000 seniors who had memberships gave them up when their fees went from $10 to $25.
“The Parks Department could not have made a more fiscally imprudent and socially counterproductive move in raising fees at neighborhood recreation centers,” Public Advocate Bill de Blasio wrote in a letter yesterday to city Parks Commissioner Veronica White.
“This fee hike is a black mark on the city’s public health record. Assessing a hidden tax on exercise defies medical science and common sense. By raising fees, the administration has undercut its own anti-obesity policies.”
De Blasio, a Democrat eyeing Bloomberg’s job next year, called on the mayor to roll back the fees
The administration did not respond to de Blasio’s letter, nor did it say whether it’s considering reverting to the lower fees.
City Hall officials pointed out that overall attendance at recreation centers saw a 30 percent jump when factoring in visits from nonmembers who take occasional free classes.
Several City Council members also called on Bloomberg to restore the lower fees.
“The mayor continues to talk about fitness and negative health indicators in the city, and the best way to deal with . . . obesity and heart disease and diabetes is to exercise and to engage in physical fitness,” said Councilwoman Letitia James (D-Brooklyn).
“I don’t see how you can do that if you raise entrance fees.”