E-Mail This Article to a Friend GREEN COUNCIL What’s wrong with Boston parks BY DEIRDRE FULTON

The bluer your politics, the greener your thumb, or so the supporters of Boston’s parks and open spaces seemed to think at a forum with at-large city-council candidates at Franklin Park on Monday night.

Matt O’Malley, the Roslindale candidate who placed seventh in last month’s preliminary election, was dubbed debate-winner by 29 of the 82 audience members who filled out the "Poll for Parks and Open Space Candidates" distributed at the start of the evening by the Franklin Park Coalition.

No doubt O’Malley’s praise of the city’s "park-keepers" — volunteers who keep Boston’s green spaces going — combined with his support for doubling the Park Department’s budget, and one specific reference to "shore erosion" around the edge of Jamaica Pond, played a role in his success.

But surprisingly it was incumbent councilor Steve Murphy, not known as much of a progressive, who came armed with concrete assessments and suggestions that rescued the night from a tendency toward vague niceties. Murphy advocated increasing the number of permanent park rangers from 12 to 25 (which would have both public-safety and maintenance benefits), reclaiming state parkland for city care, beginning fiscal-year 2007 park-budget negotiations with mayor Menino’s office as soon as this week, and formalizing the relationship between city-park employees and the hundreds of volunteers who help keep Boston’s parks running. (O’Malley took this last idea one step further, arguing for a "park ombudsman" who would serve as a liaison between full-time parks workers and Boston residents who toil for free.)

Murphy also reminded the crowd that despite the candidates’ unanimous support for raising the Park Department’s share to at least one percent of the city’s budget, city council cannot make budget recommendations — it can only approve or deny mayoral allocations. He suggested, however, that the city "make an argument that Boston Common and certainly the downtown parks could be considered under that homeland-security umbrella" to get extra funding.

No matter how they get it, Boston’s parks need more money for everything from preservation and maintenance to personnel. None of the candidates was willing to give the current state of city parks a grade above "B."

The reasons why are suggested by the following facts, provided by the Franklin Park Coalition and the 63 other organizations that co-sponsored the event:

• For every 1000 residents in West Roxbury, there are about 40 acres of open space; in the South End, there are barely five.

• Out of more than 2000 trees on the streets of Jamaica Plain, nearly half look less than healthy; 135 planters hold dead trees or are empty.

• Since the 1980s, the park-ranger force has been cut in half.

• Suburban youth participate in community sports programs at double the rate of urban youth. (For example, O’Malley pointed out, while Lexington has 16 athletic offerings for young people, Boston has just four.)

• Boston spends $48 per resident per year on parks. Detroit spends $63. Chicago spends $108.