Parks Department Says “Yes, Icahn!”

Renaming the main branch of the New York Public Library was one thing — NYPL is a non-profit, after all and non-profits love to carve names all over stuff — but you might feel a little uneasy about city administrators actually spending city resources on fundraising and naming rights*:

The Wollman Rink is already taken and so is the Delacorte Theater, but if you’ve got about $5 million to spare, your name could grace Central Park’s sprawling tennis center.

Got only $2 million? How about sponsoring the Chelsea Recreation Center or the ball fields at DeWitt Clinton Park?

They’re all part of a plan to raise revenue for the city in these harsh times by convincing corporations or wealthy individuals to part with big bucks to have their names attached to selected park facilities.

The Post obtained a list of the first seven available facilities, and they include three that don’t yet exist: the restored pool in Williamsburg’s McCarren Park ($3 million); the track and field house proposed for Ocean Breeze Park on Staten Island ($2 million); and the sports facility being built at Mill Pond Park near Yankee Stadium in The Bronx ($2 million).

*Time was, an executive branch (the mayor) and the legislative branch (the city council) set budgets and allocated funds — now apparently “quasi-public” 501(c)(3)s, city employees raising money for pet projects and shadow budgeting is the norm.