It is probably true that we all use and love our public parks, albeit in different ways. Parks are an essential part of our urban life from the time we are introduced to the outside world until our last faltering steps in the open air. They are our one opportunity to experience natural growth: the lawns, flowers, shrubs and trees which shape the green rooms of our city. They range from street leftovers to major vast natural areas, many bordering our coastline and other water bodies. They also embody our history and the enlightened visions and goals of our ancestors. Whereas streets are designed chiefly for vehicular and pedestrian transportation, parks are generally designed for recreation, both active play and passive reflection. They become our escape from the frenetic activities of street life into protected and quiet oasis.
The 29,000 acres of our city parks, equivalent to 14% of the land in the city, are built and maintained by the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, known to most of us as “Parks”. Parks have always welcomed the help of its users, both organized groups and individuals. This help can range from actual physical improvements and horticultural maintenance to individual volunteer help in keeping parks clean and attractive. This help has come in response to a sense of belonging to one’s surroundings, a sense of custodianship. The park is both theirs and mine.
Among the best known of these groups are the park conservancies. Three prominent ones are the Central Park Conservancy, the Madison Park Conservancy and the recently formed Washington Square Park Conservancy. Union Square Park and Bryant Park receive financial and programming assistance from the Union Square Partnership and the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation, both business improvement districts which receive public income from a ¼ % supplement to property tax assessments. Other parks such as Jackson Square and Abingdon Square have local sponsoring businesses which fund gardeners and planting materials. Other parklands, such as the Jane Street Garden enjoy volunteer help in plant maintenance and clean-up.
Some residents feel these groups have undue influence on park policy, though in fact the Parks have sole responsibility for approving all capital projects, concessions, restaurants, cafes, outdoor markets, food carts, sports and entertainment events and other organized activities in any public park. The Union Square Community Coalition, a local citizens’ group, has fought the establishment of a restaurant in that park in court. Any programs initiated by such groups are subject to Parks oversight. Two exceptions are the Hudson River Park which is run by a state sponsored trust on state and city park land and the High Line which is run by the privately funded Friends of the High Line on the city owned former elevated railroad bed.
The privately supported Central Park Conservancy, founded in 1980, provides routine maintenance and repairs, raises funds for the historic landmark park’s preservation and organizes events for the over 40 million visitors a year. Some have urged Mayor de Blasio to become Robin Hood and take money from the conservancy to use in other parks, which he cannot legally do. In fact, according to the Parks press office, the conservancy, in addition to covering 85% of the cost of maintenance of Central Park, also has agreed “to perform routine landscape maintenance and repairs of the fountains at Bowling Green, City Hall Park, Manahatta Park, Frederick Douglas Circle, Columbus Circle, Duke Ellington Circle, the Broadway Malls Greenstreet between West 57th and West 59thStreets, Morningside Park, St. Nicholas Park, Jackie Robinson Park and Marcus Garvy Park. All CPC activities are subject to Parks’ approval and the Parks Commissioner sits on the board of the Conservancy. . . Conservancies have been at the forefront of innovative management and emerging trends in urban park development for over 30 years.” Former Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe added, “ There is a terrific vehicle for voluntary contributions for all parks. It is the City Parks Foundation.” He is now Senior Vice President and Director of City Park Development for The Trust for Public Land. In August, 2013, he issued a release stating, “The creation of the Central Park Conservancy and the Prospect Park Alliance led to a national wave of civic involvement in city parks. . . The successful park support organizations already subsidize the building and operating of some parks across the country, allowing cities to move public funds to needier parks.”
The Hudson River Park’s recent questionable bestowal of “air rights” by State legislators Deborah Glick, Richard Gottfried, Brad Hoylman, Daniel Squadron and others sets a terrible precedent for funding parks for two reasons. As a source of funding it is notoriously unpredictable in the short run. In the long run it will lead to shadow casting walls around parks. It is a form of privatizing the building of parks through real estate speculation. Imagine Central or Washington Square Parks with such walls. There is no doubt that some parks may require improved funding, but not at the expense of destroying their essential value. Funds must be provided by the City Council, the State Legislature and other public sources and we as citizens must push parks as priorities.
Parks are essential to experiencing our city’s history and physical earth body. The larger parks embody natural environments and original terrain underlying our metropolis. Others are formal constructs confined by the city’s street grid. They all allow us to experience seasons, weather, sky, sunlight, calm, bird and small mammal life, the reflection and sound of water. They can form a retreat into our inner selves or casual informal interaction with others as we prefer. Parks offer us an extraordinary sense of freedom and belonging to natural life.
All of us have a role in caring for our parks, from picking up litter to maintaining plant beds, even around street trees. Neighbors sweep and shovel the snow from the sidewalk bordering Jane Street Garden which is on park land. Some also fill the bird bath, clip hedges, weed and water flowers. Once many years ago I encountered a homeless person in Columbus Park in Brooklyn. He was carefully pulling grass growing in the joints of the brick paved path. “Why are you doing this?” I asked. “Why not?” he replied. “ I live here. This is my home.” Home is where the heart is. That is why we love our parks.
