Conclusion! and PSA Link
What conclusion can be reached about all this?
A stunning view of New York's most recognizable park. Photo from Tom Fletcher's "NY Architecture".
Funding for park development and maintenance follows certain trends. A major factor in deciding which park to fund, based on census data, is race. Parks in neighborhoods where most of the residents are white receive substantially more funding than those with a smaller white presence. Education is another distinguishing factor, as parks in neighborhoods with highly educated residents are more funded. Income and employment which go hand-in-hand also dictate which parks receive funding, as parks in neighborhoods with wealthier residents receive much more money than those with less wealthy residents. Also to consider is industry which ties in socially and economically. The parks in neighborhoods with many professionals and businessmen receive more funding than those in neighborhoods where there are many social workers and blue collar workers.
Public Service Announcement: Unequal Distribution
None of this means that the Parks Department is directly choosing the rich over the poor and the white over anything else. Rather, it is private investors, namely real estate developers that fund the parks like the High Line and the Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Richer and whiter residents are proven to maintain high real estate values and building a park in areas where they live will only improve the area and raise real estate values. Investors do not fund parks in areas where real estate values are low or at risk. Unfortunately, this is as far as the city’s innocence goes. Rich and powerful developers have a strong influence in the government. So, public funding jumps on board with private investment and the two go wherever the influential real estate giants want them to.
Public funding jumps on board with private investment and the two go wherever the influential real estate giants want them to.
Parks have become another asset to a corporation. Everyone enjoys nice scenery and so the demand for a neighborhood with a nice park goes up. Simple economics shows that as demand rises as do prices, which makes real estate developers happy and rich. As these neighborhoods with nice highly funded parks become nicer, the neighborhoods with neglected parks fall to ruin. This is typical unequal distribution and it is growing.
Mayor Bloomberg’s plan 2030 to have every New York City resident live within a 10 minute walk to a park is admirable in theory, but in practice it is nearly useless.
Yes, residents in University Heights are within walking distance of University Wood, but why would anyone want to walk among fallen trees, broken bottles, and common criminals?
Link to our PSA:
