Outline
Overview-Past
1. How do parks contribute to the community?
2. Why invest in parks?
Parks are backyards for the public.They’re vacation homes for those who can’t leave NYC for vacation. Parks allow interactions among community members and they’re a place where people can go to relax, improve their mood and reduce stress. Since parks are vital to the betterment of a community’s health and social life, it is indeed important to invest in them as well.
3. A mini-history of the parks & their development in NYC.
1733- Bowling Green Park became the first official park
1797- land was purchased by the city for the specific purpose of recreation
1847- Madison Square Park, Bryant Park and Fort Greene Park were developed
1850- acquisition of Central Park began and ended in 18
1875- The first permanent zoo is placed in Central Park
1887- Small Parks Act – government can acquire parks in crowded neighborhoods
1920- Cunningham and Alley Pond park were developed in response to a growing population in Queens
1965- Landmarks Preservation Committee; Central Park is declared a National Historic Landmark
NYC Parks-Present
1. Budgets and fundings for parks in Queens NYC.
-Parks require approximately $30-50 million of funding per year.
-Two types of Budgets
a) Expense and Operating Budgets
b) Capital Budget
2. Maintenance of the parks (staffings & programs)
-Parks are divided into specific divisions
-PlaNYC has given an influx of money and additional staffing.
-Unlike the late 70s-early 80s, there is better management and efficiency of parks via mechanized equipment.
-Parks have become more green and are continuously improving due to the rising expectations of the Park Inspection Program.
-Commissioner Veronica White has reviewed management programs and hired nearly 500 people for administrative staff.
4. Information on each individual park.
A) Cunningham Park
i)mini history
-parcels of land called Hillside Park. One of the parcels was a highway but it had competition from a newly expanded highway that put it out of business. The property was donated to the City and in 1934 was renamed for W. Arthur Cunningham
-1936-plaza in Cunningham’s memory and the southern part of the park was completed. It had tennis courts, playgrounds, stables, fields and parking lots
-1950s the City acquired more land for a greenbelt of public parks
-the park was decreased in size as Queens grew; more space for schools and roads; 1986- land was restored as playing fields from the Sanitation and Transportation Departments
ii) facilities: Big Apple Circus, Vanderbilt Motor Parkway, Barbecuing Areas, Baseball Fields, Basketball Courts, Bathrooms, Bicycling and Greenways, Cricket Fields, Dog-friendly Areas, Fitness Equipments, Football Fields, Handball Courts, Hiking Trails, Playgrounds, Soccer Fields, Spray Showers, Tennis Courts , Volleyball Courts, Water Fountains.
iii)individual funding: Friends of Cunningham- advocate to officials to get funding.
B) Alley Pond Park
i) mini history -in previous decades, used to be acres of salt marsh
-1930s- became dumping grounds for debris from the construction of Cross Island Parkway
-1970s- development of a new understanding of importance of wetlands
-Hy and Joan Rosner (Douglaston residents) transformed the landscape with grassroots organizing
-Alley Pond Park Environmental Center established in 1972
-1979- park in terrible shape, relied on many volunteers of the community and the founders to clean and set up
-park now holds a memorial garden, apiary, collection of animals, outdoor classrooms and Douglaston Windmill and APEC now hosts over 50,000 visitors each year
ii) facilities available
iii) individual funding
From 1985-99, $10.9 million was spent to acquire more land for the park
In 1993, almost $1 million was spent to restore the Picnic Grove, renovate two stone buildings, and reconstruct the playground and soccer field
In 2009, $7.1 million was allocated for planning, design, and construction
Facilities offered at the Alley Pond Park – Adventure course that opens up in the summer, tennis courts, Environmental Center, open fields for athletes to practice sports, a track, bike pathway, a playground for children, BBQ’s and benches/tables set up for picnics, and many others .
Alley Pond Park has an environmental center that focuses on preservation of wildlife, keeping the gardens/grasses in the park healthy, and recycling bins.
Urban Park Rangers work to preserve nature and wildlife. Alley Pond park is operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The park was opened in 1934 and visited by both Robert Moses and Fiorello La Guardia at that time. The park’s environmental center for ecological preservation has contributed to a safe and healthy place for fauna to reside in.
APEC – the park’s nonprofit organization (mentioned above) for nature conservation; in the past the park was home to a windmill –> energy conservation.
Several opportunities for both volunteers and businesses are made available at the park. The myriad of volunteers have chances to obtain jobs along with internships, while making the park and the community as a whole a greener place to live in.
Alley Pond Park connects Douglaston (Little Neck) and Bayside together and about $10 million is put into the park for maintenance and enhancement.
C) Flushing Meadows Corona Park
i) mini-history
FMCP was originally an ash dump where massive amounts of furnace ashes and garbage were dumped, inhibiting the growth of its environment. In 1939, Parks Commissioner Robert Moses proposed a transformation of the site into a World’s Fair. This World Fair failed to provide decent funds for the development of FMCP which left the parks potential unfulfilled until 1964 where another World Fair was held at FMCP. While this World Fair was financially unsuccessful like the first, it did leave behind many of the prominent structures that we recognize today at FMCP like the Unisphere and the Queens Zoo.
ii)facilities available
FMCP offers a wide variety of facilities that New Yorkers enjoy everyday. Some of these facilities include baseball fields, tennis courts, a skate park, and even a brand new aquatic center. People go to FMCP for many different reasons. Some people go to enjoy a picnic with their family, while others go to talk a walk on their beautiful greenways and take in the nature. There are even plans proposed by Mayor Bloomberg to build a shopping mall and a major league soccer stadium that will use about 55 acres of its 1,250 acres of space. This will definitely bring a lot more people to FMCP, and not only people from Queens, but from all over the city.
iii)individual funding (if applicable)
Because of FMCP’s large size, one might think that it would have a large work-force working around the park ensuring the cleanliness and development of the park. Unfortunately, this is not the case as FMCP has only half the amount of workers as does Prospect Park which is only a quarter of its size, and only one eighth the amount of workers that Central Park has. Many larger parks are able to generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in private funds whereas FMCP was only able to accumulate $5,000 in private funds last year.While a lesser amount of funds are going into the development of the park, Mayor Bloomberg has actually proposed a plan that will take away 50 acres of parkland in order to build a commercial shopping center and a major league soccer stadium. This plan will cost approximately $800 million dollars. Many park advocates say that this is a bad idea as it will take away precious parkland from the public. Adding a soccer stadium and retail center will only commercialize an area that is meant for the public to use as a park. Below is a picture of the intended locations for these centers.
NYC PARKS-FUTURE
1. Current problems with parks and possible future changes.
At the moment, many parks are intended for children. Parks should be for everybody, including senior citizens, and not just kids. A future goal of parks should be to reach out to the elderly population. The parks dept. also plans on adding more fitness equipment and creating newer skateboard plazas at parks. PlaNYC’s goal is make sure that all New Yorkers are within a 10-minute walk of a park.
2. Map of Queens NYC highlighting areas that don’t have parks nearby.
A)Why aren’t there parks in these areas?
These areas have schoolyards, vacant lots, and athletic fields that can be better utilized.
B) Why can’t we make more parks with the funding money instead of redeveloping or adding new facilities to older parks?
C) Has PlaNYC helped on a broader sense to actually make more parks?
plaNYC has definitely helped make more parks. PlanNYC has brought in an influx of money into the Parks system to improve, and to create more parks throughout the city. The Schoolyards to Playgrounds program renovated schoolyards that could be better utilized. Since 2007, more than 100 sites have been built and improved. 12 open fields have been created and opened to the public since 2007.
D) What are the barriers to making new parks?
Some of the barriers to making new parks is the supply of vacant land and the funding considering the challenging economic times.
E) How will the parks be funded?
The parks will be funded by non-profit, volunteer organizations and friends of park groups.
F) What will the future of NYC Parks look like?
The goal of plan NYC is to create more sustainable, environment-friendly parks that not only children will enjoy, but everyone including senior citizens. Parks will increasingly have green roofs on top of park buildings to help the environment. Parks will also have more active recreational plaza’s with fitness equipment that will promote a healthier living for New Yorkers.
This is the pic of areas that have parks within a 10 minute walking distance that Maggie was talking about. As we can see, Queens has the lowest density of parks compared to the other boroughs.
-see if there are any new parks being built
SCRIPT
AISHA ALI –
Parks are backyards for the public. They’re vacation homes for those who can’t leave NYC for vacation. Parks allow interactions among community members and they’re a place where people can go to relax, improve their mood and reduce stress. Since parks are vital to the betterment of a community’s health and social life, it is indeed important to invest in them as well.
In 1811, the Commissioner developed a plan that showed the map of NYC. It showed the little open space that New York had and how by the 1840s, the neglect of an adequate city plan threatened to make the crowded city uninhabitable.
In 1850, the acquisition of Central Park began. This shack just outside of the park is was cleared to make more room. This Arsenal because the permanent zoo that exists in Central park today.
In 1887 the Small Parks Act was passed which allowed the government to acquire parks in crowded neighborhoods.
Robert Moses, the Park Commissioner was a great helping hand in creating nearly 685 new parks.
NYC Parks require approximately $30-50 million of funding per year. Each park gets the same type of funding although staffing can vary on the size of the park.
There are two types of budgets.
1. Expense & Operating Budget: Given from the mayor and park brokers for park equipment and salaries.
2. Capital Budget: Given from bonds of the city for construction of the park.
3. Maintenance of the parks (staffings & programs)
Parks are divided into specific divisions, each of which has its own administrators and staff members for maintenance. These divisions include a forestry division, public programs division, capital division, rangers division, etc.
Unlike the late 70s-early 80s, there is better management and efficiency of parks via mechanized equipment.
Commissioner Veronica White has reviewed management programs and hired nearly 500 people for administrative staff.
Mehreen Ahmed –
We focused on three of the bigger parks in Queens. The first one being, Cunningham Park. The park used to be parcels of land called Hillside Park. It was donated to the City and in 1934, it was renamed for Arthur Cunningham. In 1936, there was a plaza made in his memory as the southern part of the park was completed. It was full of tennis courts, playgrounds, stables, fields and parking lots. In 1986, the land was restored from the Sanitation and Transportation Departments as made into playing fields.
The park offers many facilities for people of all ages. These facilities include baseball and cricket fields, basketball and volleyball courts, hiking trails and playgrounds. For seniors, there is an exercise program, bingo, computer instruction and Wii games. There is actually construction going on right now at the park. The fields are being redeveloped and this occurs every 10-15 years. The park is privately funded by an organization called Friends of Cunningham Park. It is dedicated to the maintenance of the park and the members advocate to officials for funding. The organization includes councilmembers, the state department of environmental conservation, the state senator and other organizations.
Jodi Wong –
Alley Pond Park, in Queens, used to be a dumping ground for debris from the construction of the Cross Island Parkway, in the 1930s. However, by the 1970s, people started to understand the importance of wetlands. Douglaston residents started to transform the landscape with grassroots.
It took many years to get the park into today’s condition, thanks to endless volunteer work.
Now, Alley Pond, with its Environmental Center, hosts over 50,000 visitors each year. This park offers many facilities, such as an adventure course that includes rock climbing. The picture on the right here shows a site in the park open to everyone during the Spring and Summer
Vishal Vig –
The Alley Pond Park is also home to an environmental center (APEC) for preservation of fauna and flora. The Alley Pond Environmental Center works on making the park a greener and healthier place to be in. By greener, it is meant that APEC contributes by growing more plants and enhancing the park via gardening. While being environmentally friendly, the park offers several baseball fields for use. In addition to this, tennis centers, tracks, and soccer fields are some of the various facilities made available at the park.
Alley Pond Park also has many other facilities that visitors of the park can use. For example, canoeing is offered during the summertime and sites for barbecues and picnics are present for families to use.
About 10 million dollars was put into the park for maintenance and enhancement. Funding from the park comes from several non-profit organizations, fundraisers set up by volunteers, and donations made by visitors of the park.
Rawan Shafi –
Before FMCP came to be what it is today, it started off in the 1920’s as an ash dump where massive amounts of furnace ashes and garbage were dumped. It wasn’t until the 1930’s did restoration of FMCP start. In 1939, with the help of the Parks Commissioner at the time, Robert Moses, did FMCP get its time to shine in the 1939 World Fair. Then again in 1965, the World Fair came again to FMCP. These two World Fair’s played an instrumental role in the development of FMCP.
Today, FMCP has all kinds of facilities including a brand new aquatic center, an Ice Skating Rink, and even a Skate Park. If one is not in these facilities, there’s a good chance that they are at the various sports fields or barbecuing areas.
In the Future of FMCP. Mayor Bloomberg has proposed $800 million dollar, 55 acre plan that will bring FMCP its own shopping center and a major league soccer stadium. While this may attract many more to visit FMCP, some locals say that the commercialization of FMCP will detract from its natural beauty.
In 2011, the NYC Parks department released its first ever sustainability plan called “A Plan for Sustainable Practices in NYC Parks”. In an interview with the deputy commissioner of parks and recreation for the borough of Queens, she also mentioned that parks are becoming more environment friendly by implementing green roofs and green streets. By This chart shows the progress NY is making when it comes to water. Every year, more and more green streets and green roof systems are being installed in order to capture stormwater.
Jodi Wong –
Today, 2,000 new acres of parkland are being constructed in NYC. More space is being made to make room for interactive playgrounds for children.
There is a certain organization that makes this all possible, and that is PlaNYC. Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed PlaNYC in 2007, in hopes of strengthening the quality of life for New Yorkers by making the city environment friendly. One of the plan’s aim is to create more open spaces and expanding the city’s urban forest.
Vishal Vig –
PlaNYC has incorporated the Schoolyards to Playgrounds program, which has been in existence for the past 3 years. Close to 200 parks have been receiving improvements, such as sports courts, play equipment, trees and benches rather than newer parks being built.
The non-profit Trust for Public Land and the Parks Department and the Department of Education are collaborating to improve current parks through capital improvements. For the most part, PlaNYC’s main focus has been to make changes to existing parks rather than creating newer ones for the general public to use (though, PlaNYC has recently installed a new playground at Ozone Park).
