Few candidates have put a high priority on the need for open space, greenery, or recreation in the city. But there are many issues the candidates could be talking about.
THE ISSUES:
PAYING FOR PARKS
Parks are a top quality-of-life issue for any city, especially a city that is as densely built as New York. Parks and the recreational opportunities they afford are far more important to a city's well-being, economic and otherwise, than is generally recognized. Imagine living without trees; without places to play or picnic; with no view of greenery or open water. Yet according to a recent study, New York City allocates far less money to parks and recreation than most major cities in the country, just $42 per capita. Many people also feel that the state shortchanges the city when it comes to spending money from the Environmental Bond Act and other state funds on city parkland and open space. Federal funding for New York City parks has also declined.
GREEN FOR COMMUNITIES OF COLOR
New York City's minority neighborhoods have the fewest and most poorly maintained parks and recreational amenities in New York City. This is one of the many "environmental justice" issues the city faces. In some sections, the only green places are the community gardens, planted and tended by the residents on vacant lots owned by the city. When the city began leasing the lots to gardeners 20 years ago, it was with the understanding the land would eventually be reclaimed. Nevertheless, many of the gardens have come to serve a vital function for their community.
Recently, the city has begun auctioning off gardens to developers, in some cases for housing, which is also a pressing need for these communities. But garden advocates point out that there are numerous vacant lots with no gardens on them, and the communities need both housing and open space. In some neighborhoods, like the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the gardens themselves have contributed to the increase in property values in the neighborhood, reviving developers' interest in lots that were abandoned decades ago.
Legislation is before the City Council that would require a thorough public review before a community garden could be developed, and provide a way to transfer gardens to the parks department or a land trust. New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has filed a lawsuit to stop the city from auctioning off gardens without following the established public-review process he contends is already required by law. In the State Senate, John Sampson of Brooklyn introduced a bill that would, among other things, dedicate community gardens as parkland. Senator Velmanette Montgomery sponsored another bill that would allow non-profits to apply for Environmental Bond Act Funds to purchase community gardens. Neither bill made any headway in Albany.
GOVERNOR'S ISLAND
Last winter, Governor Pataki and Mayor Giuliani finally reached an agreement about what should be done with Governor's Island. Their plan includes a significant amount of open space. Legislation introduced by Senators Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Charles Schumer, and Representatives Benjamin Gilman, Jerrold Nadler and Carolyn Maloney, would transfer the island at no cost to the Governor's Island Redevelopment Corporation, which is in charge of the preservation and development effort. The bill would place the historic sites on the island in the National Park System. But time is running out. If the bill is not passed in this session of Congress, the city could lose the chance to regain the island at no cost.
CONTROVERSIES OVER TWO PROPOSED PARKS
Two new waterfront parks are in various stages of progress -- the Hudson River Park and the Brooklyn Bridge Park. Although both parks have widespread support among area residents and local civic and environmental groups, there are also vocal opponents who object to the scale of the development and the inclusion of commercial elements to help finance the parks' upkeep. Opponents see the parks as development in disguise; they want to see more traditional green spaces. Supporters of the parks take a pragmatic approach, believing that with the current reluctance of government to fund and maintain parks, plans that make room for sports complexes, restaurants, and other money-making enterprises are the only realistic way to reclaim the waterfront as parkland.
TAKING PARKLAND FOR OTHER USES
Battles are being waged in different parts of the city over plans to use public parkland for private concessions or for what some believe are inappropriate public uses. Although the specific issues are quite different in each situation, the larger concern is that this sets a dangerous precedent of taking away, rather than adding to, public open space.
The city wants to build a chemical water filtration plant in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. The plant would filter water from the Croton Aqueduct, satisfying the requirements of a federal water-quality lawsuit against the city. The city plans to build the plant underneath 30 acres of the Mosholu Golf Course, rebuilding the course on top when the project is completed in about five years. Opponents of the plan contend that the filtration plant will actually rise 30 feet above existing ground level, and increase noise, traffic, and pollution in the area. In May, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by the Parks Council and community groups against the plant. The groups are appealing the decision.
At Ferry Point in the Bronx, a former city dump that was transferred to the parks department is being turned into a luxury golf course by a private developer. Seven of the 400 acres will become a public park near a low-income housing project on the east edge of the site. But a 30-foot-high wall will block access to the rest of the park, including a waterfront esplanade, from the residential areas. The New York Environmental Justice A lliance opposes the plan as the privatization of public space that excludes low-income residents. Aside from the environmental justice concerns, there are also many troubling environmental questions, beginning with the toxic chemicals still remaining from the site's previous use.
Environmental groups in Staten Island are opposing the city's plan to build a complex of sports fields in a natural wetland area in Bloomingdale Park. They say there are other potential recreational sites that are not wetlands and have lower associated construction and maintenance costs. Staten Island Borough President Guy Molinari has pushed the plan, citing the need for soccer and other fields for the borough's increasing number of young families. Because the Department of Environmental Conservation has not designated the area as a state-regulated wetland, construction can proceed; environmental groups are contesting the DEC ruling.
THE CANDIDATES' POSITIONS
KRUEGER-GOODMAN RACE
Most of the candidates have not campaigned on issues relating to parks or community gardens. Few responded to inquiries about their positions on the issues, although a number of incumbents have records in support of parks.
One of the exceptions was Liz Krueger, who is challenging Senator Roy Goodman for the Manhattan district he has represented for 32 years. She called back herself to discuss her strong support for parks and community gardens. "We have way too little park space and open space throughout New York City," she said, "and it's a true quality-of-life issue for the future of our city."
ERIC SCHNEIDERMAN
Also responding to our inquiry, an aide to State Senator Eric Schneiderman said that getting more green space in the city was a high priority of his. Senator Schneiderman, who represents parts of Manhattan and the Bronx, is ranking minority member of the Senate Committee on Environmental Conservation.
PARKS FUNDING
The elections that could make a difference in the city's financial commitment to maintaining and expanding its parks will not be held until next year, when a new mayor, new borough presidents, and a largely new City Council will be elected. Some of the incumbent state senators and assembly members have supported state funding for city parks or worked to get funding for parks in their districts, including Senator Martin Connor and Assemblymen Joseph Lentol. State Senate candidate Liz Kreuger supports increased state funding for urban parks. She is also particularly interested in working with community groups to make the waterfronts more accessible, and sees the need to coordinate federal, state, and city efforts in that area.
Both Hillary Clinton and Rick Lazio have made general statements supporting federal funding for urban parks (available on the web site of the League of Conservation Voters). They support the federal Conservation and Recreation Act now being considered by Congress. The Act would establish a separate trust fund for open space conservation, including money for urban parks and recreation.
The presidential candidates also support the concept of a federal land conservation trust fund, although George W. Bush takes care to emphasize his belief that any federally funded land acquisition must not trample private property rights. Audubon magazine published the candidates' statements on this and other environmental issues.
COMMUNITY GARDENS
Two state senators have introduced legislation in Albany: Velmanette Montgomery and John Sampson. Liz Kreuger says she is a strong supporter of community gardens, and although she is not yet familiar with the details of the past legislation, she would support state efforts to promote the gardens.
The Green Guerillas, a garden advocacy group, has begun a campaign called Plant the Vote. By registering voters and educating people about the community garden issue, it hopes to get garden supporters elected in next year's citywide elections.
Although both United States Senate candidates have made general statements in support of environmental justice initiatives, only Rick Lazio specifically mentioned the need to redress the lack of open space in the inner city. His statement to the League of Conservation Voters said, "Ă…Ăł|we need more parks and recreational opportunities throughout this land, but the need is highest in our crowded urban areas. That is why I have consistently supported funding for the Urban Parks and Recreation Program." Ralph Nader calls for an Urban Policy Initiative, but its various recommendations omit any mention of investing in urban open space or recreation.
GOVERNOR'S ISLAND
Rick Lazio is a cosponsor of the legislation to turn Governor's Island over to New York. In answer to a question at a recent Manhattan environmental forum, Hillary Clinton said she was hopeful for the bill's passage. If the bill doesn't pass, she said, "I would certainly take up this cause in the next Congress."
TAKING PARKLAND
Hillary Clinton has issued a statement opposing the Van Cortlandt Park filtration plant. At the environmental forum, she said, "I have stated that I am not in favor of the filtration plant." She expressed her belief that the water quality problems should be solved instead by stronger efforts to protect the watershed. Rick Lazio has not responded to inquiries about his position on the plant. Both State Senator Eric Schneiderman and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, who represent the area, oppose building the plant in Van Cortlandt Park. Both worked to stop a previous effort to put the filtration plant at the Jerome Park Reservoir, and have proposed legislation in Albany to designate Jerome Park as official parkland. The land around the park is now closed to the public. The bill, however, did not advance because of opposition by the mayor and other Republicans. Anne Schwartz is a freelance writer specializing in environmental issues. Previously, she was the editor of the Audubon Activist, a news journal for environmental action published by the National Audubon Society, and an editor at The New York Botanical Garden.
A new State Park will be created along the waterfront in Williamsburg, a neighborhood with the dubious honor of having among the least open space and the most waste transfer stations in the city. Through an unusual agreement, the State will lease the land to New York University, which will turn part of the park into fields for its outdoor athletic program. The fields will be available to the community 5l percent of the time, including the summer. The state will develop the rest of the park, which is expected to include some sort of promenade along the waterfront and the rebuilding of existing piers. The agreement calls for NYU to maintain the entire site.
"This particular site has been on a lot of people's radar screens for a long time," said Eric Kulleseid, New York State Director of the Trust for Public Land. After closing down a nearby waste transfer station that planned to expand to the site, local groups began organizing to turn some of the land into a waterfront park. They succeeded in getting the land listed for acquisition on the state's 1998 Open Space Conservation Plan. Because the state had funding only to purchase the land, the deal was finally clinched by the agreement for NYU to develop and maintain it. The partnership was brokered by the Trust for Public Land, which also negotiated the purchase and will own the site until the state can take title.
The park site, a former rail-to-barge depot called the Eastern District Terminal, has been abandoned for decades. Its dilapidated condition, and the fact that it is fenced-off private property, hasn't stopped residents from using the site for years to fish, sunbathe, walk their dogs, and take in the spectacular river and skyline views. "It seemed so self-evident to everyone here that this is what should happen," said Peter Gillespie of Neighbors Against Garbage about the park. "We wondered why it took so long to get everyone else to realize it." Looking to the future, he said, "There is a lot of potential for other projects like this to happen. We're hoping that this is the first step."
Anne Sounds Off: Insights from a new parks book
The Urban Land Institute and the Trust for Public Land have just published an invaluable new study, Inside City Parks, which describes the park systems in 25 major cities, including New York. Published for the first time are statistics about the cities' park acreage, staffing, and funding, among other things. Author Peter Harnik covers the history of each system, provides successful examples and cautionary tales, and discusses parks in the context of each city's political and economic milieu. His look at the New York City park system, its strengths and shortcomings, could help spur new action to improve our parks.
New York has a higher proportion of parkland than any other city in the book, and among the many wonderful parks are two that set the standards for all others, the Olmsted gems of Central and Prospect Parks. Yet New York ranks toward the bottom of the list in the amount it spends per person on parks and recreation -- just $42. Only four cities spend less. Some cities, including Seattle, Minneapolis, and Portland, Oregon spend from two to four times as much per resident. New York also spends a much smaller portion of its park department budget on recreation than many cities. Per capita, it has the lowest number of recreation centers, public swimming pools, and public tennis courts. For example, New York, with a population of about 7.4 million, has 35 recreation centers, 54 pools, and 860 sports fields; Chicago, population 2.7 million, has 260 recreation centers, 89 pools, and 1,019 sports fields. Harnik reports that adjusted for inflation, New York's overall spending on parks dropped 31 percent between 1987 and 1996, and the recreation program's budget shrank by 65 percent.
Nevertheless, Harnik is optimistic about the future for New York City parks, citing among other things the public-private partnerships that have revived many parks, the new waterfront parks in the works, and the efforts of scrappy and inventive park activists. In New York and all over the country, Harnik sees a new appreciation for parks taking root, with parks either newly opened, under construction, or being planned in most of the cities profiled.
One of the conclusions Harnik draws is that the successful city park systems have flourished because of a mayor or other powerful civic leader who cared about parks and had a vision for what parks could do for the city. Because there are so many other urgent priorities, parks are often last to get funded. It takes a leader who understands that trees, lawns, flowers, lakes, open vistas and river views, places to stroll or play ball -- things that feed the part of the human soul that responds to the natural world -„ all affect the "hard" urban issues, like crime, business development, real estate values, tourism. That's something to think about for the next mayoral election.
Anne Schwartz is a freelance writer specializing in environmental issues. Previously, she was the editor of the Audubon Activist, a news journal for environmental action published by the National Audubon Society, and an editor at The New York Botanical Garden.
Less than a year ago, neighborhood opposition killed a proposal for a massive hotel and development along the DUMBO shoreline in Brooklyn. Since then, with amazing swiftness, a realistic plan for the entire downtown Brooklyn shoreline has been created, and has won the backing of most of the area's civic organizations and elected officials. In a borough that has the least amount of parkland per capita in New York City, the Brooklyn Bridge Park would be one of first of a new generation of parks, along with the Hudson River Park, to reclaim the scenic and recreational assets of the waterfront.
The Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation presented the final design to the public in July. For years, Brooklyn community groups have been advocating for a waterfront park. Last September, the Port Authority (which owns the piers along the waterfront) agreed to give the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation a year to come up with a plan for the park. New York State provided funding for the planning process. Part of the agreement was that the park must generate enough income to pay for maintaining itself.
The design for the park evolved through a series of public workshops attended by some 4,000 people over the past year.
The proposed park would occupy a long, very narrow site running from the Manhattan Bridge to Atlantic Avenue, transforming an industrial matrix of piers, warehouses, and parking lots into a landscaped space with spectacular views of the harbor and the Manhattan skyline. The plan includes numerous recreational amenities, such as playgrounds, a swimming pool, an ice-skating rink, and an outdoor amphitheater, as well as commercial projects like a hotel and a banquet facility. It also calls for restoring the nine-acre Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park and its historic warehouses.
The plan has wide support in the community. Although some people are unhappy with the commercial features, most seem to have made peace with the assumption that the park must produce income for its continued upkeep. A group of Brooklyn Heights residents oppose the plan, however, largely because of a predicted increase in foot traffic down Joralemon Street, which would be the main route to the park from the subway. The group, Waterfront Development Watch, recently sent petitions and letters, its analysis of the proposed park and an alternative plan to the Governor and Mayor.
By the end of the summer, the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation will submit its master plan to the State and the Port Authority, which must approve it and agree to provide funding for construction, estimated at $150 million. (The City has already pledged $64 million over four years for the project.) A lead agency will be designated to oversee the park's completion. Then begins the extensive public environmental and land use review, ultimately leading to a more detailed design.
Even before the review process, the City and State could make some of the changes set forth in the master plan. The City has committed $7 million in this year's capital budget to improvements to its property in the area. The State has begun repair work in Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park.
Anne Sounds Off: Landmark Law for Land Conservation
You probably won't read about it in the papers, which have largely overlooked the progress this summer of a bill that is of major importance for urban parks, as well as land and wildlife conservation nationwide. The legislation, called the Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA), would provide nearly $3 billion a year from offshore oil and gas royalties to preserve open space, protect wildlife, restore coastlines, and help develop urban parks and recreation areas.
Among other things, the legislation would dedicate $900 million annually to the Land and Water Conservation Fund. This fund was supposed to receive that amount from offshore oil receipts, but has been shortchanged since it was established in 1965. Half of the money is currently divided among the states for state and local parks, recreation, and natural resource protection. The new legislation would allocate funding to other urban park, recreation, and forestry programs as well.
The House passed its version of the legislation, 315-102, in May. In late July, The Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee approved a carefully crafted bill that resulted from intensive negotiations between Senators Frank Murkowski (R-AK) and Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), who each had their own version of the bill. The full Senate is expected to consider the bill after the August recess. Opposition in the Senate comes from a small group of western senators concerned about property rights issues, who may try to block the bill's passage.
Some environmental groups, while supporting the bill, want to make sure that the final legislation doesn't allow funds meant for coastal restoration to be used for environmentally damaging projects like roads and port facilities. They also want to eliminate a provision that offers incentives for new offshore oil and gas drilling in Alaska.
Conservationists have been trying for decades to secure a permanent funding source for federal land and wildlife conservation programs. With the strong support of the Administration and key legislators, supporters feel this year offers the best shot ever for this legislation. "This is clearly the moment," said Alan Front, senior vice president of the Trust for Public Land. New York's senators should press for a Senate floor vote and support the passage of the Conservation and Reinvestment Act.
Anne Schwartz is a freelance writer specializing in environmental issues. Previously, she was the editor of the Audubon Activist, a news journal for environmental action published by the National Audubon Society, and an editor at The New York Botanical Garden.