A longstanding Parks Department practice of soliciting "donations" from private groups that want to use city parks for large-scale events has come under increasing scrutiny recently. The issue came to a head when the National Museum of Catholic Art and History protested a last-minute requirement by the Parks department for a $20,000 payment in order to stage a fundraiser in an East Harlem Park.

The immediate crisis was solved when an anonymous donor came up with the money, but the action angered City Council speaker Peter Vallone, who began an investigation. Parks Commissioner Henry Stern and Mayor Giuliani defended the practice, although Stern ultimately apologized for the way the request had been handled, saying that he would draw up new guidelines to clarify the process of soliciting donations. A City Council official confirmed news reports that Speaker Vallone and Mayor Giuliani were negotiating a revision of the system.

New Yorkers generally support charging private organizations for using the parks, especially profit-making companies, or when the event damages or prevents the public from using the park. Criticism has focused on the informal and sometimes vague nature of the requests, and whether the amounts requested are fair. In one article, the Colombian Civic Center and several other nonprofits bemoaned the increasingly steep fees they have been charged to hold festivals in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

Another problem is lack of accountability for how the donations are spent. The money goes to a number of non-profits that help city parks, including the City Parks Foundation. If the money were given directly to the Parks Department, it would end up in the city government's general fund (like the $45 million in other revenues the Parks Department raised last year), where it could not be specifically earmarked for parks. But there is no public accounting for how much money is brought in and how it is spent.

Some parks advocates feel that decreasing public funding for parks has put pressure on the parks department to conduct this type of problematic fundraising, a charge that city officials deny. Although the city has had great success in raising private money to restore some of the city's flagship parks, maintenance suffers in many parks. Parks advocates wonder whether the city has gone too far in expecting private donations to make up for lack of public support.

Anne Sounds Off

We New Yorkers love our parks and rate them highly, but without realizing it, we have lowered our expectations for what kind of resources we can expect the city to devote to parks. The parks department operating budget, which covers maintenance and recreational programs, has been declining for decades and is now less than one half of one percent of the city budget. The city has cut the parks department staff in half since 1986. Private donations have made a dramatic difference in a few flagship parks, but haven't begun to close the gap overall. We're used to a shortage of playable ball fields and jam-packed pools and skating rinks. We're pleasantly surprised when the bathrooms work. Most New Yorkers don't even know that the city once had employees in most parks to provide upkeep and youth recreational programs.

This could change.

In 2001, because of term limits, we'll be electing a new mayor, comptroller, public advocate, and 36 of the 51 city council members. It's a golden opportunity to elect representatives who understand the importance of parks and recreation to the life of the city.

The Parks Council, a nonprofit advocacy group, has begun laying the groundwork to make the most of this opportunity. The organization's overall goal is to raise the parks department's operating funds to one percent of the city budget, as well as to make sure that this additional money is distributed equitably to bring parks throughout the city up to the standards of our best parks. As part of its "Campaign for Parks and Recreation: 2001," the council is developing profiles of parks, open space, and recreation facilities in every city council district, and meeting with all the candidates to educate them on park issues. It plans to publicize the position statements of the candidates on its web site. The council is also building s upport from many sectors of the community that depend on parks in some way but don't generally advocate for parks. This includes youth service agencies, sports leagues, real estate and business groups, schools, and the police force.

Just a relatively small additional investment of city funds in parks, with good managerial oversight, would reap significant dividends for nearly every aspect of city life. We can raise our expectations a little. After all, shouldn't a city like New York have a world-class park system?

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.

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.

The Asian long-horned beetle has struck again, this time infesting trees along Luther Gulick Playground near the Manhattan approach to the Williamsburg Bridge. The trees were chopped down, chipped and burned to kill the insect and its eggs, the only way to stop the spread of the insect, which has no natural predators in the United States.

The tree-killing beetle made its first attack in New York in 1996, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The Parks Department believes that it stowed away in the wood of crates brought from China to the Greenpoint docks. Since then, nearly 3,000 trees in Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan have had to be destroyed to stop its spread. Last year, the beetles were discovered in Ruppert Park in the Upper East Side, too close for comfort to Central Park.

"The beetles pose an enormous long-term danger to the city's forests and to trees all along the Northeast," Parks Commissioner Henry Stern was quoted as saying in the New York Times. "All of humanity is together in fighting this. This is biological warfare and we are on the side of the trees."

The Parks department has stepped up tree inspections in special zones around areas where the beetle has been found, and is asking people to report sightings of the insect or the characteristic pencil-sized holes it bores in upper tree trunks. In April, the department announced a $10 million federal, state, and city effort to battle the beetle, with funding for inspection and the destruction and replacement of infested trees with seedlings.

Adult beetles are about one and a quarter inches long, shiny black with white spots, and have long black-and-white striped antennae. They chew out depressions in the bark higher up in the trees to lay their eggs. The larvae bore into the tree to feed, coming back through the trunk when they reach maturity, leaving the telltale holes. Other incriminating evidence is a pile of sawdust at the base of a tree or at the intersection of a branch and the trunk. See the Asian long-horned beetle alert. To report any sign of the beetle, call the Parks department at 1-800-201-PARK.

Anne Sounds Off:

A recent article in the Albany Times-Union documented the depressing result of funding cutbacks for park maintenance in a number of upstate cities. Albany, for example, has slightly more than half the park workers it had two decades ago, with predictable deterioration of parks, particularly small ones. When budgets are tight, Schenectady's Mayor said, "the parks are the first to get whacked."

Sound familiar? New York City just approved another budget that continues an inadequate level of spending on park maintenance. Though this year's funding is $3 million higher than last year, the extra money goes to salary increases for existing staff and 31 new seasonal workers, not to increasing much-needed skilled maintenance staff, like gardeners, tree pruners, and plumbers. In fact, the budget includes a hiring freeze that aims to cut 100 fulltime park workers through attrition. The Parks department has been supplementing its maintenance staff with welfare workers, and private fundraising and volunteers are helping to maintain some parks. But many parks, especially in the poorer neighborhoods, are in terrible shape. Less than one-half of one percent of the City budget goes to the Parks department operating budget. It's time for our elected officials to stop thinking of parks as frills and realize that investing in open space and recreation pays off„in higher real estate values, crime reduction, improved air quality, and the kind of city where people and businesses want to locate.

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.

Final Stages of Brooklyn Bridge Park The final master plan for the Brooklyn Bridge Park will be presented in mid-June. Earlier in the spring, after a six-month process that included numerous public workshops, the park planners presented the draft design for the 1.3-mile-long waterfront park. The reaction was reported to be positive from the Port Authority, which owns the piers where much of the park would be built. Some Brooklyn Heights residents remain concerned about an increase in pedestrian traffic on Joralemon Street, a residential street that would be the only access route to the park from Brooklyn Heights; park planners have met with the residents, but the issue has not been fully resolved. Meanwhile, park advocates have been working to build support for the park as well as to get more people down to the waterfront even before it is built.

Litterers Beware! The Parks Department launched an anti-littering campaign in May, hoping to change our wayward ways with trash. New Yorkers are champion litterers, as anyone who has visited the parks on a summer Monday morning knows. The Parks department says it picks up nearly 1,300 cubic yards of litter every day, a fact that it will dramatize with cubic-yard-sized plexiglas boxes (a new form of art installation?) The campaign is stressing public education, including children's anti-littering contests and clean-up projects. The department is posting signs in five languages warning of $100 fines for littering. Large groups that are required to hold permits will have their permits revoked if they leave a mess, as well as forfeit their clean-up bonds. It is not clear, however, whether there will be additional enforcement. On Staten Island, Borough President Guy Molinari launched his own anti-litter initiative two weeks earlier, but with more teeth: the assignment of ten specially designed sanitation cruisers as well as ticketing by the police.

Parade Grounds' New Duds The construction of a new football field will kick off the restoration of the dismal playing fields in Brooklyn's Parade Grounds. Renovation plans also include new soccer, softball, baseball, and multi-purpose fields, basketball courts, a concession stand and a new playground. Drainage problems will be addressed and several fields will be covered with a new low-maintenance artificial turf. It is a happy ending to a controversy that erupted when the City decided to build a temporary minor-league stadium in the park. Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden blocked the plan, refusing a compromise in which the City would have paid for fixing up the entire Parade Grounds. Now Golden has come through with $10 million that will make the complete restoration possible.

Anne Sounds Off:

Anyone who cares about parks and open space and outdoor recreation should be drumming up support for a landmark piece of legislation now working its way through Congress. In May the House voted to dedicate, for the first time, nearly $3 billion a year in offshore oil revenue to a variety of park, wildlife and recreational needs, including the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). The receipts would go into a trust and could not be diverted elsewhere. The measure, called the Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA), passed overwhelmingly with bipartisan support, despite opposition from the House Republican leadership.

Beginning in 1964, when the LWCF was established, royalties from offshore oil and gas leases were supposed to go to federal land acquisition and matching grants to states for local parks and recreation. A fund called the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Program (UPARR) was later set up to give matching grants for recreation projects in the inner cities. But in reality, oil receipts have been included in the general federal revenue that gets divvied up during the annual appropriations process, and actual funding for parks and recreation has never been close to what was authorized. Even so, many significant open space acquisitions and recreational projects in the New York were made possible by LWCF money -- a listing is available on the web site of Americans for Our Heritage and Recreation.

Looking at LWCF-funded projects in the five boroughs over the past thirty-five years, there is a noticeable pattern: many projects funded in the late 60s through the 70s, fewer in the 80s, virtually nothing in the 90s. For four years in the late 90s, Congress appropriated zero dollars state in matching grants.

If CARA becomes law, federal spending for conservation could not be held hostage to politics during the budget process. Every year the LWCF would automatically get $900 million, with half going to the states. Of this, $102 million would go to New York State, including $28 million for land acquisition. UPARR would receive $125 million annually.

CARA has broad public support, but could face opposition in the Senate, particularly from a small but vocal group of property-rights advocates. The bill is scheduled to be marked up in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in mid-June. With only about 40 working days left in this session of Congress, early consideration by the full Senate is important if the legislation is to be finalized this year.

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.

At an Earth Day event on the steps of City Hall last week, Council members Ken Fisher and Adolfo Carrion announced new legislation to protect community gardens. City Council members and dozens of community gardeners gathered at City Hall (after being disarmed of the wooden "stems" of their fake flowers) to laud the legislation, which would create for the first time a City policy governing community gardens.

The legislation establishes a moratorium on developing community garden lots, which is legally necessary before the other provisions of the new law can be enforced. It designates the community gardens as an existing use of City property rather than as "vacant lots," and no longer allows the City to develop community gardens without a thorough review process, including an EIS, and public input. It also provides the opportunity to preserve existing gardens through a transfer to the Parks Department or a land trust. "This is very reasonable legislation," said Dave Lutz of the Neighborhood Open Space Coalition. "It is not asking for all the gardens to be saved. It is asking for a rational planning process to be put into place to take into account more than one need."

The gardens were built on vacant lots leased from the City with the understanding that it could reclaim them at any time. Over the last twenty years, they have become part of fabric of their communities, and sometimes the catalyst for the revival of neighborhoods. In 1998, the City transferred the gardens from the Parks Department to the Department of Housing and Preservation, and canceled their leases. Last year, as more than 100 gardens were about to be auctioned off by the City, the Trust for Public Land and the New York Restoration Project stepped in to purchase them. Now more garden lots are slated for housing, and several have already been razed. The gardens have become a victim of their own success, improving their neighborhoods to the point that developers find them attractive.

For the time being, a moratorium on developing community gardens is in place, the result of a lawsuit filed by New York State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer. There is also community garden preservation legislation before the State Senate, but none in the Assembly. State legislators are not expected to act until the City Council does.

Anne Sounds Off:

The economy is good and tax revenues are up, but the Mayor's proposed budget for FY2001 further pares down operating funds for the Department of Parks and Recreation. The executive budget reduces the Parks operating budget by $10.7 million from what is projected to be spent this fiscal year. It eliminates 102 seasonal playground and maintenance workers, projects a reduction of 97 full-time staff members through attrition (replacing half with part-time workers), and cuts other maintenance expenditures. Though a number of other departments have funding increases, once again Parks gets just crumbs from the budget pie, about four-tenths of a percent.

During the fiscal crisis in 1992, the City greatly reduced its workforce in many areas, including Parks. Staffing for other departments, like Police, Fire, and Sanitation, has since been restored, but the number of Parks employees has actually declined. At a time when the City has added almost 2,000 acres to the Parks system, it provides less money for maintaining the green and recreational space it manages, which amounts to 13% of the City's acreage.

Parks Commissioner Henry Stern has kept the parks functioning by using thousands of welfare workers and paying for repairs (often made necessary by the lack of routine maintenance) through the creative use of the capital budget, which is borrowed money. The department has focused on keeping up the smaller and more heavily used parks; the larger parks are in worse shape, except Central and Prospect Park and a few others where private funds and capital spending have picked up the slack. You have to wonder what will happen to our parks during the next fiscal crisis.

Although the welfare workers clean the parks of litter and graffiti, there are not enough skilled Parks employees to keep up with tasks like tree pruning, gardening, and electrical and plumbing repair. In December 1999, the Parks Council surveyed hundreds of park volunteers and community groups about the services and features most in need of attention. Among the items that were ranked highest were gardening and tree pruning.

While the mayor has tackled a number of "quality-of-life" issues during his tenure, he has given low priority to maintaining the open spaces that make the City a better place to live and visit. It is interesting that the Mayor is proposing to increase maintenance staff next year for just two parks„and one is the newly restored City Hall Park. As Mark Caserta, Director of Public Policy at the Parks Council, said, "The Mayor realizes he needs maintenance workers for 'his' park. His park is built with $20 million of borrowed money, and he realizes that he needs to take care of it. That's what the rest of the City needs, too."

The City Council should at very least restore the 102 seasonal workers--positions the Council originally created, two for each district. Beyond that, let's look toward increasing the Parks operating budget to truly meet maintenance needs, and begin to dismantle the capital spending house of cards.

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. 

The draft master plan to remake the downtown Brooklyn waterfront into a park will be unveiled for public comment April 30 and May 1. The plan was created through a series of public workshops held this past fall and winter. Community residents and businesses, elected officials, and neighborhood groups met with park planners to discuss what they did and did not want in the proposed Brooklyn Bridge Park.

"This is the only planning process we know of where the community has been involved on this scale from the beginning," said Lee Silberstein, the spokesman for the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation (BBPDC), the non-profit local development corporation charged with planning the park.

For much of the last two decades, Brooklyn community groups and elected officials have been building support for a grand waterfront park with views of the harbor, bridges, and the Manhattan skyline. In 1998, the state funded the BBPDC to develop a plan for the park. The proposed parkland runs 1.3 miles along the waterfront, from Atlantic Avenue to the Manhattan Bridge. It includes piers owned by the Port Authority, City parking lots, Civil War-era warehouses, and the Empire Fulton Ferry State Park.

Although there were the inevitable disagreements (which will certainly continue when the draft plan is released), in the public workshops a consensus emerged to create the park in three sections, each with a different type of use. Piers 2, 3, and 4, as well as the state park between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, are designated the "green heart" of the park, for open space and outdoor recreation. A "node of activity," including an indoor recreational center and possible housing, is envisioned at the Atlantic Avenue gateway to the park -- pier 5 and the land next to pier 6. Pier 1 and the adjacent land would have a concentration of commercial uses - including a proposed hotel and conference center - that are supposed to generate the $3 to $5 million needed to maintain the park. A center of arts and cultural activities is also planned for Pier 1 and the nearby historic warehouses.

In the last set of workshops held in late February, the design team presented drawings and models of several alternatives. Throughout the process, the most contentious issues were how to provide access to the park without bringing too much car and pedestrian traffic to any one neighborhood, and the nature of the development proposed for the park. The community will have a chance to review the draft master plan at the workshops on April 30 and May 1.

Waterfront Shorts

Empire Fulton Ferry State Park - Community Board 2 recently approved a new design for repairing the bulkhead at Empire Fulton Ferry State Park. Community members and the groups working on the Brooklyn Bridge Park objected to the original design, and collaborated with the state to develop a more natural, landscaped solution. At the same meeting, the State presented a proposal for creating a grassy marsh in a cove north of the bulkhead. The marsh plan will be addressed in the overall Brooklyn Bridge Park planning process.

Port Authority Piers - The Port Authority took an important step that brings the Brooklyn Bridge Park closer to reality. On February 10, the Port Authority signed an agreement to sell piers 1-5 to the BBPDC as public parkland. It also agreed to continue a $5 million project to repair the piers. At the same time, the state announced it was committing more than $1 million for the development and upkeep of Brooklyn waterfront parks, with $500,000 earmarked for the Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Anne Sounds Off:

People don't usually mention New York City and wildlife in the same breath unless they're thinking: rats and pigeons. Of course, the City does have wildlife, even rare species like the peregrine falcon that nests in Manhattan's concrete canyons. Wild plants and birds, fish, and other animals find habitats in our parks, in wetlands, and in the harbor.

One way to help keep wildlife in the City is make a contribution on the New York State income tax form to Return a Gift to Wildlife. (If you're getting a refund, it's almost painless. And even $5 contributions add up.) Last year's tax check-off gave more than $600,000 to the state Department of Environmental Conservation's fish and wildlife program. This money helped fund a number of statewide programs, including the New York Natural Heritage Program, which tracks the location of rare and endangered wildlife and ecological communities; a revised Atlas of Breeding Birds, which will determine changes in breeding bird distribution since the landmark study of the 1980s; and the Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Stranding Program, which responds to strandings on the shores of Long Island and in New York City's harbor.

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 Staten Island conservation group, Protectors of Pine Oak Woods, is fighting a City plan to create a complex of recreational fields in Bloomingdale Park. Staten Island Borough President Guy Molinari and City Councilman Stephen Fiala originated the project to build three baseball and two soccer fields; six tennis and six basketball courts; as well as a parking lot and access road. The complex is slated for the 41-acre eastern section of the South Shore park, a forested, hilly natural area containing streams and wetlands.

The project addresses a "real shortage of ballparks for kids 3 a sore need," said Jennifer Nelson, Director of Public Information for the borough president. "The South Shore has been a growing area, with a lot of young families." With this plan, Nelson said, the fields would be in a natural setting, giving children an appreciation for the natural world.

The Parks Department hired the design and engineering firm Vollmer Associates to study the feasibility of the plan, comparing Bloomingdale Park with three other potential city- or state-owned sites in the area. The Vollmer report, issued in July, concluded that Bloomingdale Park was the least suitable, meeting only 3 of 12 criteria, while the other three sites met at least 11. Compared to what is known as the Pleasant Plains or Station Avenue site, where a similar ballfield complex was originally proposed, Bloomingdale Park would cost four times as much. The higher costs were associated with site clearing, earthmoving, and drainage, as well as environmental mitigation.

Parks Commissioner Henry Stern told Mayor Giuliani on a visit to the park last year that the department opposed building the complex there. "We feel at Parks that fields wouldn't work because of the slopes and wetlands in the park," he said. A week later the Mayor announced his support for the plan. The Parks Department did not respond to requests for comment.

Another group opposing the plan is New York City Audubon. "Our concern is that this is a misuse of parkland and natural resources," said Sean Andrews, the group's president. "They are proceeding with the project without consideration of other options." He added, "There are recreational needs, but they need to be planned in a way that doesn't destroy a legacy of great open space. This sets a dangerous precedent for other parks and natural areas around the city."

The outcome of this David-vs.-Goliath battle may depend on the definition of a wetland. State and federal agencies vary greatly in their criteria, which allows groups to interpret the law according to their interests. A consultant for the borough president found only 2.5 acres of wetlands in the area in question. A 1988 NYC Department of Environmental Protection Watershed Drainage Plan, however, identified 18 acres as freshwater wetlands. Protectors of Pine Oak Woods contends that there are 21 acres.

In January, the State Department of Environmental Conservation ruled that the park contains no state-regulated wetlands. Protectors has filed an appeal of the DEC decision to the State Freshwater Wetlands Appeals Board. The group claims that the DEC disregards state law -- which is broader in scope and definition than federal wetlands law - when preparing wetlands maps. The group also claims that the DEC decision is based on incomplete evidence, and objects to way the site was mapped: DEC staff visited the site just once, accompanied by only a representative for the borough president.

Meanwhile, the City is moving ahead with its plans. A public hearing on the draft Environmental Impact Statement was held on February 28, and the final EIS is due by the end of the year, with construction to begin soon after.

Anne Sounds Off:

New Yorkers might be surprised to learn that the New York/New Jersey harbor, degraded by centuries of urbanization, has been chosen by the U.S. Department of the Interior as one of eight "major areas of focus" in the President's Land Legacy Initiative, joining the ranks of such national treasures as the Everglades. To the state and local agencies and conservation groups working to preserve open space in the harbor, however, it's about time. Urban areas are largely neglected when the federal government allocates money for open space protection.

In recent years, our harbor has been undergoing an ecological revival. In the February 20 New York Times City section, scientist John Waldmanreveals some of the surprising, forgotten spots where fish thrive and herons nest. Waldman writes, "...many New Yorkers take a dim view of their watery backyard. They believe it to be a dank and dangerous cesspool featuring drifting corpses and gasping flounder..." But, he writes, "New York Harbor is no longer uninviting...I am among those privy to the signs that the harbor is coming back, and especially to its recent signals: reappearances of birds, shellfish, turtles, dolphins, and other creatures long absent or depressed."

The key to the continued reemergence of wildlife is the existence of fragments of salt marsh and other wetlands in the harbor watershed -- just a fraction of the original habitat, but enough to support colonies of birds and nurture fish populations. These wetlands also provide multiple economic benefits: They reduce the amount of sediment flowing into the harbor (which clogs shipping channels), and filter out pollutants. "Wetlands absorb flood flows better than any technology known to man," said Mark Matsil, director of the City parks department's Natural Resources Group, one of the agencies involved in the effort to preserve harbor wetlands. Matsil noted that the most flood-prone areas of the city were built on former wetlands.

For next year's budget, the Interior Department is requesting substantial funds for the New York/New Jersey harbor initiative. The money would go to land acquisition as well as natural resource management, restoration, historic preservation, education, and recreation. Much of the money would be provided as matching grants for the two states. The local groups and agencies have compiled a list of key wetlands for acquisition. We should be asking our elected representatives to make sure that the final budget passed next fall ends up providing significant funds for New York harbor -- and that the states come up with matching grants. 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.

Imagine yourself come spring, traipsing through Central Park. With a private nonprofit group raising millions each year to finance upkeep and restoration, the Park has never looked better. But will the City's other public spaces share the wealth, or will private funding create a two-tiered system of haves and have-nots?

THE LOWDOWN:

As a symbol of New York's resurgence, you can't beat Central Park. Decimated by budget and staff cuts during the City's fiscal collapse in the 1970s, Manhattan's most famous public space was once a national embarrassment. Today, after a slew of restoration projects, the Park draws 20 million visitors a year and has become the envy of urban park managers across the country.

Part of that jealousy stems from money. The Central Park Conservancy, a private nonprofit organization, has raised about $200 million since it was founded in 1980 to improve the Park's condition. No mere charity, the Conservancy has gradually taken over the day-to-day operation of the Park, and now funds about 75% of its annual $16.7 million budget, and pays the salaries of 150 Central Park employees.

New York spends 0.44% of its total municipal budget on parks -- the lowest percentage among major American cities. Though to most people "parks" and "public" may seem synonymous, increasingly, private citizens are footing the bill. According to a study prepared by the City's Independent Budget Office, the appropriations for parks fell from $218 million in 1987 to $151 million in 1996, a 31 percent drop. During that period, private spending grew more than threefold † from $5 million to $18 million.

Wealthy donors and businesses spend this money on "their" parks -- nearby locations where they can enjoy the fruits of their largesse every day. Although the City has launched efforts to develop community support and private funding for local parks in all the boroughs, privatization has primarily blessed a few high-profile parks in Manhattan, while budget cuts have fallen most heavily on the Bronx and Queens.

The City says efficient management has stretched current funding farther, and improved the overall condition of New York's parks, with Central Park in the lead. "A rising tide lifts all boats," says Parks Commissioner Henry J. Stern, a statement that sums up the City's eager acceptance of park privatization. No one in government talks about increasing the budget for Parks anymore because privatization has undeniably succeeded beyond expectation -- for some of the City's parks.

RISING TIDE:

Central Park Conservancy - Includes a brief history of CPC and the Park itself, as well as a timeline of the CPC's accomplishments.

New York City Department of Parks and Recreation - The Parks department created the City Parks Foundation in 1989 to raise private parks funds citywide, but their annual budget--for all the city's parks--falls well below that of the Conservancy's. Search for information on the Parks Foundation, as well as news and information on any park in the five boroughs. The site also highlights selected examples of city-funded parks improvements.

Riverside Park, Success Story - As described by the Urban Parks Institute, this park used public/private partnership to compensate for cuts in public funding. Judge for yourself.

CityLaw - One way the Parks Department has done more with less: ensuring quality construction work by carefully selecting contractors. In "How Parks Weeds Out the Problem Contractors," published by The Center for New York City Law at New York Law School, Thomas Rozinski argues Parks is a model of efficient management for all city agencies.

SINK OR SWIM:

Trust For Public Land - An excellent overview of New York's shift towards privatizing parks management, detailing the city's spectacular successes in raising private funds while simultaneously cutting the city's Parks budget. Also at the TPL site, in the Toolbox section, reports on park privatization--with mostly happy endings--from around the country.

Neighborhood Open Space Coalition (NOSC) - Led by Executive Director Dave Lutz, NOSC has strongly criticized the city's parks funding policy. E-mail NOSC at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to receive a free monthly bulletin, and watch for updates on the Campaign for Parks, a coalition effort to force city officials to increase the parks budget

Independent Budget Office - Read the 1997 report on parks spending trends, commissioned by the Parks Council, another tough critic of parks privatization.