May 26, 2012 · www.gothamgazette.com

Gotham Gazette
Loading

Parks
Internet resources for what you need to know on NYC Parks
Sites For Beginners

The Topic
"Parks" refers to those areas set aside by the city, state, or federal government for public access and protection of natural resources. Issues relate to the creation, preservation, restoration, maintenance, and best use of these spaces.
The Context
With more than 27,000 acres of parks, playgrounds, beaches and other recreational areas, New York City has the largest city park system in the U.S. (Add to that a state park in every borough, the Gateway National Recreation Area and four botanical gardens.) Yet the city has fewer acres of green space per person than any other major American city, and many neighborhoods lack parks. Community gardens on vacant city lots -- there are more than 750 -- are often the only green oases in low-income, minority communities.
The Reporter
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 Archives
See past monthly updates for Parks.

by Anne Schwartz

Drawn To The Parks

(Sept '01) The day after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, it was a classic September day - warm, with golden sunshine, blue above and a breeze that hinted of fall. In one Brooklyn neighborhood, everyone seemed drawn to the park. As if by instinct, they sought the comfort of community and of nature.

People walked quietly by themselves or in pairs. Parents sat on the grass talking while their kids ran around or played ball. "It feels like a town square," someone said.

People talked of the horror they had witnessed from their rooftops and windows. They recounted close calls, what they had done that day, how they had walked home over the bridge.

They shared their grief and fear and shock. They traded information about what people could do to help. As they learned of who in the community were missing and dead, their pain and sadness deepened.

For many people, the meadows, the encircling trees, the sound of the wind in the leaves, provided some spiritual solace.

As the Project for Public Spaces noted on its website, throughout the city, friends and strangers gathered to mourn and comfort one another in the public parks - in Union Square, Washington Square, the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, and undoubtedly wherever else there were neighborhood parks or community gardens.

New York has the reputation of a hurried city, where people are too busy to make connections. But if anything could characterize the aftermath of this unspeakable tragedy, it has been the coming together of neighbors. The events of the past week make us value even more the public places that draw us together, and the parks that give us contact with nature for consolation and contemplation.


Sites For Beginners:

  • Neighborhood Open Space Coalition's Treebranch Network - Among the areas covered by this longtime advocate for New York City open space are community gardens, parks, the waterfront, and Gateway National Park. Subscribe here free to the electronic version of Urban Outdoors Bulletin, an excellent source of news about parks and related issues.
  • NYC Department of Parks and Recreation - This new and improved site makes it easy to look up any park location, facility, program, or event. You can also take a "virtual tour" (actually, more words than pictures) of several important parks in each borough, or design your own park by playing the NYC planner game. Various park permits and applications, including a request for a street tree, can be printed and submitted through the site.
  • OASIS - An interactive site that lets you view NYC land use maps or aerial photos by borough, neighborhood, community board, or zip code, then zoom in on details like parks, community gardens, or vacant lots and obtain zoning and ownership information. There are some inaccuracies, but users can help update the information.
  • Parks 2001 - Find out more about this campaign for the election and beyond, by park and athletic groups, community gardeners, businesses, civic organizations, and other park supporters, to increase the city's financial support for parks and recreation and to equitably distribute park resources to all neighborhoods.
  • Partnership for Parks - A joint initiative of the City Parks Foundation and the NYC parks department. Under "What We Do," there is information about the Bronx River and other projects, citywide volunteer events, small grants programs, and many other efforts that help communities support and build constituencies for their parks.
  • Trust for Public Land - This national open space group has increased its focus on urban areas in recent years. It has helped save community gardens and negotiated the purchase of several new state parks in the city last year. The site provides frequently updated information on the trust's projects and open space issues nationwide. Look under "Research Room" for urban land conservation and federal and state funding.
  • Urban Parks online - An electronic toolbox for people working on city parks issues, from the Urban Parks Institute, part of the Project for Public Spaces, a NYC non-profit that aims to build community life through public spaces. Recently redesigned and reorganized, the site brings together ideas from all over for creating, funding, and maintaining urban parks. Special park places and park news from around the country are highlighted.


Other Recommendations:

  • Americans for Our Heritage and Recreation - AHR is dedicated to strengthening the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, an important source of funding for urban parks and recreation. The site also has links to the House and Senate web sites, and a listing of all the projects, by state and county, that have received money from the fund.
  • Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Visiting this site is the next best thing to visiting the garden. Exhaustive but well organized, it offers virtual tours and everything you would ever want to know about the garden, as well as general gardening information and access to the garden's resource center and library.
  • Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation - The organization that is creating the Brooklyn Bridge Park has posted the park's final master plan, as well as an overview of the park planning process and a trove of background material.
  • Brooklyn Bridge Park Coalition - More information from a coalition of community groups that is working to create a Brooklyn waterfront park. The list of links is an excellent resource.
  • Garden Gate - Promotes the community garden legislation introduced to the City Council last year. The site includes the full text of the legislation and a "Garden Activist Toolshed" for organizing garden support and calling attention to the issue. It also has a list of threatened gardens
  • Green Guerillas - An organizer of grassroots activism to protect community gardens, this group also offers generous hands-on help: plants, supplies, advice, and volunteers. Its Plant the Vote campaign (look in the "Welcome" section) seeks to get gardeners registered and active in the upcoming citywide elections.
  • GreenThumb - New York City's GreenThumb program has been supporting community gardens for more than 20 years with information, technical assistance, materials, and funding. Check the site for grants, events, information, and links to gardening organization and individual community garden web sites.
  • More Gardens! Coalition - This site has information on efforts to protect community gardens and a list of NYC gardens with links.
  • New York City Audubon - Focuses on the city's wilder open spaces: Look here for wetlands and wildlife habitat protection, volunteering, and, of course, birding
  • New York Restoration Project - A lively site from Bette Midler's group, which has been restoring parks in upper Manhattan and has helped save community gardens.
  • Prospect Park Alliance - Park visitors can look here for park history, destinations, and recreation information, as well as weekend tours of the recently restored ravine.
  • Take a walk, New York - Sign up here for free one-hour guided walks in some of the city's great and far-flung parks and greenways, sponsored by the New York City Department of Health and the Neighborhood Open Space Coalition.
  • Waterfront Park Coalition - A project of the New York Conservation Education Fund, the coalition has created an inventory of waterfront park opportunities, assists local groups, and develops funding strategies.

Visit the Topic Archives!