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Last night, Gothamist headed to the mayoral forum held by Parks 1, the non-profit that is working to make NYC's parks the number one in the nation by trying to get the city goverment to commit 1% of the city's budget to the parks. (You can sign the pledge here.) Four of the potential candidates appeared: Former Bronx Borough President Ferando Ferrer, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields, and former Queens City Councilman Thomas Ognibene. Congressman Anthony Weiner had agreed to come, but he was stuck in D.C. (legislation!), and Mayor Bloomberg was invited but did not attend. The discussion covered topics like how the candidates would deal with poorly maintained parks, vehicles in parks, and community gardens. Also, the candidates had other ideas about revenue to support and maintain the parks besides the 1% idea, because 1% of the city's budget is a huge chunk of change (we think it's about $500 million, based on the 2006, but we're still trying to figure out how the parks line item works). While the candidates tried to emphasize their commitment to New York and the parks, Gothamist began to think about who might be left standing this fall.
Ferrer: In our opinion, the most impressive candidate with his solid command of the issues. Not as smooth as Miller. He emphasized intiatives in the Bronx, but was also familiar with a lot of city-wide legislation, even arcane laws. Actually said he'd fired Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe over his remarks saying some parks should not be rescued.
Fields: Passionate but not as articulate as her rivals. Strong emphasis on development and working with developers, which makes us think she's going after union and big money real estate. The only candidate to actually pledge to spend 1% of the city's budget on the parks thus far, Gothamist can't help but think she signed the pledge because she knows she won't be held up to it, since she probably won't win.
Miller: The most effective and polished speaker, he was second most compelling. What he does have in his favor is being a pretty powerful politician who is affecting city legislation at the present, which is something Ferrer can't say. One issue is his over-reliance on being snarky and soundbite-y. It makes for easy applause, but we were left wanting more.
Ognibene: Eager to prove his mettle as a "real Republican," he was honest about his attitudes about issues like WiFi in the parks (thought it was a good idea, but there are other things to improve in parks first) and community gardens (again, good idea, but if a developer is willing to pay top dollar for land, then he'd be open to that) in a crowd that was decidedly not Republican. He was also cranky, but we can forgive him since Bloomberg is working him over regarding the validity of his petition to run on the Republican ticket. We can see why he was probably an effective City Councilman; we admit he's smart, even if we don't agree with him.
We suspect the primary will come down to Ferrer and Miller. At this point, Gothamist can't predict whom, but maybe it'll be clear once Ferrer and Miller mobilize their pre-primary runs.
Gothamist liveblogged during the forum at Parks1 with some other folks. More coverage: Music for America, Daily Gotham, Alpie.net, and Eefers.
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The big issue as far as park rules should be banning cars! Olmstead and Vaux never planned on letting cars in Central or Prospect Parks. In fact, Central Park was designed with transverses to hide crossing cars from view.
Let's get cars out of the parks so that money spent on repairing park drives can go to better causes. The parks should be a refuge in a city where very few have their own backyards.
It's amazing how worked up the Conservancy gets over potential damage to the grass, but willingly allows cars to sully the peaceful oasis that could be Central Park.
I can't believe how much people get worked up over Central Park. Gimme a break. It is a wonder of the country, and to bitch about certain points when the forum's intent is to focus on parks that actually need help is a grave misunderstanding.
The answer lies in not 1% of my taxpayer money, but in private endeavors like Bryant Park. When we just assume throwing my hard-earned dollars at a park will magically make thigns great, we all lose. Oh, sure, it'll look great once the ribbon is cut, but without business interests tied to these projects, and a real sense of ownership of the land, many of these restored places will fade as soon as the gov't takes away the maintenance money and depends on police to keep things in order.
I was there. Your coverage is killer. Though I do wish Weiner had been able to go.
When Miller is on fire it's because he's a ham and gets laughs, but when Weiner is on fire it's because he goes on these detail-laden rhetorical rants that get the policy wonk in me giggling with joy.
I don't know if Anthony's my guy, but he is impressive. I want Ferrer to 1) sign the pledge 2)talk about all issues with the zeal he used to bash the mayor's comissioner.
Check that story out. How this guy still has his job is beyond me. Apparently the chair of the Parks Committee wrote a furious letter to the mayor about it.
The mayor blinked a few times in response.
Benepe's explicit unwillingness to fulfill his mandate is shocking. He ought to be fired.
Scott, you're right. I'm a community gardening guy in South Bronx. What most Parks advocates fight for is the small neighborhood park or green space. THey don't fight to make Bryant Park even more pristine.
Parks Commissioner Benepe was right when he said that the plots of green in a grey urban landscape are one of the things that make city life livable. What he wasn't right in saying was that some neighborhood parks aren't worth taking care of.
Scott, throwing (capital) money at parks to have ribbon cuttings is exactly what the Mayor has been doing. What sensible people want is to spend that money instead on MAINTENANCE. Parks staff has been cut beyond the point where parks stay in good shape, the result is that they devolve into anarchic savagery and need monsterous infusions of capital money to completely rebuild the place.
And there is a real sense of ownership of the land, we own parkland. We own it. It's ours. Generations of our tax dollars have paid for it and now it's our duty to MAINTAIN it. I don't have a chainsaw to clear fallen limbs so we also own the Parks Department.
If the park is maintained well it will attract users, the crack smoking prostitutes will have a hard time setting up shantys, then there will be no need to send cops to 'enforce the park' like it's some sort of DMZ. It will be instead like Walt Whitman said of Fort Greene Park, "the lungs of the community." The barometer for the health of the neighborhood.
Private funds from 5th ave donors did save Central Park from being a shanty town and helped turn it into the manicured garden it is now - that's okay in the short run BUT it sets a dangerous precedent.
which is that one way to keep from having to maintain our vital shared infrastructure, our commons, is to privitize them. Privatize the parks, the water lines, the highways, seaports, the internet, the electronic frequencies (for TV and radio)... it not only lets government off the hook as the defined steward of these things as outlined in Rousseau's "Social Contract" but it also opens the door for a neo-landowning class which has well-funded representation from several elected officials and judges who rule in favor of corporate freedom and against individual rights.
Full civic engagement, which is what we should strive for in a democracy, means that we should operate as if we live in a commonwealth. Note I'm not talking about socialism or communism. Of course not. But this trend of privatizing anything of any worth does not a healthy democracy make. It might make for a nice new aristocracy or it might make a nice healthy feudalism - but it was not intended by the framers of our Constitution who were themselves students of Rousseau and Grotius.
Wacky, you're totally right. Benepe should have been canned. What he says reflects upon the Mayor. If he thinks that THIS is "Nature taking it's course", he should first understand that, no, crack smoking prostitutes and homeless shanty towns aren't nature taking it's course. And secondly it's the job of the Parks Department to take care of parks. It's his job. He gets paid to do the opposite of his job! How much does he get paid?! Outrageous.
This could be the last fall season for two treasured parks. Macombs Dam and Mullaly Parks across the street from Yankee Stadium may be destroyed until we rise up and voice our concerns. If these parks are seized by business, is any park really safe? Find out more at www.yankeesstayhome.com and www.saveourparks.blogspot.com