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Home , Bloomingdale Park, Conference House Park, Great Kills Park, Isle of Meadows, Long Pond Park, New Dorp Beach

, Emerson Hill, Heartland Village, s t a t e n i s l a n d Lighthouse Hill, Great Kills, Annadale, Huguenot, c i t y Prince’s Bay, Eltingville, Rossville, Woodrow, Arden c o u n c i l 2009 d i s t r i c t 51 Heights, Charleston, Richmond Valley, Tottenville

Parks are an essential city service. They are the barometers of our city. From Flatbush to Flushing and Morrisania to Midtown, parks are the front and backyards of all New Yorkers. Well-maintained and designed parks offer recreation and solace, improve property values, reduce crime, and contribute to healthy communities.

s h o w c a s e : Wolfe’s Pond Park The Report Card on Beaches is modeled after New Yorkers for Parks’ award-winning Report Card on Parks. Through the results of independent inspections, it tells New Yorkers how well the City’s seven beaches are maintained in four key service areas: shore- lines, pathways, bathrooms, and drinking fountains. The Report Card on Beaches is an effort to highlight these important facilities and ensure that City’s 14 miles of beaches are open, clean, and safe. Wolfe’s Pond , Woodrow Park is one of the seven public The Bloomberg Administration’s physical barriers or crime. As a result, beaches owned and operated by the City’s Parks Department. PlaNYC is the first-ever effort to studies show significant increases in In 2007, this beach was rated sustainably address the many infra- nearby real estate values. Greenways “unsatisfactory.” Its shoreline and structure needs of , are expanding waterfront access bathrooms performed poorly. including parks. With targets set for while creating safer routes for cyclists Visit www.ny4p.org for more stormwater management, air quality and pedestrians, and the new initia- information on the Report Card and more, the City is working to tive to reclaim streets for public use on Beaches. update infrastructure for a growing brings fresh vibrancy to the city. population while addressing envi- ronmental concerns. Through ambi- New York City’s population is tious goals to increase access to parks projected to increase by one million and open spaces, New York’s fiscally new residents by 2030, and demand prudent administration affirms that for our 29,000 acres of parkland investing in parks is good business. will only grow. It is imperative that creative efforts to expand our open Park innovations have flourished in spaces continue—but perhaps more recent years. The creation of Hudson importantly, existing parks must be River Park and the revitalization of protected, maintained and adequate- allow access to areas ly funded to best serve current and that were previously off-limits due to future New Yorkers. City Council District Profiles City Council District Profiles Citywide

Citywide Parks by the A New Master Plan for Parks Numbers Significant steps have been made toward PlaNYC’s parks and open space targets, which include ensuring 29,000 that every New Yorker lives within a 10-minute walk Acres of parkland of a park and planting 1 million trees. Important 1,700 projects like the development of regional parks and Parks the “schoolyards-to-playgrounds” initiative, which opens schoolyards after hours to the public, increase 1,000 recreation space, thus resulting in an even greater Playgrounds need for maintenance funds.

2,300 PlaNYC shows the City’s commitment to Greenstreets improving open space and recreation opportunities. 12,000 Now, we must take the next step and create a master Acres of natural areas plan for New York City’s parks, which does not exist today. A master plan would respond to particular 600,000 neighborhood and regional needs and outline how Park trees best to expand the park system to serve current 2 million and future residents. Street trees Any expansion to the parks system requires 14 maintenance funding. Most city parks rely on Miles of beaches public funding, but this is not a predictable source as evidenced by the current economic recession. 800 While spending on park maintenance increased by Athletic felds 50 percent under Mayor Bloomberg between 2003 50 and 2008, a gloomy economic forecast can be expect- Recreation centers ed to result in cuts to the Parks budget in 2009 and beyond. Public-private partnerships will be affected 66 by the recession as well. Innovative funding streams Pools —as well as improved management strategies— can help ensure that the parks system will 6 weather these storms. Top: Breininger Playground, Ice rinks Above: , 22 Historic house museums Historical City Funding for the Parks Department (Adjusted) 1,000 $500 Monuments, sculptures and $400 historical markers d o l l a r s $300 o f

$200 m i l l i o n s $100 in

$0 ’89 ’90 ’91 ’92 ’93 ’94 ’95 ’96 ’97 ’98 ’99 ’00 ’01 ’02 ’03 ’04 ’05 ’06 ’07 ’08 ’09 ’10*

f i s c a l y e a r *2010 = Projected budget By the Borough:

STATEN ISLAND Park Park Inspection Program Ratings: Parks by the Staten Island vs. Citywide (% rated acceptable) Numbers Staten Island’s moniker is “the borough of parks” Staten Island Citywide due to its tremendous natural areas and large open 100% 4,742 spaces comprising 7,500 acres. Once constructed, Acres of natural areas the crown jewel of its park system will certainly be 90% Fresh Kills Park, which will become the City’s second 56 largest park, behind in . Playgrounds 80% At its completion Fresh Kills Park will span 2,200 acres and promises water access, including kayak 40 70% Comfort stations launches, sports fields, and play spaces for children. 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

The Parks Department conducts 5,000 park inspections annually 174 Five non-profit partner groups fundraise for through their internal rating system, the Park Inspection Program. Drinking fountains Staten Island parks, in addition to 10 groups that raise money to support parks citywide. 37 Athletic felds 48 Basketball courts 300 Greenstreets 8 Pools

Staten Island Park Staffing 17 Gardeners & Assistant Gardeners 102 City Parks Workers At left: , West Brighton & Associate Park Above: South Beach, South Beach Service Workers 19 Staten Island has the 2nd highest percentage of land devoted to parks of the fve boroughs. Park Supervisors Staten Island Citywide Park acreage 7,474 29,000 15 Recreation Directors & Percent of borough devoted to parks 20% 14% Specialists Staten Island has the lowest number of residents per acre of parkland of the fve boroughs. 7 Total population 444,000 8 million Playground Associates Residents per acre of parkland 59 276 17 Staten Island has the greatest tree canopy coverage of the fve boroughs. Parks Enforcement Patrol Tree canopy (trees on public and private land) 34% 24% (PEP) Offcers & Urban Park Rangers Number of street trees per mile of sidewalk 49 41 Lemon Creek Park, Pleasant Plains

00.5staten 1Miles island City Council District 51

OO CAMERON LAKE U RT

BL PER

AV OLD TOWN RDGrasmere New Springville L Sea View Chelsea SAXON Hospital and Home South Beach District Statistics AV * * COLONIA DELAW Todt Hill * ARE a c r e a g e o f c i t y p a r k s AVOld To wn 3 Total district acreage 15,470

TravisW SHORE EP SR E Heartland Village Dongan Hills Total parkland acreage 2,647 SEA Cemetery AV VIEW MAIN CREEK AD Parks & playgrounds acreage 2,489 * 50 RICHMONDO RD AV Percent City parkland WEST SHORE EP of total district acreage N RAILR Percent parkland 17% BEDFORD

AV 4 AV Citywide 14% 1 Grant City Lighthouse Hill NEW DORP LA MULDOON 4 ST 2 AV p o p u l a t i o n RICHMOND Midland Beach Ranking of City parkland acres/resident Population 150,660 Richmondtown 10 ST AV 2 TTERSON Fresh Kills PA (1=highest, 51=lowest) Cemetery Population under 18 37,941 WSON ST * CLA MILL RD Percent under 18 25% ISERNIA New EBBITTSDorp ST Beach 5 LEEDS ST 3 Acres parkland per 1,000 residents 18 AV Ranking of City parks & Oakwood AV playgrounds acres/child Acres parks & playgrounds per 1,000 kids 66

Greenridge AV 39 * 7 FINLEY SMITHS LA

THUR AV 6Bay Te rrace W SHORE EP ET NB 8 WN BL O AR AV OODLAND l a n g u a g e a c c e s s CD 51 Citywide STROUD W BR

MC INDUSTRIAL LO 9 Most common foreign language spoken at home Italian Spanish AV Great Kills 10 38 AV Rossville LAREDO 51 Percent of homes speaking this language 5% 18% Arden Heights 11 Port Mobil RENSSELAER ELLSW 37 Eltingville ALE ST TARLEE PL * AKD c i v i c e n g a g e m e n t CD 51 Citywide * O ELLIS RD * OR TH AV Annadale GREAT KILLS HARBOR Registered voters 75% 76% AV RAMONA WY 33 Woodrow 12 Number general parks-related 36 15 311 calls per 1,000 residents 20 10 TRIOKA 13 Number of parks-related 311 calls for maintenance Huguenot Charleston 34 35 AV per 1,000 residents 1 1 16 14 32 AV 20 SHIRLEY ALBOURNE BER DRUMGOOLE RD E TRAM p a r k r e s o u r c e s CD 51 Citywide

4 CT 17 Y AV Does not include capital funding allocated to multiple districts or citywide. 19 AV WATERBUR SHARR 18 District-specific capital funding, 2004–2009 $2.2 million $4.2 million 21ARBUTUS LAKE RICHMOND Pleasant Plains LEMON CREEK VALLEY RD ORMSBY O 22 TT W Richmond Valley AV OOD p a r k s i n s p e c t i o n p r o g r a m r a t i n g s

AV

V ALE Results of the Parks Department’s internal inspections. ELLIS ST 24 23 25 AV WOLFE'S POND FY 2004 FY 2008 31 * 26 100 * 80 91% 92% 88% 86% SUMMIT RD 60 29Butler Manor 27 ATLANTIC OCEAN 40 rated

cent parks

28 20 “acceptable”

AV r Pe 30 SURF 0 CD 51 Citywide

o p e n s p a c e CD 51 Citywide Number of community gardens per 1,000 acres <1 4 From Staten Island Community Board 3: Vacant lot acreage 2,226 8,512 LEGEND nn DPR community gardens Parks, playgrounds Percent vacant 14% 4% 1/2 Mile nn Other community gardens and beaches Council District Border nn DPR beaches h e a l t h Number of hospital admissions per 10,000 residents: CD 51 Citywide There is a serious lack of bathroom 1 20 Hugenot Ponds Park nn New York City Department of nn State and federal parkland Parks and Recreation (DPR) Asthma 9 31 2 William T Davis 21 Prescott Playground nn City-owned vacant land facilities in our parks. This creates an unac- parks, playgrounds and ‘‘ Wildlife Preserve Diabetes 4 11 22 Wolfe’s Pond Park Q DPR schoolyards-to- ceptable and unhealthy condition in our greenstreets 3 Fresh Kills Park 23 Wolfe’s Pond Beach playgrounds sites nn DPR natural areas e d u c a t i o n CD 51 Citywide parks and playgrounds. Funds must be allo- 4 La Tourette Park and Golf 24 Lemon Creek Park Course (Schoolyards-to-playgrounds is a citywide PlaNYC initiative Percent fourth graders meeting standards in math 93% 81% cated and construction expedited to provide 25 to open schoolyards to the public during afterschool hours.) 5 Kingfisher Park Percent fourth graders meeting standards in reading 80% 63% 26 Aesop Playground comfort stations in Wolfe’s Pond Park, Lemon 6 Christopher J. Siedenburg Creek, the fishing pier at Sharrotts Avenue, Park 27 Mount Loretto State Unique Area 7 Willowbrook Parkway Park and other park 28 Hybrid Oaks Woods Parks 8 Cedar Grove locations where people congregate. 29 Joline Pool Playground 9 30 10 Greencroft Playground 31 Tottenville Shore Park 11 Great Kills Veterans Statement of Needs for Fiscal Year 2008 Playground 32 Fairview Park 12 Seaside Wildlife Nature Park 33 Clay Pit Ponds ’’ 13 Crescent Beach 34 Bloomingdale Park 14 Olmsted-Beil House 35 Carlton Park 15 PS 55 36 Ida Court Park Tools for Action 16 37 Korean War Veterans Parkway Let your elected officials know how important parks are to you. 17 Bayview Terrace Park 38 South Shore Golf Course City Council Member: Vincent Ignizio [email protected] 18 Bunker Ponds Park 39 Arden Heights Woods Staten Island Community Board 2 (718) 317-3235 19 Kingdom Pond Park Staten Island Community Board 3 (718) 356-7900 City of New York 311 or www.nyc.gov State and Federal Representatives www.elections.state.ny.us New Yorkers for Parks www.ny4p.org Wolfe’s Pond Park, Huguenot Crescent Beach, Great Kills

b o a r d c h a i r p h o t o g r a p h y Supporters About New Yorkers d a t a s o u r c e s Catherine Morrison Golden David Silverstein, Manager Altman Foundation for Parks All data is from 2008 unless noted. “Citywide”: Parks by the Numbers - NYC Department of Arthur Ross Foundation Parks and Recreation (DPR); Budget chart - Adopted Budgets, NYC Office of Management and e x e c u t i v e d i r e c t o r District 51 Photographer: New Yorkers for Parks is the only Greenacre Foundation Budget (OMB), FY 1989-2009, Preliminary Budget, OMB, FY 2010. “By the borough”: PIP Ratings, Christian DiPalermo Christine Kaelin independent watchdog for all the By the numbers & Staffing - DPR; Trees -“Trees Count!” Street Tree Census report, 2005-2006, DPR; Henry and Lucy Moses Fund city’s parks, beaches and playgrounds. This page: Population - Census2000; Language access - Infoshare.org; Civic engagement - NYC Board Ben Carlson d i s t r i c t p r o f i l e s s ta f f John N. Blackman, Sr. Foundation The city’s oldest and leading inde- of Elections and NYC Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DOITT), Bill DesJardins Cheryl Huber, Director Abby R. Mauzé Trust pendent expert on park conditions, FY 2008; Park resources and PIP ratings - DPR: Community Gardens - Council on the Environment of Tim Francis NYC; Vacant land - MapPLUTO copyrighted by the New York City Department of Planning, BYTES Alyson Beha The Armand G. Erpf Fund efficiency and funding, New Yorkers Susan McCartney of the BIG APPLE; Health - NYS Department of Health, 2006 via Infoshare.org; Education - NYC and Andrea Marpillero-Colomina The Dana Foundation for Parks has worked for 100 years Laura Napier NYS Departments of Education, 2007-2008, analysis by the Annenberg Foundation. The Rhodebeck Charitable Trust to ensure greener, safer, cleaner g r a p h i c d e s i g n e r Mark Sanders Norman and Rosita Winston parks for all New Yorkers. m a p d a t a Michael Bierman David Silverstein Foundation NYC Parks properties - DPR; State parks - NYS Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation; National parks - , 2006; Council District boundaries - BYTES of the Big Apple, DCP, 2005; Schoolyards-to-Playgrounds - DPR. The Future of New York City Parks

With the promise of Fresh Kills Park parks, the money is directed to the City’s in Staten Island and the completion of General Fund. New Yorkers for Parks has regional parks citywide, New York City’s long advocated for City Hall to allow the park system will expand over the coming Parks Department to retain a portion of decades in a manner not seen since the this revenue to offset maintenance costs 1930s. With sound planning and sufficient throughout the system, as is done in other funding, our park system will flourish. cities such as Chicago.

Although the City has an obligation to Property Taxes: Business Improvement fund parks, we have seen that in times of Districts have a long history of funding fiscal crisis, parks suffer. We must ensure park maintenance through tax revenues, that all parks—particularly those that with Bryant Park as the lead example. cannot rely on private funding—receive Friends of Park is pursuing adequate public support. this structure. Such arrangements place some of the costs of park maintenance While “friends of” groups and the robust on businesses or residents whose property volunteer program administered through values benefit from a well-maintained park. Partnerships for Parks have a positive im- pact on park maintenance, more dollars are Public-Private Partnerships: More than needed. Park advocates have long debated 30 park-specific non-profits around the how to ensure funding streams outside of city fundraise for specific parks—such as the city budget to maintain our parks in all Conservancy and the Riverside fiscal climates. The funding mechanisms Park Fund. Groups typically raise money below have been successful in New York for capital projects or ongoing park main- City and elsewhere. Now is the time to tenance; however, this strategy has worked carefully examine these strategies to plan only in high-income areas. for the future. Zoning Bonuses: Developer incentives Concessions: More than $50 million is to improve open space can produce earned annually from concessions such as successful results. In West Chelsea, the food stands and ice skating rinks operated City passed a special zoning amendment on City parkland. Some public-private that allowed developers to build higher in partnerships are allowed to keep a portion exchange for contributing to an ongoing of concession revenues earned in particular maintenance fund to benefit the new parks through unique agreements with public Park. This structure the City. But in the vast majority of should be explored citywide.

New Yorkers for Parks The Arthur Ross Center for Parks and Open Spaces 355 Lexington Avenue, 14th Floor New York, NY 10017

Tel: 212-838-9410 / Fax: 212-371-6048 Top: Madison Square Park, Manhattan Middle: Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens www.ny4p.org Above: Vidalia Park, Bronx