City Council District Profiles

Pelham Bay, Country Club, City Island, b r o n x Pelham Parkway, Allerton, Pelham Gardens c i t y Bronxdale, VanNest, Morris Park, Westchester c o u n c i l 2009 d i s t r i c t 13 Square, Schuylerville, Throgs Neck, Edgewater Park

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 : Orchard Beach 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 facili- ties and ensure that New York City’s 14 miles of beaches are open, clean, and safe. Orchard Ambrosini Field, City Island Beach 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 “challenged”. Its shoreline and structure needs of New York City, are expanding waterfront access drinking fountains performed including parks. With targets set for while creating safer routes for cyclists poorly. Visit www.ny4p.org for stormwater management, air quality and pedestrians, and the new initia- more information on the Report and more, the City is working to tive to reclaim streets for public use Card 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- Bryant Park 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, Queens Ice rinks Above: Central Park, Manhattan 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: Bronx

BRONX Parkland Alienation Park Inspection Program Ratings: Parks by the Bronx vs. Citywide (Percent rated acceptable) Numbers Although the Bronx has the most parkland of the Bronx Citywide five boroughs, much of that acreage is contained in 100% 2,596 Pelham Bay Park, at 2,766 acres the largest in the city. Acres of natural areas Bronx parks have been subject to two significant cases 90% of “alienation”: the taking of parkland for a non-park 191 use. In 2003, the City and State approved construc- Playgrounds 80% tion of a water filtration plant in Van Cortlandt Park, and in 2006, 22 acres of well-loved parkland 117 70% Comfort stations were alienated for a new Yankee Stadium. The Van 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Cortlandt Park case was high-profile and resulted in The Parks Department conducts 5,000 park inspections annually 374 mitigation funds for Bronx parks, but the alienation through their internal rating system, the Park Inspection Program. Drinking fountains at Yankee Stadium took place in only eight days with residents left in the dark. Both cases resulted in 144 soured relations between the City and the affected Athletic felds communities. Unfortunately, parkland can be legally 201 taken without public notification. The alienation pro- Basketball courts cess must be strengthened so that parkland in every borough can be preserved for New Yorkers. 436 Greenstreets Three non-profit partner groups fundraise for Bronx parks, in addition to 10 groups that raise money to 10 Pools support parks citywide.

Bronx Park Stafﬁng 27 Gardeners & Assistant Gardeners 216 City Parks Workers At left: Van Cortlandt Park, Van Cortlandt Village & Associate Park Above: Poe Park, Fordham Service Workers 52 The Bronx has the highest percentage of land devoted to parks of the fve boroughs. Park Supervisors Bronx Citywide Park acreage 7,002 29,000 12 Recreation Directors & Percent of borough devoted to parks 26% 14% Specialists The Bronx has the 2nd lowest number of residents per acre of parkland of the fve boroughs. 5 Total population 1.3 million 8 million Playground Associates Residents per acre of parkland 190 276 23 The Bronx has the 2nd greatest tree canopy coverage of the fve boroughs. Parks Enforcement Patrol Tree canopy (trees on public and private land) 24% 24% (PEP) Offcers & Urban Park Rangers Number of street trees per mile of sidewalk 37 41 00.5 1Miles

Ambrosini Field, City Island

E 243 ST AV bronx CiE 241 STty Council District 13

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From Bronx Community Board 10: A BULLARD

AV MUND E 236 ST WICKHAM District Statistics

HERKIMER PL HERKIMER BRONX RIVER a c r e a g e o f c i t y p a r k s HILL WOODLAWN LAKE AV AV

ALD AV EDENWEDSON Westchester County Total district acreage 7,432 Woodlawn Cemetery E 232 ST AV Total parkland acreage 2,677 The Board would like to see the JER E 227 ST

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E 226 ST Parks & playgrounds acreage 2,461 AV E 224 ST A PL Percent City parkland ‘‘ extensive wildlife and natural trail E 227 ST GRENAD of total district acreage Percent parkland 36%

AV Eastchester offerings sponsored by the Urban 11 Williamsbridge Citywide 14% AV

SCHIEFFELIN Edenwald DEKALB E 219 ST E 223 ST 3 Park Rangers receive more publicity, E 211 ST Ranking of City parkland p o p u l a t i o n acres/resident 10 ST AV Population 164,837 fostering increased awareness among (1=highest, 51=lowest) EASTCHESTER RD VR PY EN NB Population under 18 35,438 ULDING 1 E 209 ST BX R 12 PA the Board’s residents. TILDEN ST Percent under 18 21% Olinville FISH 2 Acres parkland per 1,000 residents 16 Ranking of City parks & Norwood AV Co-Op City E 204 ST playgrounds acres/child Acres parks & playgrounds per 1,000 children 69

YCHESTER Statement of Needs for Fiscal Year 2008 E 202 ST AV BaychesterADEE NEW ENGLAND 13 l a n g u a g e a c c e s s CD 13 Citywide AV HUTCHINSON Most common foreign language spoken at home Spanish Spanish ’’ DEWITT PL BA RIVER Y PZ 2

AV Percent of homes speaking this language 18% 18% TY AV 5 PELHAM BAY

AV Parks, playgrounds VICK MACE AV 4 EINSTEIN LO E LODO PEARSALL c i v i c e n g a g e m e n t CD 13 Citywide 6 SEYMOUR Pelham Gardens OLINVILLE and beaches WARING AV Registered voters 79% 76% ASTOR AV

AV 1 Pelham Bay Park 13 owen Dolen AV Number general parks-related UGER PELHAM PY N WELL ON RD CR 7 STILL 311 calls per 1,000 residents 19 10 2 orchard Beach Golden Age Center BOST 14 The Pearly Gates Jacobi Medical Center Number of parks-related 311 calls for maintenance 3 Ambrosini Field Weiler/Einstein

AV per 1,000 residents 1 1 15 Hutchinson River Parkway Hospital 13MINNIEFORD 4 Burns Playground BRADY AV UGER OOD PLNEWPOR 8 16 Bufano Playground CR Bronx Pelham Bay 5 Allerton Playground LAKEW HONE EASTCHESTER BAY AV p a r k r e s o u r c e s CD 13 Citywide T Psychiatric 17 Palmer Inlet AV Center 6 Mazzei Playground Morris ParkAV 9 Does not include capital funding allocated to multiple districts or citywide. 18 Throgs Neck Parking Lot 7 Pelham Parkway BAY ST District-specific capital funding, 2004–2009 $4.2 million $4.2 million V 10 City Island 8 Colucci Playground 19 Castle Hill Little League 15 13 17 20 Bruckner Playground AV 3 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 SPENCER DR 9 Loreto Playground CITY ISLAND Van Nest 11 GILLESPIE Results of the Parks Department’s internal inspections. 21 Bicentennial Veterans Park AV HALPERIN 10 Matthews-Muliner Playground E TREMONT AV 12 AN at Weir Creek OPOLIT Country Club FY 2004 FY 2008 West Farms METR AV AV AV POLO PL 13 LA SALLE 100 AV 11 Van Nest Park WHITE PLAINS RD WA DORSEY ST 22 Locust Point Marina UNIONPOR TERBUR E 177 ST Parkchester 14 80 93% 12 Pelham Bay Little League Park WRENCE 16 Y 85% 88% 23 Ferry Point Park THR AV 86% T RD AV ST LA ST 15 OGS NECK EP 60 BAISLEY 174 ST Y AV WATERBUR 40 rated

FTELEY AV * cent parks GRAFF 18 LEGEND nn DPR community gardens WESTCHESTER 20 “acceptable” AV AV 19 r Pe 1/4 Mile E 172 ST POWELL AV nn Other community gardens UCKNER BL VINCENT 0

MORRISON BR ELDER Schuylerville CD 13 Citywide W Unionport Council District Border nn DPR beaches LONG ISLAND SOUND ARD AV AV AV AV AY PHILIP New York City Department of AV nn nn State and federal parkland BRUCKNER EXPRESSW AV QUIMBY 20 o p e n s p a c e CD 13 Citywide Parks and Recreation (DPR) nn City-owned vacant land parks, playgrounds and Number of community gardens per 1,000 acres <1 4 AV St Raymond’s Cemetery Q DPR schoolyards-to- BO LAFAYETTE 21 greenstreets YNT * Vacant lot acreage 151 8,512 18 C CR OSS BX EPEdge EN water Park ASTLE HILL

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Castle Hill VR PY ET NB DPR natural areas AV Percent vacant 2% 4% nn AV ARD ALF SEW E 177 ST AV

AV AV SOUND (Schoolyards-to-playgrounds is a citywide PlaNYC initiative HUTCH R Throgs Neck PRENTISS h e a l t h to open schoolyards to the public during afterschool hours.) VIEW 22 E 177 ST Number of hospital admissions per 10,000 residents: CD 13 Citywide AV 23 AV AV

HALL TON AV HARDING AV NOR SCHURZ Asthma 36 31

ECK ST 2 ST AV TIERNEY PL

E Diabetes 9 11 LELAND WESTCHESTER CREEK Silver Beach

AV FOOD CENTER RD e d u c a t i o n CD 13 Citywide 17 BRONX RIVER Clason Point WHITEST Percent fourth graders meeting standards in math 83% 81% V AV CORNELL

ONE BR WNINSHIELD ST O Percent fourth graders meeting standards in reading 65% 63% CR

ADHAMS ST

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Pelham Bay Park, Pelham Bay Malba Beechhurst 22 FLUSHING BAY 19 College Point Tools for Action Bay Terrace College Point Let your elected officials know how important parks are to you. Industrial Park City Council Member: James Vacca [email protected] Whitestone Bronx Community Board 10 (718) 892-1161 WORLD'S FAIR MARINA Bronx Community Board 11 (718) 892-6262 Bronx Community Board 12 (718) 881-4455 22 City of New York 311 or www.nyc.gov LaGuardia Airport State and Federal Representatives www.elections.state.ny.us 20 New Yorkers for Parks www.ny4p.org Loreto Playground, Morris Park

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 13 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 Laura Napier 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 Christine Kaelin 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 Susan McCartney 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 - National Park Service, 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 Hudson River 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 the Battery 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 High Line 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