insight
What lessons stand out from your first year on the job with The Trust for Public Land? What’s been really interesting for me is to travel around to the different offices and see how much expertise we have among our staff. I’m learning that this is a very nimble organization, able to do things faster and sometimes better than government can do them. My travels have reinforced my belief that there’s no other national organization doing what we’re doing in cities: creating parks, advocating for parks, and using parks in cutting-edge ways—such as to promote public health and for water management.
in a garbage can. Then I noticed that the construction of the new park building seemed to have come to a standstill, so I called my old friend who runs the design engineering division and gave her a heads-up that maybe the contractor wasn’t as active as he should be. So I can’t resist. And it was very difficult for me to not be involved with
the response to Superstorm Sandy. Parks and boardwalks and beaches were just erased, and thousands of park and street trees came tumbling down. I have watched in admi- ration as my successor, Veronica White, and her team have worked 24/7 since the storm to restore the park system. It’s a big job to rebuild, and also to ask: Do you simply go back to the way things were or do you do something radically different?
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Coming to work for The Trust for Public Land was the logical next step for me: to be able to play a role across the country, helping cities to create and nurture parks and parks organizations.
Still, after more than 20 years as a hands-on parks man- ager, it must be hard to break your park-ranger habits. Actually, I was walking through Washington Square Park today, just to get some sun, and there was a bit of litter under a bench, and I stopped and picked it up and put it 32 · LAND&PEOPLE · SPRING/SUMMER 2013
We shouldn’t overlook the role of beauty in urban life. i often joke that i’ve never seen a fistfight in front of a flowerbed.
Addressing the looming challenges of climate change and extreme weather might be another direction for The Trust for Public Land. It’s top of my mind right now, because we have to be part of the solution. The risk is that cities like New York, which are concerned about their physical survival, may put all of their money and energy into building physical barriers to prevent flood damage. But if you surround a city with a giant wall, will it still be livable? Green space can also be part of the physical solution to making cities more sustainable—and it’s abso- lutely essential to urban quality of life. When they aren’t serving a protective function, natural buffers can also act as parks, trails, and bikeways.
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So, we’re at a crucial stage. Yes. How we solve these problems will determine whether cities will continue to be good places for people to live for the next few centuries. The way I see it, parks are essential to cities’ survival.
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