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“One of the great things about attending this school is being located in the park. There’s a different feel having all of this green space around us. I’ve heard fifth graders tell their parents, ‘I don’t feel like I’m going to school everyday, but I’m still learning.’ We encourage getting outside. Often, teach-
ers will take kids to the pond nearby to give lectures. Once a week, for P.E. class, the kids run around the Big Lake path. It’s nice to have that safe, open space for them to run where we can see them. We’ll also wander out back and use the fields to play flag football, soccer, softball, kickball. I wouldn’t say the kids take it all for granted, but when the fields were closed for construc- tion, they really missed it. They were like, ‘When can we use the park again?’ You could see what having that space means to them— you don’t know what you’ve got until you don’t have it anymore. This is the first time the kids are using the
Fitness Zone. As you can see, they think it’s really cool. They’re fitness-savvy kids: they know a lot about being in shape and healthy diets. So we’re excited to have access to this Fitness Zone, to actually make it fun for them to work out.”
“When the park was closed, the kids really missed it. You don’t know what you’ve got until you don’t have it anymore.“
—Coach Derek Cummiskey
TPL.ORG · 39
ounded in 1854, City Park is one of the oldest in the country, a New Orleans fixture that has endured the shells of the Civil War and the wrath of Hurricane
Katrina. It is also one of the nation’s largest urban parks—50 percent bigger than New York’s better-known Central Park. Unlike most parks of its kind, City Park receives very little
tax revenue; as a private park, it must generate income to survive. From the canine paradise of the NOLA Dog Bark to Storyland, a dreamlike children’s amusement park, City Park’s amenities have to be so good that visitors are willing to pay for them. These attractions—along with the rest of the park—were
ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. In the aftermath of the 2005 storm and levee failures, a sheet of knee-high muck blan- keted the park’s southern end; its northern reaches were submerged in 10 feet of standing water. Fish swam out of the lagoons. Magnolia trees died from the intrusion, as did many of the park’s centuries-old live oaks. In all, more than 2,000 trees were lost. “There was fundamental ecological trauma,” recalls
Tulane University geographer Rich Campanella. “And that was in addition to the social, cultural, economic, and infra- structure trauma all around.” The park incurred $43 million in damages. Fish had to
be restocked, structures rebuilt, trees replanted, debris carted away. It was a classic chicken-and-egg dilemma, says Campanella: people wouldn’t come back until the park was repaired, but repairs couldn’t happen without public sup- port. “All the more critical was The Trust for Public Land’s in- tervention,” notes Campanella. “What they did goes beyond the aesthetic, to the very survival of this place.” Beginning in 2007, The Trust for Public Land oversaw the
transformation of Big Lake from a little-used 25-acre tract— part of a golf course that was destroyed by the storm—to a favorite spot for picnics, festivals, and exercise that attracts a cross-section of New Orleans residents. Last winter, TPL unveiled City Park’s first Fitness Zone, an 18-piece outdoor circuit gym that’s free and open to the public. To learn more about The Trust for Public Land’s ongoing work across New Orleans, visit
tpl.org/neworleans.
chris granger
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