Dean Anthony W. Crowell, New York Law School & Lynn B. Kelly, New Yorkers for Parks, Executive Director invite you to join us for:

Open Space Dialogues: Reconstructing the Capital Process

Thursday, September 12, 2019 from 6-8PM

New York Law School

185 West Broadway, New York, New York 10013

REGISTER HERE

Brooklyn Bridge Park, Williamsbridge Oval, Lyons Square Playground, Estella Diggs Park: all were constructed or renovated in major capital projects recently. The ribbon-cutting of a park opening is one of the most joyous sights in New York City, but the process to get to that celebratory moment is sometimes lengthy, expensive, and confusing. When NY4P released a report in 2014 on capital projects management, anecdotal concerns about parks capital projects coalesced into a citywide conversation. Since then, NYC Parks has improved their operations. Alongside, political pressure and the growth of resident-involvement programs, like Participatory Budgeting, have ratcheted up New Yorkers’ expectations of the speed, public involvement, quality, and cost-efficiency of parks capital projects. The time is ripe to consider the successes, as well as the room for improvement, in New York City’s parks capital process.

• What has NYC Parks done to improve the process? What is outside their scope?
• What are public expectations of funding, designing, assigning, and building park projects?
• What can be learned by looking at public-private partnerships?
• How can the capital process be more equitable?

Presenters

Susan M. Donoghue, President & Park Administrator, Prospect Park Alliance

Diane Jackier, Chief of Capital Strategic Initiatives, NYC Parks

Charles McKinney, Practical Visionary

Respondents

Andrew Cohen, Council Member, 11th District (Bronx)

Celeste Frye, Founder & CEO, Public Works Partners

Jennifer Godenzo, Senior Director, Participatory Budgeting Project

Moderator

Eli Dvorkin, Editorial & Policy Director, Center for an Urban Future

There is no charge for this event.

For more information on the individual panels, click here.

This event is graciously hosted by The Center for New York City Law and The Impact Center for Public Interest Law at New York Law School.

On April 9, 2019, the Center for New York City Law welcomed New Yorkers for Parks back to New York Law School for another installment of their Open Space Dialogues. The event was kicked off by Executive Director of New Yorkers for Parks Lynn B. Kelly, with welcoming remarks by New York Law School Dean and President Anthony Crowell. The topic of yesterday’s Open Space Dialogues was “Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees.”

Parks provide multiple benefits in dense urban environments, from recreation to mental health to sustainability and resilience. But staying on top of daily wear and tear and addressing the structural deficiencies of aging infrastructure need to be funded. How should we pay to create and maintain our public realm? Park practitioners and advocates from New York City and beyond explored what options exist for ensuring parks in all five boroughs have a sustainable financial future. (read more…)

Dean Anthony W. Crowell, New York Law School & Lynn B. Kelly, New Yorkers for Parks, Executive Director invite you to join us for:

Open Space Dialogues: Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees

Tuesday, April 9, 2019 from 6-8PM

New York Law School

185 West Broadway, New York, New York 10013 (read more…)

Due to inclement weather, this event will be rescheduled to April 9, 2019. For more information, email nycitylaw@nyls.edu.

This evening, New York Law School is again hosting New Yorkers for Parks for another installment of their Open Space Dialogues. In tonight’s installment, titled Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees, park advocates and practitioners from the City will discuss options on ensuring that parks have a sustainable financial future. The dialogues will focus on innovative funding strategies, learning lessons from cities with unusual funding streams for parks, and building an equitable approach to park funding in all neighborhoods. The event will begin at 6:30 PM. To watch the livestream, click here. (read more…)

Dean Anthony W. Crowell, New York Law School & Lynn B. Kelly, New Yorkers for Parks, Executive Director invite you to join us for:

Open Space Dialogues: Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees

Wednesday, February 20, 2019 from 6-8PM

New York Law School

185 West Broadway, New York, New York 10013 (read more…)

On January 9th, 2019, the Center for New York City Law and the Impact Center for Public Interest Law of New York Law School hosted New Yorkers for Parks for their Open Space Dialogues: Healthy City, Active Places. This installment of the dialogues explored the ways New Yorkers have and want to create opportunities for active recreation and health. The discussion focused on answering questions such as: how parks contribute to different scales of health; what park designs and programming prevent or catalyze active recreation; how parks can balance changing user groups, sports popularity, and informal recreation demand; what are neighborhood knock-on effects for parks with an active recreation and health focus; and where are recreations needs of New Yorkers not being met? Video of the event can be found here.

(read more…)