August 2017 - Parks & Recreation - 22

Member to Member
From Steel to Green: Revitalizing
Pittsburgh Through Its Park System
The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy shares lessons learned as it celebrates 20 years
By Scott Roller

he world in 1996 was markedly different than it is today, and Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, was no exception. " 3rd Rock from the Sun " was on TV, the
Spice Girls were topping the charts and solar panels were still an oddity in
most of the United States. Pittsburgh was laying the groundwork for the
remarkable technological and green transformation that would eventually come, and a
handful of citizens concerned with the deteriorating condition of the city's grand park
system were meeting in a living room to discuss how they could help.
What followed was the birth of one
of the country's most respected parks
conservancies, more than $100 million
raised for major park improvement projects over the next 21 years and a vibrant
park system that helped spur economic
development, city pride and the designation of Pittsburgh as one the nation's top
most livable cities. This is the story of the
Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, but the
lessons learned since that first meeting

are ones that any size park or recreation
group can use.
Meg Cheever and her friends were regular citizens who believed that a healthy,
well-cared-for park system was a key to
drawing and maintaining residents and
essential to the future renaissance of this
former industrial city. They recognized the
enormous potential in Pittsburgh's historic 2,000-plus-acre park system, while also
knowing the reality of available resources.

Restoring the 70-year-old Frick Park Gatehouse was the Parks Conservancy's first
major park improvement project.

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Cheever eventually became the group's
CEO and encourages others to never
underestimate the good that energized,
like-minded people can accomplish.
The majestic park system, made possible
by industrialists like Frick, Schenley and
Mellon, was proving hard to care for as
Pittsburgh - like many other cities around
the country in the 1980s and '90s - dealt
with difficult financial times as steel and
other traditional industries dissipated.
Early Success
From its earliest days, the Parks Conservancy fostered relationships with local
government through an official public-private partnership agreement with the
city of Pittsburgh to ensure that relevant
issues and needs were addressed. Understanding their partners' needs and taking
care to give credit and praise for their contributions proved an important part in the
Parks Conservancy's early success.
Also key was choosing highly visible
projects for the first several years, which
brought the organization and its work
to the attention of potential funders and
supporters. The high quality of those initial projects - including prominent entry
features at popular regional parks - became an important selling point for fundraising efforts. " High-quality projects not
only accomplish physical restoration, but
also fuel community pride, encourage potential funding sources, and deter abuse
and misuse, " says Susan Rademacher, the
conservancy's parks curator.
Identifying the key tenets with which

August 2017 - Parks & Recreation

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