June 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 24

L AW R E V I E W

A Questionable " Park Purpose "
By James C. Kozlowski, J.D., Ph.D.

A

s illustrated by the case study described herein, limited recreational
open space in public parks, particularly in congested urban areas, is
under constant threat of being diverted into nonpark uses, including
private commercial use. This diversion threat can occur within the context of a
public/private agreement to develop facilities that detract from the park experience in the interest of economic development and revenue production.
In response to such threats to their
local parks and public open space,
individual and group stakeholders in
these areas often organize their own
coalitions to successfully challenge
the legality of such governmental action in court. In these cases, the issue
before the court is typically whether
a particular public/private project or
concessionaire agreement constitutes
a proper and legal park purpose. An
appropriate park purpose should produce or enhance a unique park experience within the context of a particular
parcel of land. Accordingly, the focus
must be on preserving the public use

22

Parks & Recreation

and character of a particular park environment, not the potential for producing revenue for local government.
Union Square Park
In the case of Union Square Park Community Coalition v. New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, 2013
N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 81; 2013 NY Slip
Op 30020U (1/25/2013), plaintiffs
(Coalition) challenged the City of
New York and its Parks Department's authorization of an open-air
eating and drinking establishment by
a private restaurateur in the Pavilion
of Union Square Park. The Pavilion

| J U N E 2 0 1 3 | W W W. N R PA . O R G

is the second generation of an openair, colonnade structure that had anchored the north end of the Park since
the 1800s. The Coalition included a
few long-time neighbors, lunch-hour
users of the park and a member of the
New York State Assembly.
Manhattan's Union Square Park
consists of 3.6 acres of dedicated municipal parkland, a small
" square " of land at the union of
14th and 17th Streets and Union
Square East. In 1815, by act of the
state legislature, this former potter's
field became a public commons for
the city, at first named Union Place.
In 1872, Frederick Law Olmsted
and Calvert Vaux, by then wellknown as the designers of Central
Park, replanted the foliage.
Union Square Park is listed on
the National and State Registers
of Historic Places, and is a Nation-



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