Crain's New York - March 18, 2013 - (Page 11)

STEVE HINDY Park partnerships need to be equal H edge-fund king John Paulson’s $100 million gift to the Central Park Conservancy elicited jealousy from many of the 50-plus other publicprivate partnerships set up to support parks in New York City. After all, the CPC may be the richest such organization in the world. Central Park may have more billionaires on its periphery than any other. OK, maybe the High Line is in that league. But the inequity implicit in this gift goes beyond the existing conservancies and alliances in the city. What about the hundreds of New York parks that do not have a conservancy or an alliance to supplement the city’s shrinking spending on park maintenance? Few people understand that the city government has been cutting the parks’ budget virtually every year since the 1975 fiscal crisis. Mayor Michael Bloomberg increased the Parks Department’s operating budget for a few years, but for the most part, our parks have been steadily losing funding. In fiscal 2008, the operating budget was $337 million; in 2012, it was $313 million. While operating funding for parks has been cut, the Bloomberg administration has added 750 acres of parkland. Hudson River Park (a citystate partnership), Brooklyn Bridge Park and the East River parks in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, are examples. Activists have opposed plans to finance operation of these new parks with housing and commercial development. But with the city’s parks budget declining, how else are you going to operate and maintain them? I have served on the Prospect Park Alliance for the past 20 years. I’ve watched the organization take responsibility for more and more of the park’s operating budget.The alliance has also done some ambitious capital projects with support from government and private sources, none bigger than the $75 million Don’t let Sandy become the WTC L ate last month, Sen. Charles Schumer announced he had secured federal money for a comprehensive study by the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers on how to protect our coastline from another Superstorm Sandy. He also warned New York government officials that it would be counterproductive to rush into their own assessments rather than wait for the Army Corps verdict. Then, earlier this month, Crain’s reported that city officials were doing just that: working on ideas that would include a massive (and massively costly) seawall in hopes of crafting a plan that “makes a splash.’’ Now, the senior senator from New York has always considered himself the consigliere of New York officialdom, or maybe even our über-mayor. And since the report hasn’t been written yet, perhaps city officials don’t plan to try to preempt the federal study after all. Yet all this has the echoes of a very painful experience—the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site. In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, it was decided that the state should have the primary role at Ground Zero.The state’s powers on land use were broader than the city’s and its environmental review GREG DAVID process more streamlined. Because the Port Authority owned the site, the agency would be more accountable to the governor than the mayor. The Bloomberg administration itself had many other priorities. Lakeside skating rinks set to open next fall. I helped start a similar organization, the Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn,a few years ago.We raise money to improve parks and help create new ones in that parkstarved section of Brooklyn. Our sources of funding are revenue from summer concerts on the East River and our annual gala, as well as contributions from our board of directors and elected officials. OSA is an ambitious undertaking because we are committed to improving all of north Brooklyn’s 100-plus parks. The other conservancies focus on a single park. We are sometimes criticized for “privatizing the parks.” But the alternative is sitting back and watching the parks decline. That is not an option for the OSA board and me. Still, I worry about the inequality implicit in these voluntary publicprivate partnerships. Typically, they are started in affluent areas by entitled residents with resources to commit to improving “their” parks. Hundreds of parks have no such resource. I don’t blame the Parks Department. Clearly, the only solution is increased funding, and that can only come from our elected officials. I hope this issue gets some attention in the mayoral race. Buy Tickets Online AutoShowNY.com Save on combo tickets with LIRR and Metro North at MTA.com NY Waterway combo tickets also available at AutoShowNY.com RECORDED INFO: 800-282-3336 For security purposes, NO backpacks allowed. Random security and bag checks. An activity of the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association. Steve Hindy, co-founder and president of Brooklyn Brewery, writes a monthly opinion column for Crain’s New York Business. Periodically, City Hall would get upset with developments at Ground Zero and would decide to become involved—sometimes effectively and sometimes resulting in more delays. For example, it intervened on behalf of Larry Silverstein, who in my view wanted the Port Authority to issue a blank check for rebuilding his remaining office towers.The city is only partly at fault for the fact that more than 10 years after the attacks, only one building is sort of complete—the Memorial—but it shares in the blame. What is ironic about the Sandy report competition,according to the Crain’s story, is that many of the same officials who were involved in the city’s hot-and-cold World Trade Center efforts have been assembled to work on the Sandy issues—including Dan Doctoroff, former deputy mayor and now Bloomberg LP chief executive. Those people should know better. The possible conflict between the city and the Army Corps of Engineers comes against another complication that is inescapable: Mayors and governors are always at odds in some way, and despite public statements,this governor is no fan of this mayor—and their staffs don’t like each other, either. Let’s hope the city heeds Mr. Schumer’s advice and that the senator is up to the consigliere role for the inevitable Cuomo and Bloomberg (and post-Bloomberg) clashes over Sandy plans. March 18, 2013 | Crain’s New York Business | 11 http://www.AutoShowNY.com http://www.MTA.com http://www.AutoShowNY.com http://www.AutoShowNY.com http://www.crainsnewyork.com http://www.yonkersny.gov http://www.yonkersny.gov

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crain's New York - March 18, 2013

IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
THE INSIDER
BUSINESS PEOPLE
OPINION
STEVE HINDY
GREG DAVID
REPORT: REAL ESTATE
real estate deals
THE LIST
FOR THE RECORD
CLASSIFIEDS
SMALL BUSINESS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE LUNCH
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS

Crain's New York - March 18, 2013