With Congress considering a stimulus bill that included a last minute amendment to prohibit “community parks” from receiving any funds, we thought it would be interesting to review some of the news coming from around the country highlighting the federal funding that went towards city parks during the Great Depression. The Works Progress Administration was [...]
Filed under: uncategorized | Tagged: federal policy | 1 Comment »
The stimulus bill appears set to now pass the U.S. Senate. One problem for parks. Sen. Coburn (R-Okla.) successfully inserted an amendment that restricts any funds from going to local parks. The exact language: None of the amounts appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used for any casino or other gambling [...]
Filed under: uncategorized | Tagged: federal policy | 2 Comments »
The Parks Dept. in Johannesburg, South Africa created a new five acre park from an illegal dumping ground in Soweto, the park poor half of the city in….guess how long? One day. After being inspired by the show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, where homes are rapidly transformed in 7 days, the the city’s parks director [...]
Filed under: renewal | Tagged: international, johannesburg | Leave a Comment »
The Washington Post editors get behind the idea of paid parking on the streets within the National Mall, to support improvements and upkeep for what is currently a dire situation. A letter to the editor last week suggested the idea, born out of observations that employees and business-goers to Mall buildings were snatching up the [...]
Filed under: funding, transportation | Tagged: national mall, parking, washington dc | 1 Comment »
How can park agencies and park advocacy groups better cultivate volunteers? A New York Times article touches just on this and we have some thoughts on how this connects to parks. In some cities, such as Portland and Seattle, parks benefit from a huge amount of yearly volunteer hours. In Philadelphia, TPL estimated that the [...]
Filed under: partnerships | Tagged: volunteers | 1 Comment »
