Posted on June 30, 2009 by Ben Welle
The Washington Post covers a new park in suburban Fairfax County outside of Washington, D.C. — the kind that we may be seeing more of in suburbs that are looking to become more city-like. Here’s an excerpt: When you think of a suburban park, you might think of something rolling and green, with a little [...]
Filed under: planning | 3 Comments »
Posted on June 29, 2009 by Ben Welle
Want to get some insights into enlivening a signature urban park? Or a business improvement district that can fund a park? The radio program Smart City with Carol Colletta hosts Dan Biederman who has helped turn around and continues to manage New York City’s Bryant Park. The interview is available to stream through the Smart [...]
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Posted on June 26, 2009 by Ben Welle
A great indoor public market in Washington, D.C. just reopened (see Washington Post story) after reconstruction following a fire in 2007. An indoor-only operation during the week, and an added outdoor farmers and flea market on the weekends, Eastern Market is one of Washington’s best public spaces. Every city should have something like this. Here [...]
Filed under: facilities | Tagged: food, markets, washington dc | 2 Comments »
Posted on June 25, 2009 by Ben Welle
Anne Schwartz of the Gotham Gazette takes a good look at the economic value of parks. She covers some of the recent research showing the value of parks, including a good chunk devoted to TPL’s recent report Measuring the Economic Value of City Parks, which looks at seven factors that provide a benefit measurable in [...]
Filed under: economics | 2 Comments »
Posted on June 24, 2009 by Ben Welle
Sen. Schumer of New York likes biking around the city. (HuffPost) Screen on the Green is back on the National Mall, through new partnership between HBO, Comcast and the Trust for the National Mall. Each film will begin with a fundraising message on the Mall’s needs and the Trust. Sounds like a good medium to [...]
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Posted on June 24, 2009 by Ben Welle
MaryAlice Lee of TPL’s New York City playgrounds program appears on the NY1 television morning news to describe a new playground in an otherwise underserved neighborhood of the Bronx. Lee notes that the new space will “add a little bit of greenery, and also a great space for the students to enjoy during the school [...]
Filed under: facilities, renewal | Tagged: new york city, playgrounds | Leave a Comment »
Posted on June 22, 2009 by Ben Welle
If you haven’t read about ParkScan — the on-line tracking system developed by San Francisco’s Neighborhood Parks Council, to improve tracking of maintenance issues through resident feedback — we encourage you to read the article in the San Francisco Chronicle the other day. Some cities have had trouble gathering maintenance information on their parks – [...]
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Posted on June 22, 2009 by Ben Welle
Michael Slackman of the New York Times pens a nice piece about public spaces in Cairo. Cairo is a city with a lot of people, a lot of tightly packed houses and buildings, a lot of traffic — and very little open space. There are some parks, but they tend to be fenced off and [...]
Filed under: international | Tagged: cairo | 1 Comment »
Posted on June 18, 2009 by Ben Welle
As Congress begins to dabble with authorization of a new transportation bill, the question arises: what programs provide federal transportation bike and pedestrian dollars? After all, this is the money that park systems have come to recognize most within this realm of federal funding. Adam Voiland at the DC Transportation Examiner takes a look: A [...]
Filed under: funding, transportation | Tagged: federal policy | Leave a Comment »
Posted on June 18, 2009 by Ben Welle
An article in the Philadelphia Daily News on the city’s burgeoning reliance community garden grown food mentions an issue dealth with in many cities creating gardens, but then wondering what will happen to that land when development returns: The houses that once stood on 49th Street near Brown were built on unstable fill. Decades ago, [...]
Filed under: facilities, green infrastructure, renewal | Tagged: community gardening, philadelphia | Leave a Comment »