City Parks Alliance Seeks Nominations for “Frontline Parks” Section on Website

“FRONTLINE PARKS” highlights urban parks that are creating economic, environmental and social capital through new kinds of partnerships.  This feature on CPA’s website (www.cityparksalliance.org) promotes inspiring examples of urban park excellence, innovation, and stewardship across the country. Twelve parks – one each month – will be featured on CPA’s website home page in 2012.  Each [...]

Fairmount Park and Coolidge Park Are April’s “Frontline Parks”

Each month, City Parks Alliance recognizes two “Frontline Parks“ to promote inspiring examples of urban park excellence, innovation and stewardship across the country in the face of shrinking municipal budgets, land use pressures and urban neighborhood decay. April’s selections highlight the positive changes good parks bring to cities. Park improvements can be cost-efficient catalysts for [...]

Velociraptors in Prospect Park?

Unicorns, saber-toothed tigers and velociraptors, oh my! Last summer, the self-appointed “Non-Traditional Park Preservation Task Force” posted signs in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park warning users to stay on the paths or risk becoming prey to some unexpected four-legged creatures. The signs were posted to discourage vandals from breaking the fences, traipsing around the ravine and disturbing the newly replanted top soil. [...]

Park Ranger Shortages in Urban National Parks

It is easy to forget the many different types of parkland located in urban areas. Besides municipal parks, there are also state, county, regional and national parks. In the 85 largest cities, 15 cities are home to 48 National Park units, which include monuments, houses, forts, battlefields and preserves. Washington, D.C. has by far the [...]

Seattle’s Downtown Park Rangers

An article in the Seattle Times describes the city’s attempt to enliven its downtown parks by introducing seven park rangers, “functioning as part security guards, part social workers,” in ten parks in and near downtown. Rangers patrol in pairs between 7:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m……They begin their shifts by rousing homeless people. The rangers ask [...]

Alleys as Parks

An article in the LA Times describes efforts in Los Angeles to convert alleys to park-like spaces, an opportunity quantified quite well. There are few cities whose alleys offer more possibility than Los Angeles. The USC Center for Sustainable Cities, which is leading the alley campaign here, found recently that there are 12,309 blocks of [...]

Reducing Violence

An article in today’s LA Times has LA Mayor Villaraigosa crediting a summertime recreation program in parks with a reduction in violent crime.  The Summer Night Lights program offered speical movie nights and other events geared towards at-risk youth until midnight four nights a week during peak time for gang activity. As the article states, [...]

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