Mount Hope Garden Filth - Parks' Capital Division "Dragging Their Feet"

 Mount Hope Garden - Bronx. From This.....                                         (Photo: NYC Parks)

Filth.   Wecome To The Jungle.  Mount Hope Garden –  Creston Ave. between E. Burnside and E. 179th St., Bronx.  The park has been closed for five years according  to Council Member Fernando Cabrera after the Parks Department's Capital Division failed to do due diligence on a prior renovation. Months after the park's re-opening sink holes developed in sections and it had to be closed.  Despite funding, the park has shamelessly sat idle since.   Besides actually fixing the now long-shuttered park, the Parks Department also refuses to clean it  which has created a health condition in the community.  The large pool of standing water in the center of the park was referred to as a mosquito farm at a press conference on Thursday.   (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates)

"We have kids in this area. The children are asking why can't I go to the park, why can't it get fixed.  The reason why it's not getting fixed is because the Parks Department is dragging their feet," said Council Member Fernando Cabrera. 

Despite several requests the Parks Department refused to answer questions. 

Bronx

By Geoffrey Croft

The smell of urine waifs from Mount Hope Gardens, a small, decrepit vest-pocket garbage-strewn park on Creston Ave off of E. Burnside and E. 179th St. in the Mount Hope section of the Bronx. 

Five-foot  high weeds grow through the playground's safety surfacing. Local residents dump cat food in the park, in part, they say to keep the rats away. 

The former playground and garden has been closed for five years according to Council Member Fernando Cabrera who has been desperately trying to get the Parks Department do its job after allocating a million dollars to fix it. 

Standing in front of the filth around the corner from his City Council District 14 office,  a frustrated Cabrera held a press conference to denounce the Parks Department's handling of capital projects in his and other council districts.         

Cabrera cited the Mount Hope Gardens park project as prime example of the incompetence and lack of accountability. 

"Five years ago it was built and then just a few months later it was shut down because the Parks Department didn't do their job right. They didn't do the borings, they didn't investigate what was underneath," said the council member.

"If this was in Manhattan I guarantee you it wouldn't be in this condition for five years.  Here in the Bronx we deserve better.  Here in the Bronx we expect  better.  This is not a lack of funding, and this is systemic all throughout the city. This not just about my council district,  I'm speaking on behalf of all the council members, some that have waited seven years for their parks to be renovated." 

"We have kids in this area. The children are asking why can't I go to the park, why can't it get fixed.  The reason why it's not getting fixed is because the Parks Department is dragging their feet," he said.

He said he was told by the Parks Department that once the park was renovated they would keep it  locked.

"What kind of a message is that,"  the Council Member  exclaimed.   "We do not have enough green space in the area. It's just cement. " 

A 6-year-old boy stands outside the locked gate while looking at poster board with photos depicting the broken promises made to the council member and to the community.  "I used to bring my grandchild here," said an Abuelita walking by the locked gate.  It's sad the city does not take care of it. But you also have to make sure the park is safe."

Cabrera said his office has allocated close to six million dollars for various Parks Department Capital projects but has seen little progress and instead only excuses. The council member said he held the press conference to talk about the disappointment in dealing with the Parks Department, the commissioner and with the administration.   

“I put millions of dollars for the beautification of parks, but unfortunately things are not moving at all, " he said. 

"The main issue is that while projects remain halted, the cost of the projects continues to increase as time passes by.  Thus, causing the original money allocated to be insufficient. The department needs to give public accountability regarding work timelines and funds management.  Also, more attention needs to be paid to the outer boroughs and stop denying communities access to safe recreational areas in optimal conditions,”  said Council Member Fernando Cabrera.

"Young people are playing in substandard parks,"  he said.

The play equipment and benches on the other side of the park are also surrounded by filth and weeds.

The now  $2M for park repairs / cameras allocated for Mount Hope Gardens debacle isn't the only project the frustrated council member said the agency has been dragging its feet on:

• Grand Avenue Playground - $2.69M to reconstruct garden, fencing, benches and playground.

• St. James Park - $600K for cameras, basketball court repaving and soccer field.

• Regatta Park - $1.6M  

His office also allocated funds to install a camera at Devanney Triangle across the street from Mount Hope Park along E. Burnside Avenue and the Grand Concourse. 

"Right here at this triangle we put $ 35,000 towards a camera and I'm given the excuse that there is no place to put the camera," said the Council Member while looking at Parks' owned triangle yards away.    

 "And I'm looking at a pole right now where you can a camera right there. All I'm getting is excuses after excuses, and excuses."

The council member also noted that he thought one of the fundamental problems is that the agency does not have enough designers and architects.

"We'll have meetings with them and they'll say. "'look, we're sorry we don't have enough architects we don't have enough designers."' 

The Parks Department Capital division has long been criticized from both outside and inside the agency for it lack of professionalism and poor management.  The Bloomberg administration has insisted on hiring unlicensed managers instead of qualified personnel to run the division that has been responsible for spending billions of of dollars during this administration.   The lack of accountability has resulted in countless delays on park projects and tens of millions of dollars in wasteful spending. 

The Parks Department's long established policy of taking thirty percent - 10% Planning, 10% Contingency, 10% Overhead, away from the actual construction of the project was also questioned.   There has been some discussion over the years from council members whether or not it was fair that these fees should be included or deducted from council Discretionary funding because the funding is already low.

“I have heard complaints for many years that the Parks Department’s Capital Division is not doing their job.  Unfortunately, this administration is more interested in groundbreakings than actually seeing these projects through completion,"  said Geoffrey Croft, President of New York City Park Advocate joining  Council Member Fernando Cabrera and members of the community. 

"It is shameful that these projects have been delayed. There is no excuse for them, except that this administration keeps hiring managers instead of qualified people to run their capital division. The Parks Department is the number one agency for cost overruns because they don’t do its diligence on these projects; instead they are in such of a rush to get shovels in the ground. Moreover, 30% of the money allocated for projects gets taken away from the actual construction project itself right of the top. This is our taxed dollars being wasted. These issues are unacceptable and need to be addressed.” 

The Mount Hope Garden is another failed collaboration developed through the City Spaces program of the Trust for Public Land and the City which relies on "community partners" to help take care of these public parks, a nice concept but reality is often another story. The Mount Hope Garden property was assigned to Parks on September 17, 1996.

Despite several requests the Park Department refused to answer questions. 

The large pool of standing water (rear) in the center of the park is called a mosquito farm.


Poster board with photos depicting the broken promises made to the council member and the community hangs on the loacked gate of Mount Hope Garden. 

Read More:

Parks Department has the green,  but is slow to fix Bronx greenspaces: Councilman 

New York Daily News - September 5, 2013 - By Jennifer H. Cunningham 

Press Conference on NYC Parks Department

Press Conference on NYC Parks Department - Part 2

No Relief In Sight For Abandoned Claremont Community Park

A Walk In The Park - May 3, 2012 - By Geoffrey Croft 

Adrian Benepe's New Employer Says NYC Parks Are Great!

March 12, 2013. An abandoned vehicle in the long- suffering Pugsley Creek Park in the Bronx.  New York City’s park system ranked second, behind Minneapolis’s, in a "survey" of the nation’s 50 largest cities conducted by former parks commissioner Adrian Benepe's new employer The Trust for Public Land.  Apparently park conditions were not a factor in determining the results. (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on images to enlarge.

Nation-Wide

New York City’s park system ranked second, behind Minneapolis’s, in a survey of the nation’s 50 largest cities by the Trust for Public Land according to another effusive New York Times parks article. 

The trust, a nonprofit conservation group, looked at a number of factors, including park access, size, services and public investment to determine scores that ranged from a single park bench to five (a perfect score). New York, which last year came in third, scored 4.5 benches.

The success of New York City in the survey, to be released on Wednesday, was an affirmation of the tenure of Adrian Benepe, who served as New York City parks commissioner for more than a decade before decamping last fall to the Trust for Public Land, where he is senior vice president and director of city park development.

May 31, 2013. An abandoned park safety light in the long-suffering High Bridge Park in upper Manhattan.

“You can’t have a great city without great parks,” said Mr. Benepe, who, under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, oversaw 1,700 parks and beaches during a period of expansion and major capital investment. Mr. Benepe noted that in this year’s survey, the ParkScore Index, New York pulled ahead of Boston, which it had tied last year. “It’s strong across the board, but particularly with park access,” he said of New York. (The survey was data-driven, so Mr. Benepe did not recuse himself from the judging.)

Park access measures the percentage of residents living within a 10-minute walk, or a half mile, of a park. In New York City, according to the survey, 96 percent of residents fall within those parameters. New York also scored high on park spending per resident. From 2008 to 2010, New York’s park expenditures — a combination of capital and operations — averaged $160 per resident.

One area of weakness for New York was median park size. Median park size is a little over an acre in New York, while the national median is five acres. “While New York has some really huge parks, a half-acre park cancels out a 1,000-acre park when you do medians,” Mr. Benepe said. “Sometimes, history is destiny with how cities develop.”

But the city scored high on the percentage of total area dedicated to parks; almost 20 percent of New York City is public parkland, second only to San Diego.

Other high-scoring cities included Boston, which tied with Sacramento and San Francisco for third place. The worst performing cities, which all received only a single park bench on the scale, were Indianapolis; Charlotte, N.C.; Louisville, Ky.; and Fresno, Calif.

The Trust for Public Land provides data, analysis and interactive maps for each city on its Web site. The site identifies neighborhoods that are most in need of parks and provides local obesity rates.

May 13, 2013. Dangerous, Decrepit Conditions - Little Bay Park, Queens.  Rocks have replaced grass in these heavily used soccer fields. How many more children have to get hurt until the Parks Department responds to the community's demands for action park users have been asking.  Little Bay Park earned an A-plus in New Yorkers for Parks latest "Report Card" including a grade of 93 for its bathrooms even though the park does not have any - unless they count  torched port-a-potties that have been melted to the ground.  (Photo: Malba Gardens Civic Association)

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: June 7, 2013

An article in some editions on Wednesday about a national survey of park systems in which New York City ranked second, behind Minneapolis, misstated the amount of money per resident that the city spent on parks from 2008 to 2010. It was $160, not $8. (The $160 was $8 more than what was spent from 2007 to 2009.)

Read More:

New York Parks Rank No. 2 in a Survey of 50 U.S. Cities

New York Times - June 5, 2013 - By Lisa W. Foderaro 

Parks Commissioner Resigns - Hopfully More Private/Corporate Funding To Come- Bloomberg

All In The Family. Incoming Parks Commissioner- and long-time Bloomberg administration employee Veronica M. White- said she planned to continue outgoing Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe's "innovations"and would also try to secure public and private funding for parks. Bloomberg called corporate sponsorships of the city’s parks “one of the great resources New York City has." (Photo: Patrick Wall/DNAinfo)

The mayor confirmed he did not conduct a national search before appointing Ms. White who is currently the Executive Director of the Center for Economic Opportunity which Mayor Bloomberg established in 2006.

In September Mr. Benepe moves to the Trust for Public Land - the lead partner in Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC 2030 schoolyards program- where he will become Senior Vice President of City Park Development, a newly created position. Ms. White also served for eight years on the New York Advisory Council of the Trust for Public Land.

City-Wide

Once again, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has chosen management chops over departmental experience, according to DNAinfo.

The city’s new Parks Commissioner, Veronica White, is best known for her controversial anti-poverty experiments, including trying to pay poor people to attend parent-teacher conferences and take their kids to the dentist.

But the Harvard-trained lawyer insisted she’s always yearned to work for city parks.

"It's been my dream job forever, actually,” White told reporters Monday at a press conference at Soundview Park in the The Bronx, where the mayor announced she will be taking the reins from longtime Commissioner Adrian Benepe, who is moving onto a position at the non-profit Trust for Public Land.

White, who was born and raised in Brooklyn and now lives on the Upper West Side, said she applied for the job years ago during Bloomberg's first term — but lost out to Benepe.

"They told me they'd keep my resume on file. So, here I am,” she said.

White has spent the past six years as Executive Director of the Center for Economic Opportunity, an experimental center launched by Bloomberg to test innovative ways to reduce poverty, using $100 million a year in public and private funds.

The center has been a hotbed for ideas, including the short-lived Opportunity NYC program, which tried to encourage the poor to engage in socially-desirable behaviors by paying them cash do things like hold down steady jobs, as well as more successful efforts, such as developing a new way to measure poverty that takes into account public assistance, including food stamps.

Before that, White held a slew of government and private-sector jobs. She consulted for non-profits, real estate and public-private partnerships, served as COO of the New York City Partnership, CEO of the New York City Housing Partnership and as a deputy commissioner at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

She also served for eight years on the New York Advisory Council of the Trust for Public Land, where she "helped the Trust work with government agencies to maximize the impact of parks and public green spaces," Bloomberg said.

Bloomberg said that when choosing Benepe's replacement he was looking for someone "with the same pioneering spirit to lead Parks." He touted her "exemplary record of exploring innovative partnerships and attracting private funds."

Is White the New Black?

Still, some were surprised by White’s lack of parks experience, considering the firestorm that ignited after Bloomberg appointed media maven Cathie Black as Schools Chancellor, despite having no educational background. She lasted less than three months.

“It sounds like this is another Cathie Black thing. Zero experience,” said Geoffrey Croft of NYC Park Advocates, who has long been a critic of the growing privatization of the city's parks.

Others were more open-minded.

“I think a lot of people are surprised by her selection,” admitted Holly Leicht, executive director of New Yorkers for Parks, who nonetheless thought she brought an important perspective to the table.

“What we are hopeful about is that she’s someone who will look at parks in terms of broader neighborhood and community development,” said Leicht, pointing to White’s experience working to tackle poverty and her understanding of the way that open spaces can impact a community.

Leicht, who had worked closely with White when she was involved in housing issues, also touted White as a force to be reckoned with.

“She is very smart and very focused and very intense,” Leicht said. “I think she understands how the city works very well. And I think she’s someone that gets stuff done.”

Roland Lewis, President of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, who also worked closely with White on housing issues, agreed the appointment had little in common with the ill-fated Black.

“I think it’s a far cry from that situation,” said Lewis.

“She’s not a complete outsider. She knows city life, she knows the Bloomberg administration,” Lewis said, describing White as a “very smart, capable person” he was excited to work with on parks issues affecting the waterfront.

Her Vision for City Parks

Bloomberg said White’s ability to forge partnerships between the public, private and nonprofit sectors will prove crucial for an agency whose budget has been slashed in recent years.

“Otherwise we won’t be able to afford all the things we’re trying to do,” said Bloomberg, calling corporate sponsorships of the city’s parks “one of the great resources New York City has.”

White echoed the mayor’s point, saying that she would work to secure both public and private money to maintain the 29,000 acres of land under the department’s purview, and try to continue in Benepe's footsteps.

“As we increase the parkland, we obviously have to increase the resources available — public and private, especially private,” White said.

"Our goal is to have people be able to go and get close to parks and exercise,” she said.

“Whether it's biking or swimming or just walking."

On a personal note, White said she is an avid user of city parks.

She recalled growing up in Brooklyn and learning to "bike and play ball" in local parks. Now, she she spends the most time in Riverside and Central parks, where her kids spent hours on the playgrounds when they were younger, she said.

Before moving into the public sector, White practiced law at Brown & Wood and Sidley & Austin.

She and her husband, Victor Marrero, live with their two sons on the Upper West Side.

Read More:

Meet the New Parks Commissioner, Veronica White

DNAinfo - June 18, 2012 - By Jill Colvin and Patrick Wall

Parks Chief Steps Down After 10 Years Article

The Wall Street Journal - June 18, 2012 - By Michael Howard Saul

Adrian Benepe Resigns as Parks Commissioner

DNAinfo - June 18, 2012 - By Jill Colvin and Patrick Wall

No Relief In Sight For Abandoned Claremont Community Park

Claremont Community Park has been abandoned for more than four years with no relief in sight. The playground, located on Park Avenue and Claremont Pkwy (near E. 171st Street) includes play equipment, safety surfacing and a small track. The park's renovation in 2001 was organized by City Spaces, a program of the Trust for Public Land. The majority of the $280,000 funding came from the New York Life. Additional funds were donated by the Charles Hayden Foundation, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation and the Levitt Foundation. According to the Parks Department's website, "This South Bronx park serves as a valuable educational resource and community center." (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates)

Bronx

There are concerns over a shut down public park in the Bronx that received hundreds of thousands of dollars in renovation money a decade ago.

The Trust for Public Land poured more than $200,000 into Claremont Community Park back in 2001. The money was earmarked for new playground equipment and to spruce up the space, but now the park is closed, according to WABC News.

Locked gates and warning signs have greeted the residents in this South Bronx community for years.

The park, at the intersection of Park Avenue and Claremont Parkway, has gone from asset to eyesore. It is plagued by sinkholes and uneven pavement that make it unsafe for children.

Residents are not happy.

"It's not being used at all," resident Steve Isaac said. "It's just here. It's like a rat hole...I wish they would do something with it, clean it up, make the community look a little better."

Large sink holes and growth interrupt the playground's small track.

NYC Park Advocates is a not-for-profit watchdog group that monitors funding for park projects and the conditions of the city's green space.

"The money should be allocated to fix this," the group's Geoffrey Croft said. "If the Trust for Public Land is going to be in partnership with the city, building playgrounds, they should be responsible for fixing them and making sure they're open and not just walking away. So we'd like them and the city to raise the funds to fix this."

Large sinkholes are present throughout the park including near the playground and the artificial turf field. (below)

The parks department released the following statement: "Little Claremont Park is in need of major repair and has been closed until funding is allocated. We look forward to returning this wonderful amenity to the community as soon as possible.

The artificial turf field is also plagued by sinkholes.

The parks department also points out that Crotona Park is three blocks away and Claremont Park is two blocks away. The Trust for Public Land says their involvement in the renovation was limited to funding the project 12 years ago, and that the park was built according to parks department specifications.

A dangerous sidewalk on the outside of the park is an accident waiting to happen.

Read/View More

Residents, group concerned over abandoned Bronx park

WABC News - May 2, 2012 - By Lisa Colagrossi

Claremont Community Park Playground Abandoned

A Walk In The Park - August 31, 2010

City’s St. Saviour's Park Plan Stalled Over $ 75K

A developer continues to build warehouse walls on the old St. Saviour's Church site where the community wants a park to be built instead. (Photo courtesy Marek Skiba)

Queens

Nearly two months have passed since the city committed itself to acquiring the old St. Saviour’s Church site in Maspeth for parkland, and even though $5.5 million has already been allocated to purchase the property, a sum of money totaling about 1 percent of that amount is holding up the process while warehouse walls rapidly climb, according to Times Ledger.

“It’s not an enormous amount of money,” said Geoffrey Croft, president of NYC Park Advocates. “There are so many examples of the city putting up money for things. This just does not seem to be a priority.”

The scene a few months earlier - May 21, 2011. Construction equipment in the barren St. Saviour's site. (Photo: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates)

The city Parks Department needs between $50,000 and $70,000 to begin the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, a formal process that takes at least a few months whereby the city can legally buy private property.

By law, Parks cannot take the money for ULURP from the capital fund, which is the roughly $5.5 million purse that has been set aside by borough politicians to actually purchase the land.

There are several other places where the money could come from, and Croft and other advocates for the park have been trying to be creative in order to secure the funds.

He has reached out to the National Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit that seeks to secure parkland, as well as the City Parks Foundation, a nonprofit with a similar mission on a city level.

So far, he has heard nothing.

The money could also come from city discretionary funding given to lawmakers on a city level.

“I think honestly there has been a real reluctance and an insecurity to getting this job done on the part of the electeds,” Croft said. “They’re not as aggressive as the community wants them to be.”

A total of 13 lawmakers sent a letter to the state Department of Environmental Conservation in September asking for funds for the ULURP process.

The potential park at St. Saviour’s is on a list of projects that could receive funding by the DEC in the future, but the electeds requested that some funds be released early to cover the cost of ULURP.

“The release of the funding is imperative, since delaying the start of the ULURP process further threatens the acquisition of the site and increases the cost of the project,” the letter said.

Neighbors who live across from the lot have witnessed a barrage of construction in the two months since the city agreed to begin ULURP.

Concrete block walls have risen from the dusty lot that housed only foundations in August.

Water mains and other utilities appear to have been installed, according to residents who monitor the construction.

In June, a full stop work order was issued on the property.

According to the city Department of Buildings website, the stop work order was fully lifted at the end of August. But for another section of the lot, a partial stop work order is still in effect.

But if the city actually begins the ULURP process, it will attempt to acquire the entire property, even the portion with the impending warehouses, according to Croft.

Christina Wilkinson has also advocated heavily for the park, and was incredulous the city could not find the money somewhere.

“We are to supposed to believe ... there isn’t $70,000 somewhere in the city’s $66 billion budget for a park for Maspeth?” she asked, citing multi-million projects like the renovation of Times Square and a new golf course in the Bronx.

In July 2007, all 185 trees on the property were cut down without any warning. Shortly after the parsonage was demolished, the church was removed and the land was leveled.

Read More:

City’s parkland plan for Maspeth church stalled

Times Ledger - October 13, 2011 - By Joe Anuta

Maspeth Residents Rally For St. Saviour's Park

A Walk In the Park - May 22, 2011

Governor Cuomo Nominates New State Park Head

State-Wide

Governor Cuomo Nominates Rose Harvey as Commissioner of Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the nomination of Rose H. Harvey as commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

"Rose Harvey's experience and knowledge as well as her expertise creating countless cost-effective parks, playgrounds and open spaces in underserved communities with efficiency makes her the person we need to lead this agency," Governor Cuomo said. "I thank her for her public service and look forward to working with her."

Currently, Ms. Harvey is a senior fellow at the Jonathan Rose Companies, where she acts as an advisor and researcher on parks and open space issues, and launched a non-profit organization to fund, design and develop safe, well-managed parks in urban neighborhoods. She was also recently a McCluskey Fellow and Lecturer at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

For 27 years, Ms. Harvey held multiple leadership positions with The Trust for Public Land, most recently as Senior Vice President and National Director of Urban Programs. There, she oversaw all real estate acquisitions, urban park design and developments, managed the finances of a $20 million annual operating budget, and closed between $50 and $75 million worth of land and parks transactions each year across 8 states – a total of nearly $1 billion and more than a thousand new and enhanced parks, gardens and playgrounds in underserved neighborhoods in New York City, Newark, N.J. and Baltimore. She has also established large landscape woodlands and natural areas throughout New York State and the Mid-Atlantic region.

Ms. Harvey began her tenure in the parks and open space arena as the Assistant Director for Conservation Easement at the Maryland Environmental Trust, where she negotiated protections of private lands holding environmental significance.

Ms. Harvey received her B.A. from Colorado College in 1977 and M.E.S. at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in 1984. She currently serves on the Board of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and the Yale Leadership Advisory Council. In the past she has served on many conservation organizations, including the Appalachian Mountain Club, the Hudson River Institute and Walsh Park Low Income Housing. In addition to multiple state and national awards for her environmental stewardship and advocacy for open space and parks, Ms. Harvey has written multiple articles and op/eds in numerous national media outlets and industry trade journals.

Lucy Rockefeller Waletzky, M.D., Chair of the New York State Council of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, said, "Ms. Harvey has been key to many of the great additions to state parks of the past 20 years. I look forward to working with her to foster strong private-public partnerships that protect and enhance New York's parks, open spaces and heritage. I am also deeply committed to working with Governor Cuomo's administration in preserving our state's recreational landscapes and natural resources."

Frances Beinecke, President of Natural Resource Defense Council, said, "Ms. Harvey's decades of experience in creating hundreds of parks and thousands of acres of open space makes her the perfect choice to lead New York's agency tasked with protecting and preserving public land. I applaud Governor Cuomo for selecting such a dedicated professional.

Ned Sullivan, President of Scenic Hudson, said, "Rose Harvey brings to this critical job sterling credentials and experience in land conservation and in creating and managing urban gardens and parks. Governor Cuomo has selected an outstanding candidate to help him implement his broad reform agenda and to meet the state's responsibilities as steward of our unparalleled parkland."

Kim Elliman, CEO of the Open Space Institute, said, "Rose brings an unparalleled passion for providing all New Yorkers with access to parks and open space. Throughout her 30 year career, she has built an incredible track record of creating and protecting parks, from vest-pocket parks in cities to landscape parks like Sterling Forest. She is singularly qualified for the job and I commend Governor Cuomo for his selection."

Leslie Wright, New York State Director for The Trust for Public Land, said, "Governor Cuomo's selection of Ms. Harvey as Commissioner for the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation shows that he is serious about maintaining open space and making it accessible to as many New Yorkers as possible. Ms. Harvey's storied career in establishing parks, playgrounds and gardens in urban areas, combined with her ongoing advocacy for open space makes her the ideal candidate to lead this agency."

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Additional news available at www.governor.ny.gov | High resolution images available at http://governor.ny.gov/mediaimages | password: cuomo | New York State | Executive Chamber | press.office@exec.ny.gov | 518.474.8418

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