NEW YORK - The Trust for Public Land in Action: 2020

The Trust for Public Land in Action: 2020 C E L E B R AT I N G W HAT YO U M A D E P O S S I B L E IN NEW YORK AND BEYOND

Thank you so much for partnering with us in New York!

Close-to-home green spaces are vital to communities in today’s rapidly changing world.

in planning for the Long Island Greenway—a bold vision to extend the Empire State Trail to millions of people across Long Island. Our Research and Innovation team provided data and insights to the city to address inequities in the existing park system and the Open Streets initiative. In addition, we helped advocate for and create more funding for parks and open space.

The coronavirus pandemic, its economic fallout, and the ongoing realities of systemic racism have created unprecedented hardships for everyone.

Our new strategic plan places community at the center of our powerful land-for-people work. The impact of our mission is not only the creation of great parks, public lands, trails, and green schoolyards. It’s also the strengthening of the social and civic, personal and emotional connections upon which our communities depend while addressing the most pressing problems in climate, health, and equity across the country.

Over the next five years, we aim to accelerate the transformative impact of our mission—working with 300 communities and improving the lives of 85 million people nationwide.

We are rising to the challenges of this unprecedented moment to bring parks and green spaces where they’re needed most. In New York this year, we designed and opened nine new playgrounds with public school students and nearby neighbors, envisioned a new riverfront park in Callicoon with Sullivan County residents, created an innovative parks master plan with the City of Buffalo, celebrated the opening of Middletown Reservoir Trails, and reached important milestones

With your help, we’re creating parks and green schoolyards and connecting people to trails and the outdoors across New York State and the country. We are grateful for your support!

JOE MARTINEZ

We know that great parks and green spaces can transform communities from the ground up: they improve public health, advance economic opportunities and learning outcomes, and connect people to nature and to each other. We see firsthand how well-designed parks are more than a place to play; they change people’s lives.

PS 145K

Bushwick, Brooklyn

NYC Playgrounds Walk around any American city, and it’s easy to see: Not all neighborhoods are created equal.

Some neighborhoods have vibrant, inviting playgrounds, lush green parks and trails, bustling businesses, and plenty of welcoming public spaces. Others don’t. Low-income communities have seen a disproportionately low share of parks and open space investment, limiting their opportunities for social connection, accelerating poor health outcomes, and exposing entire neighborhoods to the negative effects of rising temperatures and severe weather.

Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted that in too many communities, access to the outdoors is considered a privilege when it should be a right.

That’s why we are working with partners through our NYC Playgrounds Program to transform barren asphalt lots at NYC public schools into vibrant, student-designed playgrounds. We start by identifying schools in communities with the greatest need. Then we launch our unique community engagement model, which empowers advocates and leaders from the community to lead the community-informed park design process.

This year we kicked off an exciting new partnership with The Kevin Durant Charitable Foundation to revitalize two public school playgrounds in Brooklyn. Together, we will provide amenities like basketball courts, outdoor classrooms, and gardens, and we will work with professional artist Timothy Goodman to co-create vibrant public art that celebrates the community’s character and culture.

We continue to work closely with our longtime partner New York Road Runners, who, through their leadership support, is helping us bring new playgrounds to children and their families throughout the city.

Ultimately, these playgrounds will be spaces for thousands of New York’s children and community members to enjoy over decades, well beyond the timeframe of the current crisis.

We believe that in the months to come, public outdoor spaces will be integral to coping and recovery. Great parks and green spaces make stronger communities. Every child and family deserves access to the outdoors and the countless benefits that parks provide!

TPL STAFF

PS 152/315K

Midwood, Brooklyn

Callicoon Riverside Park Callicoon residents love their broad views of the Catskill Mountains, lush forests, rolling farmland, and the Delaware River, rich with trout. The only problem? Most people can’t actually get to the river because most of the land is privately owned.

water. In fact, it will be the only county park with direct access to the Delaware River.

The Trust for Public Land doesn’t use a onepark-fits-all approach. We respect and nurture a community’s ability to reimagine itself. By hosting design sessions with Callicoon residents, we can ensure that this park is designed by the community and for the community. When a neighborhood unites to design their park, they create a space that reflects what’s important to the whole community.

We saw an opportunity to address this issue in a dilapidated former RV park that was largely destroyed by flooding over a decade ago. Working with the town, county, and the state, we’re embarking on an ambitious public process to transform that neglected property into a vibrant community park.

We are renewing the power of public land to serve a greater public good. From idle to active.

From closed to open. From alone to together.

Because we know that a more vibrant, resilient, and equitable society is built on land for people.

Conserving this area along the Upper Delaware River—including 4,000 feet of riverfront—will create new recreational opportunities on land and

STEVE AARON

TPL STAFF

Upper Delaware River

Callicoon, New York

Buffalo Parks Master Plan Parks are an essential part of community life in Buffalo; in fact, the city is famous for its historic Frederick Law Olmsted-designed park system and its vibrant Juneteenth celebrations, which are among the largest in the country.

Many Buffalo residents and visitors know big parks like Delaware Park, Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, and Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park as fun places to spend time outside and that smaller neighborhood parks can be great places to see friends or let kids play.

But parks can also connect people to nature, strengthen communities by bringing people together, and improve community health by lowering stress and providing a place to exercise.

Parks even improve the environment, cooling cities during the summertime and giving stormwater a place to sink into the soil.

Buffalo has some great parks, but we want to help the city make them better. To do this, they need a plan.

The Buffalo Parks Master Plan will set the course for existing and future parks in Buffalo for years to come. The plan will review park equity by identifying the communities with the greatest need using demographic and economic analysis.

We will work together with residents and partners to establish a shared vision and develop action steps to figure out how to make all of this a reality.

The Trust for Public Land is leading the project and working with local design and planning firms, including the Regional Plan Association. The Buffalo Parks Master Plan is a project of The City of Buffalo’s Division of Parks & Recreation and the Office of Strategic Planning.

ZHI TING PHUA/BUFFALO OLMSTED PARKS CONSERVANCY

Martin Luther King, Jr. Park

Buffalo, NY

Long Island Greenway The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored that close-to-home open space is crucial to a community’s quality of life. During this crisis, people have turned to the outdoors like never before—for fresh air, exercise, meditation, solace, and a much-needed break from the stresses of a quickly changing world.

Yorkers who live east of the city. The Trust for Public Land is working to change that by creating a historic trail that will connect the residents of Long Island (including Brooklyn and Queens) to the Empire State Trail.

Building on existing local plans and trails, and working with a team of more than 170 stakeholder organizations and individuals, we’re leading the development of the Long Island Greenway and mobilizing support for our plan. We believe in working with and not just for communities. That’s why you’ll find us sharing this plan across Long Island. Our deep roots in the state, and proven success on projects of this scale across the country, have made us the State of New York’s trusted partner in bringing this trail to life.

In particular, we believe that trails can serve as a common ground for communities, connecting us to nature and each other. Trails are where people can get outside—where joggers and cyclists share the route with dog walkers and kids on scooters and families with strollers. Plants and wildlife flourish along these corridors. That’s why our bold vision for the Long Island Greenway, extending the Empire State Trail throughout Long Island, is more important than ever.

The Long Island Greenway will serve as a vital component of daily life, and a place where memories are made. It will be a safe and trusted route for commuters on their way to work, and a place where parents teach their kids to ride a bike.

With your support, we’re helping millions of New Yorkers get the trail they need and deserve.

In 2017, Governor Cuomo announced the Empire State Trail, a contiguous 750-mile route slated to become the longest multi-use trail in the country.

It will span the state from Plattsburgh and Buffalo to New York City. But it was planned to end in Manhattan—leaving out the 7.8 million New TPL STAFF

TPL STAFF

CURRENT UTILITY CORRIDOR

FUTURE TRAIL

Policy and advocacy At the federal, state, and local levels, The Trust for Public Land advocates for the importance of parks and open space and the need to fund them.

A C R O S S T H E C O U N T R Y. . .

Securing permanent, full, and dedicated funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) has been the top legislative priority for The Trust for Public Land for over 30 years.

This longstanding federal program directs fees from oil and gas drilling to investments in parks and open space. It costs taxpayers nothing—but benefits everyone.

Thanks to decades of tireless advocacy from a diverse coalition of park lovers across the country, we’re celebrating an incredible legislative victory: permanent, full, and dedicated funding for LWCF. The Senate introduced the Great American Outdoors Act in early March with two main goals: to fix the longstanding $9.5 billion maintenance backlog in our national parks, forests, and other public lands; and to guarantee full and dedicated funding—$900 million every single year—for LWCF.

The bill passed the Senate with 73 votes in June, and the House of Representatives passed it in July by a margin of 310 votes to 107. On August 4, the bill was signed into law.

IN NEW YORK...

In New York, The Trust for Public Land is working with the Town of New Paltz to create the New Paltz Community Protection Fund. We are leading the effort to structure a real estate transfer tax, create a conservation plan, and provide technical assistance in crafting local conservation law. Our world-class Conservation Finance team will be working the campaign this fall, and we expect the measure to be up for a vote on the November 2020 ballot. New Paltz, the gateway to the Shawangunk Mountains, is the first Ulster County community to take action under the 2019 expansion of the Hudson Valley Community Protection Act to Ulster County.

THANK YOU With stable, dedicated funding, we can create more parks where they’re needed most. Thanks to everyone who spoke up for LWCF. This is your victory!

MARNI HORWITZ

Shawangunk Ridge Awosting Reserve, NY

New York Advisory Board We are so grateful for our exceptional volunteer leaders!

Jonathan Wiesner, Chair Craig Dessen Vanessa Barboni Hallik Steven G. Horowitz Sarah Jackson Tom Javits Jennifer Jones Elizabeth A. Maher

Phil G. Meeks Miles Pincus David Poppe David Ragins Lisa Sarajian Rohan Singal Sharon Lyu Volckhausen Peter Wolf

New York Emeritus Circle Dudley Del Balso Catherine M. Coates Alexander Durst Cathy Brienza Ingram Chuck Laven Richard Miller Janet Nelson

JOE MARTINEZ

Thank you

for joining us as we reimagine and realize the power of land for people to create stronger communities.

We couldn’t do it without you.

Join us.

The Trust for Public Land creates parks and protects land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come.

tpl.org

Carter Strickland New York & New Jersey State Director 718.938.3907 | carter.strickland@tpl.org Leslie Brauman Senior Director of Philanthropy 347.281.2830 | leslie.brauman@tpl.org 666 Broadway, 9th Floor New York, NY 10012

COVER, CLOCKWISE: JOE MARTINEZ, JOE MARTINEZ, STEVE AARON, JOE MARTINEZ, STEVE AARON.