If DeBlasio doesn't want you, go work for Bloomberg

From A Walk in the Park:

Parks Commissioner Veronica White quietly left the agency on December 31 and landed a job at Bloomberg L.P. after lobbying efforts to stay on failed NYC Park Advocates has learned.

Sources say Ms. White had attempted to enlist the help of several prominent people including DC 37 head Lillian Roberts to lobby the new administration but those efforts were ultimately unsuccessful.

No public announcement was made regarding her departure and Ms. White did not send out a customary Broadcast email announcement to all parks employees. Instead she sent an email to upper management on Dec. 31st thanking them and stating it was her last day according to several park employees.

Ms. White began her employment the following day on Jan. 1 at Bloomberg L. P. as chief of staff to Thomas Secunda, Vice Chairman & Global Head of Financial Products & Services, and a founding partner of Bloomberg L.P.

"She was more of a figure head," said a long-time parks employee of White's sixteen month tenure, and speaking on the condition of condition of anonymity.

"Liam's been running the agency since Adrian left," the employee said.

First Deputy Commissioner for Parks Liam Kavanagh has also been the Acting Parks Commissioner since Ms. White's departure.

Bear Eats Man has been altered

Contributor George the Atheist received a response to the open letter he sent to Parks Commissioner Veronica White about "Bear Eats Man" at Socrates Sculpture Park:
It's hard to believe that the property owner, the Parks Dept, has no jurisdiction over what is placed on its own property.

A barely noticeable sign now warns visitors that there is a depiction of a "nude male" inside the park. (But not what is happening to the nude man's rear.)

Egad! The nude man has been vandalized!

Ice skating rink proposed for Astoria Pool

From the Queens Courier:

Astoria Park could soon be the next site to go skating for the holidays.

Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr. sent a letter to Parks Department Commissioner Veronica White on November 19, asking the agency to develop the Astoria Park Pool area into an ice skating rink. The area being proposed for the rink is next to the pool and used for sprinklers during the summer.

“This area in the Astoria Park Pool would make the perfect space for an ice skating rink for the residents of Queens to enjoy during the winter months,” said Vallone. “With the addition of an ice skating rink to the existing skate park and upcoming amphitheater, Astoria Park will be a destination for every season.”

Vallone and White are both on their way out, so how is this even a "could soon" story?

Public-private partnerships hurt the general public

From the NY Times:

The Central Park Conservancy manages $220 million in assets, and has four officials who make more money than the city parks commissioner, Veronica M. White. At a High Line fund-raiser, a host held aloft a million-dollar check and asked for a match. Another $1 million check was written on the spot.

At the other end of this spectrum, the cracked path around the Shore Park-Verrazano Narrows offers an exercise in horizontal mountain biking. At Flushing Meadows-Corona Park children play in dry wading pools and lake paths are unnavigable without machetes.

Prospect Park occupies a middle ground. It has overseen a stunningly beautiful reconstruction of its lake side. It also rents out its Audubon Center on weekends to the wedding-bar mitzvah-birthday crowd.

Our lame duck mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg, has started to turn off his charitable money shower. His foundation informed the Prospect Park Alliance that it intended to end its quarter-million dollar annual contribution. (Ms. Lloyd declined to discuss this.)

Those who defend privatization are candid. Ask about inequity and they talk of commodities; the emerald brilliance of Central Park draws tourists. The High Line is a brooch in the luxury transformation of Chelsea.

As for Flushing Meadows? When told that partisans hoped to transform a homely asphalt-ringed fountain into a grass-edged lake, John Alschuler Jr., co-chairman of the Friends of the High Line, offered an exasperated sigh. In his day job, he lobbies to place a U.F.O.-size professional soccer stadium in the midst of that Queens park.

Cities, he said, no longer pay for parks properly. Such exuberant hopes will not be realized in my life, he said, or that of my child. Find a corporate sponsor, he suggested.

So condescension passes as realism.

Holly Leicht of New Yorkers for Parks is a vigorous parks advocate, and would demand transparency and accountability from conservancies. But she would not upset the conservancy lords until the Parks Department is properly financed and revamped.

This feels backward. Former Police Commissioner Bill Bratton transformed a hidebound Police Department in months; why demand less of the Parks Department?

What the hell were they thinking?

Might want to grab your sunglasses before you head over to Doughboy Park in Woodside.

Mama Mia, what have they done to the place?

Is this really an appropriate color to paint a park, especially one dedicated to our country's fallen soldiers?

Seriously...Day-Glo Green? The only place this might look ok is a toddlers' playground.  This ain't a toddlers' playground.

SO, who thought this was a good idea?


Parks Commissioner Veronica White & Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski: I don't know who is responsible for doing this, but would you please take care of this before Memorial Day?

Additional photos available at George The Atheist's blog

More park officers on the horizon

From the Daily News:

The city plans to hire 81 new parks enforcement officers to beef up patrols in green spaces across all five boroughs.

City Parks Commissioner Veronica White made the announcement at a civic meeting in Astoria earlier on Tuesday night as residents pressed her about issues in nearby Astoria Park.

In recent years, the number of PEP officers has dwindled to less than 100. And many are tied up at events or parks facilities, leaving few to patrol.

Joseph Puleo of DC 37 Local 983, which represents the officers, called the hires “a step in the right direction” but would like to see the numbers continue to grow.

Geoffrey Croft of New York City Park Advocates, who has also been pushing for more PEP officers, said the new hires still leave the city far below the force of 450 officers it had in the 1990s.