New York City Department Of Parks & Recreation: An Open Letter: Silver's Unapologetic Culture Of Care

Press release from New York City Department of Parks & Recreation:

July 29, 2021

As I close out my tenure as NYC Parks Commissioner this week, I can’t help but reflect on my initial goals to create a culture of care, and to connect and improve greenspaces in communities across the city. Thinking back, I'm reminded of Cole Rosengren’s (Gotham Gazette/“The Silver Parks Doctrine”) musings in October 2015 over my plans and how “care” differs from “maintenance.” After seven years as Commissioner, I am proud that I forged on.

During this administration and under my watch, care has manifested itself in many ways. At its most rudimentary, care has simply meant letting staff know how invaluable they are. But, care goes far beyond, and includes ensuring staff have the tools they need to do their jobs--from maintenance to senior staff. Care extends to our engagement with the public for their input in park development; identifying new ways to engage with our local partners and stewards and emphasizing that parks are extensions and reflections of the communities they serve.

Because we have cared, we have brought our park system into the 21st century, with guidelines focused on resiliency and access, and by leading with a data-driven approach to increasing park equity. We have invested nearly $2 billion to complete more than 850 capital projects across the city, including Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Community Parks Initiative, which reconstructed parks in communities with the greatest need for open-space improvements that had not seen investment in decades. We also successfully launched Parks Without Borders, focused on improving areas where parks and neighborhoods meet, and our Anchor Parks initiative, which brought major improvements to five large parks with historical underinvestment; and so much more.

Care is bigger than just one task or initiative. We have been building an ecosystem of support, doing this by creating relationships with the people of New York. Partners, conservancies and volunteers across the city help us care for the greenspaces we know and love. From our larger conservancies to small friends groups who work with Partnerships for Parks to community gardens to stewardship development of our youth--like our successful Junior Litter League as part of our anti-trash campaign--we have advocates who lend their voices, time and support. All advancing the City’s mission to build a more equitable park system for present and future generations.

Our parks have always been our front yards in this thriving metropolis--proven even more so during the COVID-19 pandemic--but now they are also our gyms, our living rooms, our offices and so much more. It ties back to something I was quoted as saying in the 2015 article, as I referenced the "spiritual, physical, social, and economic benefits” of our parks and how they serve as a "living room" for many people. I’d like to think our understanding of parks’ role helped make our transition into being an oasis during the pandemic more natural and seamless.

During playground ribbon cuttings, I’d ask the children to take a pledge of care for their new park. In unison they would take a vow to protect, preserve, accept ownership of, and care for this revitalized space. As I leave office, and we strive towards recovery, I call on all New Yorkers, Parkies, Commissioners and Administrations to come, to pledge to do the same: to build on the foundation laid the past seven years; to prioritize community and equity across the city’s park system. So, I’ve created a new pledge...repeat after me: “I promise to love and care for our park system, all that serve in it and all that utilize it for their health and wellbeing. I promise to foster its diversity, equity, and access, and invest in its future. This park system belongs to all of us.”

This press release was produced by New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. The views expressed here are the author’s own.