ASSESSING PARK CONSERVANCY VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS: BEST PRACTICES Charlie McCabe
Since Central Park first opened in New York City, just before the Civil War, Americans living in urban environments have flocked to parks to escape the increasingly crowded conditions of their city and their neighborhood. They have come to parks to enjoy leisure time, entertainment, food and drink and, beginning in the latter half of the 19th Century and increasingly in the 20th century, exercise.1 Our friends and family congregate and spend hours enjoying everything from gardens to waterways, hiking and biking, and even indoor spaces for visual arts and performances. Americans’ history of developing and maintaining our public parks has also followed a specific path, much like we do on a bike ride, a run or a walk through a park. We have had periods of tremendous investment in public parks, often spurred by a charismatic individual, followed by heavy usage, along with a struggle to keep the park and its facilities in working order, followed by a period of decline. At times, we use a national crisis, such as the great depression in the 1930s, to spur fresh investment and renewal, followed by a subsequent decline that mirrors challenges to our cities and our regional and national economic well-being. 2 In the late 1970s, a different way of thinking emerged in the consciousness of many residents of our cities, born of necessity when many cities were facing financial insolvency. The residents organized into groups and began demanding increased investment in park spaces while also forming safety patrols, picking up litter, and painting out graffiti. The reasons were many and varied, including issues of safety, the need for respite from the even more crowded urban world, the desire to “make a difference” (following the first Earth Day in 1970), and knowing that without
