Gowanus Green Spaces Vital During Coronavirus: Conservancy

GOWANUS, BROOKLYN — Don't let the coronavirus pandemic stop the Gowanus Canal's transformation from industrial wasteland to vital city green space.

Ditto for other parks, open spaces, tree plantings, stewardship programs and more across New York City.

That's the message an assortment — a bouquet, if you will — of city parks leaders sent Thursday during a virtual news conference. Parks are always critical infrastructure, but they're more necessary than ever as New Yorkers spend their days cooped up and socially-isolated, they argued.

"Through this pandemic, our parks, natural areas, street trees and gardens are essential infrastructure," said Andrea Parker, executive director for the Gowanus Canal Conservancy. "They provide New Yorkers with comfort, connection, exercise and respite. They are open to all at a time we need them most, but this use necessitates increased maintenance at the same time that current operations are scaled back, existing crews are over-extended and the city budget is facing dramatic cuts."

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Roughly half of New York City parks and natural areas maintained by groups like the Gowanus Canal Conservancy anticipate at least $37 million in lost revenue from the outbreak, according to a recent COVID-19 impact report.

Those groups plan to form a "NYC Green Relief & Recovery Fund" to help support nonprofit and grassroots organizations caring for those spaces, a release states. They also called for the city to step up to support the groups.

"We simply cannot go back to the bad old days of parks when they were unsafe, unkempt and unwelcoming," said Daniel Garodnick, president and CEO of the Riverside Park Conservancy, on the call.

The "bad old days" in the 1970s prompted not-for-profits to step up and help raise money to support park crews, maintenance and programs. Parker said the Gowanus Canal Conservancy, founded in 2006, is relatively new on the scene, but it has supported programs that are helping the canal turn around from its status as one of the most polluted waterways in the country.

"This stewardship includes parks, but it also includes street trees, bioswales and the shoreline itself," she said.

The group's park report also detailed how Prospect Park could face impacts on horticultural care, free programs, public safety measures, park maintenance and new improvement projects if revenue losses from the coronavirus crisis aren't covered.

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