News

Catherine Nagel | Guest Contributor, U.S. News & World Report | June 16, 2020 https://www.usnews.com/news/cities/articles/2020-06-16/why-cities-must-protect-their-parks-from-covid-19-induced-funding-cuts Catherine Nagel is the executive director of the City Parks Alliance. In this extraordinary time, city parks have once again proved themselves to be critical public infrastructure, strengthening neighborhoods and building bonds among people from all walks of life. The COVID-19 pandemic has placed a premium on access to nature and physical activity with appropriate social distancing, making urban parks more vital to the health of our cities than ever before. Simply put, our parks are essential. When schools, businesses, houses of worship, libraries and other civic and commercial institutions closed their doors, park use surged as people sought respite from the quarantine. Parks help people to feel normal again, and serve as an outlet that is especially important in densely populated urban neighborhoods where indoor and outdoor spaces are precious. The pandemic will continue to exact a heavy economic toll on state and local governments. We are already seeing...

Press Release | Department of Conservation and Recreation | June 22, 2020 https://www.mass.gov/news/dcr-accepting-applications-for-partnership-matching-funds-program-0 In an effort to foster public-private partnerships, the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) today announced it is accepting applications for the Fiscal Year 2021 Partnership Matching Funds Program. The program assists in the financing of capital projects throughout the state parks system that are proposed by park advocacy groups, civic and community organizations, institutions, businesses, municipal governments, and dedicated individuals with an interest in improving the Commonwealth’s natural, cultural, and recreational resources. “The Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Partnership Matching Funds Program enables the agency to work with incredibly passionate and dedicated groups, organizations, and individuals in an effort to greatly enhance the Commonwealth’s state parks system,” said DCR Commissioner Jim Montgomery. “Public-private partnerships, such as the Partnership Matching Funds Program, continues to be an invaluable tool utilized by the Baker-Polito Administration to leverage important funds to accomplish shared goals that directly benefit the public.” To view the full press release, please click here....

Press Release | Department of Conservation and Recreation | June 16, 2020 https://www.mass.gov/news/dcr-opens-spray-decks-playgrounds-and-fitness-areas-to-the-public BOSTON — The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) announced that it has opened agency-managed spray decks, playgrounds, and fitness areas for public use in accordance with safety standards issued by the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) as part of Phase II of the Baker-Polito Administration’s reopening plan. The department will be conducting periodic cleanings of spray decks, playgrounds and fitness areas and has posted signage providing visitors with guidance when using the facilities. For guidance and additional information, please click here....

Richard leBrasseur | The Conversation | May 18, 2020 https://theconversation.com/parks-matter-more-than-ever-during-a-time-of-sickness-something-frederick-law-olmsted-understood-in-the-19th-century-137882 Parks matter more than ever during a time of sickness – something Frederick Law Olmsted understood in the 19th century The COVID-19 pandemic has altered humans’ relationship with natural landscapes in ways that may be long-lasting. One of its most direct effects on people’s daily lives is reduced access to public parks. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued guidelines urging Americans to stay at home whenever feasible, and to avoid discretionary travel and gatherings of more than 10 people. Emergency declarations and stay-at-home orders vary from state to state, but many jurisdictions have closed state and county parks, as well as smaller parks, playgrounds, beaches and other outdoor destinations. There’s good reason for these actions, especially in places where people have spurned social distancing rules. But particularly in urban environments, parks are important to human health and well-being. As a landscape architect, I believe that Frederick Law Olmsted, the founder of our...

Julia Africa, Cheri Ruane, Gary Hilderbrand, Chris Reed | The Boston Globe | May 6, 2020 https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/05/05/opinion/parks-are-essential-especially-during-coronavirus-pandemic/ Now, more than ever, our parks must be understood as essential public infrastructure. Not unlike essential workers, their contributions during a pandemic should be celebrated, protected, and ultimately leveraged to support public health. We must shift our thinking to repurpose public spaces during times of crisis, restore their ecologies when the crisis abates, and adapt our parks to better accommodate urban populations (especially those who have been historically underserved) for the future. In Boston, we rely on our Emerald Necklace park system — which stretches from Olmsted Park in Brookline to Franklin Park in Dorchester — for so much more than a walk in the park. In times of peace, these iconic landscapes have played just about every starring role: as cow pastures, premodern sewage treatment ecologies, muster grounds, performance venues, flood-retention basins, and stages for visiting dignitaries, and historic movements (civil rights, Women’s March, March...

Kathy Abbott | The Boston Globe | May 4, 2020 https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/05/04/opinion/an-unprecedented-opportunity-reimagine-future-bostons-open-spaces/ Today, Boston’s typically bustling streets and plazas are nearly deserted. But from the Harborwalk to the Back Bay, it’s clear individuals and families cherish parks and open spaces as escapes during a time of physical distancing due to the coronavirus pandemic. At a moment when our lives have been stripped to their barest essentials, we have seen what Boston collectively values most for its community. Health and safety are clearly the highest priorities, along with economic security. Our parks and open spaces are right behind. Familiar parks, paths, and plazas are a refuge, providing emotional, mental, and physical release. This moment of tabula rasa in parks and the city as a whole has suddenly and dramatically clarified something critical for moving forward: We have to stop thinking about parks as one-off, leftover spaces amid development. Given that, status quo practices for land-use planning need to be shifted. Instead of inserting small, isolated green...

Asher Klein | NBC 10 Boston | May 2, 2020 https://www.nbcboston.com/news/coronavirus/warm-weather-crowds-cause-closures-at-mass-state-parks-over-social-distancing/2117523/ Authorities across New England have been concerned that the arrival of warm weather, which had taken its time, this weekend would bring people out to parks and beaches in enough numbers that they wouldn't be able to maintain effective social distance. The first Saturday of May finally brought spring weather to Massachusetts, drawing people out of their homes for a breath of fresh air amid the stay-at-home advisory. But they filled up state parks, prompting authorities to close at least five of them temporarily Saturday afternoon. Two had to be closed twice: Concord's Walden Pond State Reservation and Princeton's Wachusett Mountain State Reservation. The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation tweeted out the two-hour-plus closures, put in place to limit the number of people inside the park. To read the full story, please click here....

William "Ned" Friedman, Joseph G. Allen and Marc Lipsitch | The Washington Post | April 13, 2020 https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/04/13/keep-parks-open-benefits-fresh-air-outweigh-risks-infection/ In the midst of a pandemic, urban life goes on. People are mourning the loss of a spouse, battling cancer and dealing with anxieties and stress from everyday life on top of new anxieties and stress from the coronavirus, all of which is often made worse by economic insecurity and extended duties of caring for children and elderly relatives. What public-health and well-being policies can help alleviate some of the extraordinary stressors that urbanites are feeling across the nation right now? Part of the answer is baked into every city in the country. It is our public green spaces, our parks, botanical gardens and arboreta right outside our doors or down the street. Regrettably, though, many public green spaces across the country have been closed. Yes, in most cases, there have been good reasons for the specific closings: overcrowding with parking lots jammed, egregious disregard for...

Gersh Kuntzman | StreetsBlog NYC | April 27, 2020 https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2020/04/27/breaking-de-blasio-commits-to-100-miles-of-open-streets/ Mayor de Blasio just did the City Council 33 percent better — he’s committed to opening up 100 miles of streets for socially responsible recreation during the COVID-19 crisis. At his virtual press conference this morning, de Blasio said negotiations with the City Council — which is pushing its own bill for 75 miles of car-free space — have yielded success: 40 miles of open streets this month, with a goal of 100 miles at an unspecified date in the future of the crisis. “The City Council came forward with a vision for how we could open up more streets and do it in a way that’s responsive to the core concerns of the NYPD over safety and enforcement,” the mayor said. “Over the next month, we will create a minimum of 40 miles of open streets. And as the crisis continues, the goal is to get up to 100 miles. We will focus first on...