The Ever-Shrinking Funding Of Prospect Park

Earlier this week, neighbor and NY Times Gotham columnist Michael Powell gave a glimpse inside Prospect Park‘s disappearing city funding with his article, Reducing Some City Parks to the Status of Beggars. According to Steve Hindy of Brooklyn Brewery and the Prospect Park Alliance, the park relied on the city for about 60% of its budget in the early 2000s–but now, the numbers have decreased to about 40%. Mayor Bloomberg has stopped giving his annual $250,000 contribution, too.

The Alliance manages to meet its goals in part, Michael says, by holding events like the Great GoogaMooga, which has damaged park grounds and annoyed neighbors for the past two years–though he also concedes such events may be necessary to keep the park’s regular maintenance as good as it is.

Two decades ago I wheeled my son’s stroller into the Nethermead and discovered that vandals had smashed every lamp. Tree roots suffered from erosion; graffiti was everywhere. The Prospect Park Alliance oversaw the revival of this park, on a shoestring.

While Prospect Park continues to suffer, Manhattan tourist attractions like Central Park and the High Line flourish. It’s clear that funds could be distributed a bit more evenly to areas in need–including city parks that are worse off than Prospect.  Though, could and will are two very different things, as Friends of the Highline co-chairman John Alschuler Jr. acknowledges, suggesting Prospect Park team up with a corporate sponsor.

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.

You can always donate or attend great events like the Spring Swing to help benefit Prospect Park–but as for the major sources of funding, what do you think of the city cutting back? Are events like GoogaMooga a necessary evil–and should the Alliance have charged more for the park’s use? Or would it be better to forgo major events in favor of a constant corporate presence?