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On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization officially declared the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a global pandemic.
The NBA halted play “until further notice” beginning the following day as other professional sports leagues followed suit out of an abundance of caution. Employers instructed employees to work from home as Zoom became the new conference room. Schools shut their doors and lessons and went virtual. Restaurants and bars closed and prioritized delivery and pick-up services. Gyms and retail took their customer experiences online.
Stay-at-home mandates to try to limit the spread of COVID-19 meant more time at home. The only respite from the seemingly endless hours and days indoors, especially for those in metropolitan areas, was public parks and green spaces.
“COVID-19 showed us all that our parks were the place where people felt safe, where they could go outside, where they could safely interact and see people, and where families could be together,” said Sue Donoghue, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation commissioner. “They’ve always served that role. In a city where not everyone can escape or has a country house, they’re people’s backyards.”
“They (parks) are the center for so many people for community events and socializing and COVID-19 only amplified that and showed people just how critical they are.”
Parks became the go-to city centers and town halls. Not only were they safe, outdoor spaces to socially distance during a time of so much uncertainty, they became critical points for resources and support during the fight against COVID-19, serving as shelters for those experiencing homelessness, vaccination sites, and mask and sanitizer distribution centers.
Hardly sitting idly by, parks and recreation organizations and agencies like the Chicago Park District, for example, stepped up during the emergency situation to produce 600 gallons of alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
“When everything was shut down, parks and recreation agencies stepped up and did it all,” said National Recreation and Park Association Board of Directors Chair Jesús Aguirre. “… In my experience, specifically in Seattle, we were pulled into the city’s emergency command centers to try to figure out how we were going to respond to this emergency. We were brought into those conversations during that emergency, but things reverted back.”
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While the COVID-19 pandemic reinforced the importance of parks and recreation, government officials and policymakers quickly had a change of heart, particularly as municipalities lost tax revenue as a result of the pandemic. Less than six weeks into the shutdown, nearly half of all U.S. parks and recreation agencies received requests to make cuts to their current fiscal year budget, while 31 percent were already making cuts to their 2020-21 budget, according to a survey by the NRPA.
Even as the United States and world continued to climb out of the pandemic, which was officially ended as a global health emergency by the WHO in early May 2023, the fight for funding for parks and recreation go on.
Boasting 1,942 parks home to more than 1,000 playgrounds, 800 athletic fields, 550 tennis courts, 60 public pools, and 30 recreation centers, NYC Parks is set to lose nearly $90 million in funding over the next two years, despite the fact that the city’s park spending is currently at approximately half a billion dollars or less than half of 1 percent of the city’s budget.
“When we think about advocating for funding and for public spaces, it’s really that expansive narrative and having people think broadly about how vital our parks are, what it means to have a vital and thriving park system, and how we can continue to support it,” Donoghue said.
Aguirre, with more than 20 years of public service leadership experience in metropolitan jurisdictions including Los Angeles, NYC, Washington, D.C., and Seattle, agrees. “On some level, we have to get better at telling the story, both anecdotally and with data,” he said. “How do we convince a politician that the work we do in parks and recreation help outcomes in their community?”
The proof is in the data. Studies have also shown the correlation between parks and crime. Studying public housing developments in Chicago, researchers found 52 percent fewer crimes reported by buildings surrounded by trees and other vegetation. Neighborhoods in New York City with a larger investment in public green space saw an average of 213 fewer felonies per year.
Local and public park agencies in the U.S. also generated more than $201 billion in economic activity in 2021, according to the NRPA, while supporting almost 1.1 million jobs.
Regarding tax revenue generation, home values increase by 20 percent on average for homes facing or adjacent to a park, according to the study The Impact of Parks on Property Values: A Review of the Empirical Evidence.
Further, parks and recreation systems have been an instrumental part of serving less fortunate citizens in communities throughout the United States. According to the NRPA, parks and recreation systems in the U.S. feed more than 560 million meals to children annually through after-school and summer programs, making them the second largest feeder of children nationally behind public schools.
On top of providing opportunities for physical activity, exposure to nature via green (grass) and blue (water) spaces has been linked to mental health benefits including improved attention, lower stress, better mood, and reduced risk of psychiatric disorders. This is reflected in a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that shows that for every dollar invested in park trails, $2.94 is received in direct medical benefit.
The trees and bushes that comprise public parks and green spaces and their vast root systems provide much-needed stormwater retention — while also helping pump more oxygen into the air — not only benefiting community residents but, more importantly, the environment.
Image Source: Adobe Stock
“If you don’t have the funding to keep the park maintained and well staffed, it exacerbates the problem of crime,” said Michael Shull, retired City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks general manager who oversaw the addition of 74 parks during his tenure. “A park that’s not well funded could actually turn into a place where bad things are being planned or happening.”
“It irritates me to no end that in tough budget years, the first thing to be cut is parks. I went through some really tough years. We managed through it, but it wasn’t easy.”
While the fight for support and funding for public parks and recreation is a constant battle despite being a popular bipartisan interest, their benefits—backed by studies and data—are well known. It’s just a matter of prioritization and where governors, mayors, and other policymakers rank parks and rec among critical infrastructure along with police and fire, roads and transportation, hospitals, and schools.
Parks and recreation continue to serve as integral parts of a community, being able to be something for everyone regardless of socioeconomic status, religion or political affiliation, whether it’s as a calming respite from the 24-7 news cycle, a place to celebrate a birthday, a nearby walking or running path, a “battlefield” for a live-action role playing game, or a way to honor and give back to Mother Nature.
“Parks are where we all go to celebrate, to grieve, to protest, for respite, and to improve our mental and physical wellbeing,” Aguirre said. “They’re such a core of who we are as humans and that’s an important thing to recognize as we think about the role they play in community infrastructure.”
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