The Fight For Green Spaces
City planning efforts have historically neglected access to parks in low-income neighborhoods. Advocates in these communities are now working to create and maintain safe, clean green spaces.
By Subhanjana Das
In St John’s Park, Brooklyn, the water fountain is broken and trash is strewn all around. Still, Stefanie Saintonge, a resident of Troy Avenue in Brooklyn, comes to the Park almost every evening with her husband, their toddler son, and their dog. Saintonge reflected on her family’s feelings of gratitude for having a park within walking distance from their home, speaking between playing with her dog and her son at St. John’s.
The next closest park, Brower Park, is about a mile away from their home, and with an active toddler, visits to Brower Park take far more time and planning. “Proximity is very important for neighborhood parks,” Saintonge explained.
Brooklyn does have major parks — Fort Greene, Prospect Park, and Lincoln Terrace Park, to name a few — that are funded and maintained. These are in more affluent neighborhoods where the median household income is, on average, 40% higher than the citywide average of $77,550. However, parks and playgrounds in low-income areas, are poorly maintained when they exist, and local residents avoid them, believing they are unsafe. According to a 2021 report by Trust for Public Land’s Park Equity Plan for New York City, communities of color have one-third less park space per person within a ten-minute walk compared to white communities. “It’s obvious which neighborhoods get better parks,” said Saintonge.
Neil Campbell, a thirty-year resident of Lafayette Gardens, which is provided through public New York City housing, said he has seen the neighborhood transform over the years, noticing the gradual decrease in green space around the building, like the green space in front of the building which was turned into a concrete path 3 years ago. “You feel trapped in,” he said, referring to the monotony of urban structure without well-maintained gardens or parks nearby. Most have been torn down.
Access to clean and safe open spaces like parks, playgrounds, and community gardens has been a concern among the residents of the district. In spring, City Councilmember Crystal Hudson, who represents District 35, proposed a community-driven approach to land-use planning that addresses the community’s needs. According to the proposal, almost a quarter of the districts’ residents wished their neighborhoods had more green spaces, second only to the concern for affordable housing.
“People don't have backyards, they live in an apartment without a lot of space to move about and just breathe,” said Fred Baptiste, The chairperson of Brooklyn’s Community Board 9, which serves Crown Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Wingate, and portions of North Flatbush. “Having these safe places is critical to a neighborhood and the development of our youth. ”
The rapid development of tall buildings has led to “more pollution, more congestion, more traffic on the streets, but lesser access to sunlight and air, ” Baptiste said.
This year, Mayor Eric Adams’ city budget cut $55 million in allocation to the city’s parks for fiscal year 2025, reducing it from his campaign promise of one percent of the budget, about $1.124 billion, by more than half to $583 million. City park advocates have cited worries that the budget cut will reduce the number of workers responsible for maintaining the upkeep of the parks, an impact that is disproportionately felt in economically disadvantaged and predominantly minority neighborhoods, where park conditions have visibly deteriorated, according to residents like Saintonge.
Despite the city-wide rule that parks are required to undergo monitoring and improvement every 12 years, “There are parks [in Community Board 9] that are way past that” said Nicolas Almonor, the Parks and Recreation Chairperson in northern Brooklyn. He added that in northern Brooklyn, which has a predominantly black population, almost every park, playground, and community garden could use structural improvements like paved walkways, public access toilets, lighting, and overall maintenance.
Reginald Swiney, founder of Friends of John Hancock Playground on Jefferson Avenue and Bedford Avenue, has observed what he sees as an unequal distribution of funds for parks during his seven years taking care of the playground. Sometimes Swiney remembered spending as much as $7000 out of pocket to maintain the space. “I played here as a kid. I learned how to ride the bike in this very playground.”
“They are neglecting the parks in Black neighborhoods,” said Swiney. “I did it for Black dignity.”
Siobhan Gallagher Kent, the Director of Communications at Albany-based Open Space Institute, a non-profit organization for land conservation, said that, in general, wealthier communities are able to invest in upscale green spaces in their respective neighborhoods. Minority communities as well as economically challenged ones have historically been excluded from conversations on city planning. “There's a deep and distressing history of low-income and minority communities getting negative city planning because of that power imbalance,” said Kent.
Vivia Morgan founded the nonprofit organization, Friends of Wingate Park in 2010 with help from her son Shawn Clarke, who noticed mosquito-breeding water beds in the basketball court where he used to play. Known by her friends as “The Park Lady,” Morgan has focused on programming that engages residents of all ages like book reading for children, food distribution for seniors, and fitness classes. “The park is a way for us to bring people together, get to know the people that live next door, and bring communities together.”
Her consistent advocacy for the park has resulted in $18 million in funding from council member Rita Joseph towards repairs, upkeep, and maintenance of this park.
In a phone call with Joseph, the councilmember underscored the importance of improved upkeep at Wingate park. “That’s why New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and I are investing $18 million in the park’s complete overhaul. These spaces are essential to keeping the community vibrant and healthy, so this investment is a long time coming. There are green spaces that have been historically underinvested in and we’re looking to change that through fair and equitable funding for their proper maintenance.”
The news of the funding, however, came as a surprise to Shantae George, who has been coming to Wingate for twenty years and now visits with her one-year-old niece. “This park is one of the more active ones in the area. The funding is great but it could’ve been distributed to other smaller parks which aren’t doing that well,” said George.
While Friends of Wingate Park’s Vivia Morgan thinks citizen advocacy is key, she also added that if residents of low-income neighborhoods are struggling to pay rent, “they won’t have the time to start petitions to keep their green spaces clean, even though they’re the ones who need it most.”
Parks and Recreation chair Nicolas Almonor says that it’s the city that needs to keep its commitment. “There’s a city-wide movement to support parks, and the conclusion was that one percent would be adequate to maintain them, which we of course don’t have,” said Almonor. “It’s not like they don't know of those needs.”