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Zion National Park
Photo by National Park Service

by Ethan Klein
Natural Heritage Session
Tom Radulovich, Martin Rosen

I live in a concrete jungle. Block upon block of treeless streets replete with asphalt front-lawns. All that concrete casts a dark, depressing mood in my little section of the city. It’s ugly. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Tom Radulovich and Martin Rosen spoke today at the Sierra Summit about the benefits of city parks and open spaces.

Tom Radulovich, from Transportation for a Livable City, talked about the development of integrated parkland in Paris, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. He explained how cities like Paris beautify and invigorate their neighborhoods by closing streets to cars for parts of the day and by planting trees, gardens and green ways. He displayed slides of verdant, gorgeous Parisian streets that made my grey, paved-over neighborhood look even more destitute.  He explained how various cities are working to interconnect their disparate parks via trails, bike paths and increased parkland.

Martin Rosen, from the Trust for Public Land, spent some time discussing the innards of how to secure funding for parkland in your city. He noted that federal funding for parkland is in rapid decline and that local communities are increasingly raising money and greening their towns through innovative and entrepreneurial fundraising.  He showed slides and told heart-warming stories of formerly bleak urban areas that improved their quality of life by building and maintaining community gardens and small parks.

After the presentation an audience member stood up to thank Martin Rosen. He told a moving story of how the Trust for Public Land bought a large swath of woods in his rural Georgia county so that it would remain undeveloped.  The audience member explained that he had grown up playing in those woods and it made him sleep well at night to know that they wouldn’t be sold and destroyed.

For more information check out livablecity.org and the Trust for Public Land

-- 09/09/2005 Fri