New York Magazine
July 16, 2015
…Bloomberg’s credo was clear: Plant new parks, leverage private money, and make New York a magnet for visitors, investments, and residents. The de Blasio administration’s approach is … we’ll get back to you. I hope they do. “Bloomberg’s philosophy developed over time,” points out Tupper Thomas, the executive director of the advocacy group New Yorkers for Parks. “If you had talked to them a year and a half into the first term, they wouldn’t have had that clarity.” True, but so far, de Blasio is ignoring one of the most cost-effective ways of easing New Yorkers’ lives, irrespective of income. As Thomas points out, painting a bench, clearing some brush, organizing a troupe of volunteer gardeners — these are cheap, immediate measures that can make a park feel less desolate and more like home. “You create a sense that the city cares.”
