Go Park: NYC Parks 2013 Annual Report

Dear Friends:

Download the 2013 Annual Report

New York has come a long way in building an environmentally-sustainable future, and with more than 29,800 acres of parkland, we are well on our way to becoming the greenest city in America. Our city’s parks improve quality of life for all New Yorkers, and over the last 12 years, our Administration has invested $5 billion in rebuilding, revitalizing, and preserving these essential resources.

Through NYC Parks, we have created and restored new outdoor spaces in every borough. In Queens, industrial areas have been replaced with Elmhurst Park and Hunter’s Point South Waterfront Park. We transformed the Bronx River and its shoreline into a clean, peaceful environment for park-goers of all ages. Manhattan is now home to one of our most innovative parks, the High Line, which has redefined the West Side. Brooklyn Bridge, Transmitter, and Bushwick Inlet Parks have brought new life to the industrial Brooklyn waterfront. And in Staten Island, the Fresh Kills landfill will soon become our city’s largest new park in more than a century.

We have also worked to ensure that these spaces provide our residents with opportunities to enjoy outstanding art and innovative design. NYC Parks curates the largest municipal outdoor art museum in the United States, with a permanent collection of 1,000 monuments and art pieces installed across the city and more than 30 temporary exhibits showcased each year. Our green spaces are a study in good design as well, seamlessly blending the natural landscape with manmade structures and paying homage to the rich history of New York.

Even after last year’s Hurricane Sandy, our city has remained firm in our commitment to build for the future. In the wake of the storm, and facing the huge job of rebuilding our waterfront communities and beaches, we promised our residents that we would build back a more resilient, more protected coastline. Thanks to the hard work of NYC Parks staff, we were able to meet that goal and develop new infrastructure that is better prepared to handle major storms.

This report highlights our hard work and tremendous progress in re-imagining the role of parks in the 21st century, and together we will continue our efforts to make New York a greener, greater city.