Central Park

The Daily Plant : Monday, January 28, 2002

MAYOR BLOOMBERG NAMES NEW PARKS COMMISSIONER
CONGRATULATIONS TO ADRIAN (A-TRAIN) BENEPE

From City Hall on January 25, 2002, Mayor Michael R. (Network) Bloomberg announced his choice of Parks Commissioner. Manhattan Borough Commissioner, Adrian (A-Train) Benepe will lead the agency. His appointment is effective Monday, February 4.

Commissioner Benepe is no stranger to Parks. As a high school student, he was among the first class of Urban Park Rangers. In May of 1982, one year after graduating from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Benepe began full-time work for Parks as Program Director for the Urban Park Rangers. The next year he became Director of Public Information. In that role, he oversaw the writing of Parks’ first annual report in two decades and the writing of 300 press releases every year. He later served as Operations Coordinator, Director of Natural Resources and Horticulture, and Director of Art & Antiquities. While in the office, Benepe conceived the Historic House Trust and raised $1 million in private donations for City projects. Benepe currently works as Manhattan Borough Commissioner, overseeing the management of Manhattan’s 300 parks and park facilities. He has held this position since 1996.

In the years between 1990 and 1996, Commissioner Benepe left Parks to work for the New York Botanical Garden as director of their Annual Fund and Major Gifts and then as Vice President for Issues and Public Affairs for the Municipal Art Society.

Of his appointment, Commissioner Benepe told the press and public, "It is a great honor and responsibility for me to head the Parks Department. For someone who has spent his professional life working to improve and enhance our parks and open space, the opportunity to lead the great men and women of this agency is a dream come true. I look forward to serving a Mayor who has already shown he is a friend of parks, and I am thrilled to be part of his team."

Mayor Bloomberg introduced Benepe saying "I couldn’t be more pleased to name Adrian Benepe as Parks Commissioner. Adrian is completely devoted to parks and has worked his way up the ranks, excelling at each opportunity by finding creative solutions and being a team player. Now he takes the reins of this vital agency in a difficult moment in our City’s history. Our parks and recreation facilities have improved remarkably over the last years, and Adrian will have the task of building upon what’s been accomplished so that New Yorkers can enjoy our magnificent parks system."

(Monday, February 6, 1989)

Parks and WE CAN, a new non-profit container return center for the homeless, will team up to accept empty beverage can contributions at the West 72^nd Street entrance to Central Park on Saturday, March 25, from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M.

Proceeds from the cans collected will be used to support WE CAN and the Parks Homeless Youth Recreation Program. Returns may also be taken to the WE CAN center at 520 West 43^rd Street, between 10^th and 11^th Avenues. The center is open from 8 A.M. to 3 P.M., Monday through Friday.

"If you have an apple and I have an apple and we each exchange these
apples, then you and I will still each have one apple.
But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas,
then each of us will have two ideas."

George Bernard Shaw
(1856- 1950)

Know Before You Go

Harlem Meer Center (formerly Lasker Rink)

Harlem Meer Center