Swindler Cove Park before restoration. Photo by NYRP.
For nearly every famous park in New York City, there’s a powerful and wealthy organization behind it, like the Central Park Conservancy in Manhattan and the Prospect Park Alliance in Brooklyn. Other lesser-known parks in northern Manhattan, however, are not far behind, thanks to the efforts of the New York Restoration Project, a thriving nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring parks and community gardens in underserved areas across New York City.
The New York Restoration Project is the brainchild of Bette Midler, or the Divine Miss M, as her fans call her, an award-winning actress and singer known for hit songs like “Wind Beneath My Wings.” After a long career in California, Midler settled back in New York City. But once here, she was appalled to see the amount of trash in public areas, to the point of stopping her car to pick it up. Using her canyon clean-up experience with the California Environmental Program, Midler started recruiting friends and family to remove trash from Fort Tryon and Fort Washington parks. These grassroots efforts eventually led Midler to start the New York Restoration Project in 1995.
Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse at Swindler Cove Park after restoration. Photo by NYRP.
“We think of ourselves as a conservancy for parks that don’t have the resources that other parks have,” says Amy Gavaris, NYRP’s executive vice president, who has been with the foundation since its inception. “That’s the role that we fill in.”
To date NYRP has transformed 55 community gardens, removed 2,000 tons of garbage from city parks and planted thousands of trees as part of its partnership with the City of New York to plant one million trees by 2017. With a staff of just over 50 people plus over 2,000 volunteers, NYRP runs educational, recreational and environmental programs in the five boroughs. In northern Manhattan, it has played a major role in the revitalization of four parks: Fort Tryon, Fort Washington, Highbridge and Swindler Cove Parks.
New York Restoration Project's parks in northern Manhattan. Map by Ingrid Rojas/Northattan.
NYRP uses a mix of funding for this purpose, including corporate and individual donations and two annual fundraisers through which it raised $11.2 million in the last year alone, despite the recession. Another source of funding comes from the New Leaf, a charming restaurant set amidst Fort Tryon’s lush vegetation in a restored 1930’s stone house.
But NYRP’s crown jewel achievement is the restoration of Swindler Cove Park in Washington Heights along the Harlem River. In collaboration with the city Parks Department, the New York State Department of Transportation and NYRP, the park was transformed from an illegal dumping ground into a flourishing five-acre park. NYRP pitched in 3 percent of the total renovation costs that a 2004 article in the New York Daily News estimated at $10 million. One of the park’s highlights, the floating Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse, for use by area rowing teams, is the first community boathouse on the Harlem River in 100 years, according to NYRP’s website.
Highbridge Park before restoration. Photo by NYRP.
Currently NYRP has a management contract with Parks Department for Swindler Cove Park’s maintenance — a sign of confidence in NYRP’s work. Adrian Benepe, the parks commissioner, said: “Public-private partnerships are one effective way to engage New Yorkers in the life of their neighborhood parks and community gardens, and we are pleased to have a partner in New York Restoration Project. NYRP has helped to galvanize community volunteers to clean up and bring life back to gardens that have fallen by the wayside.”
Pat Courtney, who has worked as a volunteer at Isham Park in Inwood, says the boathouse project brought attention to the much-neglected waterfront, raising the bar for the community in terms of quality and integrity. “Washington Heights and Inwood already have some of the best parkland in New York City,” says Courtney, “and should have commensurate waterfront access. NYRP has been absolutely critical in the process of providing it to date.”
Another highlight in NYRP’s work was the transformation of Highbridge Park, just south of Swindler Cove Park along the Harlem River. Working in partnership with the Parks Department, together they turned this neglected park from a dangerous, drug-infested place, littered with abandoned cars and thousands of tires, into a 119-acre park with manicured pathways and gardens. While the Parks Department invested millions of dollars in capital development, NYRP contributed with the removal of tons of trash and planting native species.
Millie Seubert has run the volunteer group “Friends of Highbridge Park” since 1999 and she’s witnessed the park’s transformation. “NYRP was key in turning the tide in the restoration of Highbridge Park,” Seubert says. “They came in with a lot of resources, and above all they were focused and committed.”
Highbridge Park after restoration. Photo by NYRP.
For her part, Midler continues to be actively involved in NYRP’s activities as an advocate and spokeswoman. However, like many nonprofits, NYRP has been hit by tough economic times. Gavaris says “there are programs that we’ve had to put on hold, but we were fortunate, we didn’t have any layoffs.” Gavaris expects the organization to be expanding its programs again in 2012.
Gavaris says she doesn’t measure NYRP’s success by the endowment’s size, but by the community’s engagement. “I think we’ve had a significant impact,” says Gavaris, and with the city budget cuts announced recently NYPR expects to be doing much more work in the near future.
This article has been corrected. NYRP doesn’t receive an annual fee from Parks Department for Swindler Cove Park’s maintenance. Also, the transformation of Highbridge Park was carried out in partnership with the Parks Department.
