On February 21, Riverside Park Conservancy hosted its first-ever Riverside Partner Summit, bringing together dozens of community leaders, advocates, and organizations of all types to share ideas and learn from one another in a warm, collaborative setting. Sports leagues, climate activists, arts groups and conservationists conversed with historians, educators, horticulturalists, and elected officials in a thoughtfully curated line-up of panels and discussions.
The theme for the day: a shared commitment to making our Park and our City a better place.
Designed to bring together and celebrate influential members of our Park’s community, the Summit aimed to foster a deeper understanding, strengthen community ties, and connect the missions and day-to-day work of all these organizations in one room. The vision is to host these summits annually.
The Conservancy’s Story and The Road Ahead
Setting the stage, the Summit began with joint remarks from Merritt Birnbaum, President & CEO of the Conservancy, and John Herrold, Riverside Park’s long-time Administrator for NYC Parks, who is also a senior advisor to the Conservancy and its former President. Birnbaum and Herrold reflected on the Conservancy’s journey, from its grassroots beginnings nearly four decades ago, to the formidable operation it is today, with more than 70 full-time staff members and a $12 million annual budget.
The Conservancy and the City’s Parks Department have built a strong partnership throughout this journey by recognizing the unique strengths and challenges of each entity. As a nonprofit, the Conservancy can move nimbly to fill gaps, interweaving smaller scale solutions alongside the kinds of major infrastructure improvements that only government can make possible. Herrold updated participants about the Parks Department’s progress on some of those megaprojects, such as the new Rotunda reconstruction and the Overbuild repairs. Birnbaum then shared some exciting Conservancy projects on the horizon, including:
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- A new “Special Services Crew” dedicated to small-scale repairs, erosion control measures and other maintenance projects throughout the Park.
- A fully solar-powered Visitor Services kiosk, the first of its kind in Riverside Park.
- A new temporary bathroom near the sports courts at 110th Street, bringing a much-needed amenity to this high-traffic area.
Canvas or Collaborator? How Community Partnerships Flourish
A panel entitled “Canvas or Collaborator?” brought together leaders from Riverkeeper, NYC Bird Alliance, the Art Students League, Jenny’s Garden, and West Side Little League to reflect on the Park’s role in furthering their organizations’ unique missions. Speakers agreed that working successfully as a member of the Riverside community is all about flexibility and adaptability. As the panelists discussed their histories with the Park, common traits emerged:
- An ability to pivot. Participants agreed that programming in a public park never goes exactly according to plan, but sometimes the result is even better than the original concept, if you are flexible in your approach. In one example, the Art Students League’s “Works in Public” sculptures have found a permanent home on the Florida Keys Sculpture Trail, following their temporary installations in Riverside Park.
- A healthy dose of patience. Many organizations that have worked with the Conservancy and NYC Parks since the 1980s, like West Side Little League, have learned the value of patience, especially when it comes to the completion of major capital improvements. Working together, they’ve seen the transformation of the ballfields alongside the growth of the league community over decades.
- A strong communication skill set. Keeping the lines of communication open – and keeping one’s sense of humor – is part of what has sustained the Park’s longest running partnerships.
Community leaders share their stories at the “Canvas or Collaborator?” panel.
Climate and Sustainability: Our Park’s Future is Now.
The mid-morning dialogue turned to resiliency and nature-based solutions. Anastasia Galkowski, the Conservancy’s Sustainability Manager, and Jessica Kaplan, its Director of Horticulture, provided fascinating insights into the latest climate change adaptation strategies being deployed in the Park. From new stormwater management technology, to installing more native plants that can tolerate both flooding and droughts, to building a state-of-the-art compost operation, the Conservancy is finding innovative solutions to make the Park healthier and more resilient.
In one example, Kaplan spoke about the role of native plants in fostering a healthy ecosystem, especially for native bees, which are important pollinators. Many people are surprised to learn that native bees are solitary, meaning they do not live in colonies like honeybees. Caring for native bees isn’t just about planting native plants, but also about everyday maintenance practice decisions. Conservancy gardeners leave perennial stems standing through the winter, which adds interest in the landscape, but is also important material for native bees to lay eggs in the following season.
Anastasia Galkowski and Jessica Kaplan present to attendees on the Conservancy’s sustainability and horticulture efforts.
With such varied landscapes across 400 acres of green space, Conservancy staff have discussed how to best utilize open lawn areas with significant sun coverage. In recent years, Conservancy gardeners have converted lawns to biodiverse pollinator meadows throughout the Park’s six miles, which promote healthy habitats. Kaplan noted her “favorite best kept secret” is the meadow at 119th Street, behind the tennis courts.
At the end of the presentation, Galkowski emphasized to attendees their individual and collective power in the face of climate change.
“Shifting to a sustainable society, it’s a collaborative effort,” Galkowski said to attendees, encouraging them to get creative and make things happen. “Everyone’s part of it. Everyone in this room is part of it. Everyone has their own perspective and expertise and brain to share with the movement.”
Championing Parks
From L to R, Merritt Birnbaum, John Herrold, Tricia Shimamura, Shaun Abreu, John Mascialino, Gale Brewer
Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and Manhattan Borough Commissioner for NYC Parks Tricia Shimamura brought enthusiastic greetings to our lunch festivities, emphasizing how Riverside Park brings respite, recreation and joy to so many Manhattan neighborhoods.
Borough President Levine thanked everyone for their involvement in the Park and community.
“This park is so unique and so vibrant, and in part it’s because of everyone in this room,” said Levine. “You bring Riverside to life with the baseball league, and the soccer league, and pickleball, and arts activations, and what you’re doing for horticulture, and gardening, and dog runs. And it makes [the Park] such a diverse and vibrant community. And so, you’re very critical to the success of this park. And I want to thank you for that.”
Commissioner Shimamura reflected on the Park’s unique positioning as both a place for locals and visitors alike to enjoy.
“Riverside Park, more than any other park on Earth, and especially the borough of Manhattan, very much kind of straddles two worlds,” said Shimamura. “Somehow, you are one of the most iconic driving forces of people coming to visit New York City. People look at Riverside Park and they think, ‘iconic New York City.’ It is a major economic driver and yet, at the same time, you are a neighborhood park.”
For the panel discussion following lunch, Council Members Shaun Abreu and Gale Brewer joined Conservancy Chair John Mascialino on stage for a lively discussion about their commitment to increasing the overall City budget for Parks and how we can all help with these advocacy efforts. “Council Members Abreu and Brewer are huge supporters of the park and everything that we want to do,” said Mascialino. “We as board members have pledged and [the Conservancy] team have pledged to support them in their fight for parks equity and parks funding.”
When asked about which projects the panelists were most excited about, Council Member Brewer highlighted the Conservancy’s leadership in creating a comprehensive composting facility that serves as a model for other Parks.
“Something that Riverside has already done is composting,” said Brewer. “That is the coolest composting site in the United States of America. And the result is we were able to, with [Council Member Shaun Abreu’s] help, pass a composting bill in the City Council that says all other parks should be like Riverside Park and do composting.”
In his closing remarks, Council Member Abreu urged all attendees to continue their advocacy work.
“ Keep fighting for parks,” Abreu said. “Keep fighting for the capital upgrades that you need. Keep fighting to make sure that we fight against wear and tear every single day when people are using the parks. You know, we’re seeing wear and tear, and that’s a good thing, but we must continue investing to make sure that parks is in a place of good repair.”
Merritt Birnbaum ended the day with a call to action. At a time when the City Budget continues to underfund and undervalue public greenspaces, our collective voices are more important than ever. Birnbaum encouraged the Summit attendees to join the Conservancy as members of the “Play Fair for Parks Coalition,” a movement led by New Yorkers for Parks. This year, the campaign’s new slogan “Parks Power NYC” is meant to evoke the important role that parks play in every facet of urban life.
“Everything that we’ve talked about today, we see how powerful parks are in our lives,” said Birnbaum. “We see how they have the power to transform our city and how important and vital they are.”
Attendees left the Partner Summit excited about their new connections with other involved community organizations and groups. Many participants were happy to learn more about what’s going on in their Park, sharing that the panels were informative and valuable. One attendee shared that they had a “very positive experience [where they] learned quite a bit.”
The Conservancy would like to thank all of the partners who participated in the Partner Summit, including Adult Soccer League, Arts Students League, Billion Oyster Project, Bloomingdale Aging in Place, Broadway Mall Association, Brotherhood Sister Sol, Carlos Oliveira Soccer Academy, Christodora, Community Board 7, Community Board 12, Ellington in the Park, The Garden People, Hippo Playground Project, Historic House Trust, Holy Name – St. Gregory Parish Community Center, HOT Volleyball NYC, The Interchurch Center, Joan of Arc Statue Committee, Kids of Summer, Latino Outdoors, Lenape Center, Maggie’s Garden, New York-Presbyterian, Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation, NYC Athletic Training, NYC Bird Alliance, Open House New York, PAL, Pickleball Volunteers of 110th Street, Ralph Ellison Memorial Association, Riverkeeper, Riverside Park Dog Run 87, Riverside Park Dog Run 142, Riverside Valley Community Garden (“Jenny’s Garden”), Riverside Tennis Association, Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial Association, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, West Side Little League, and West Side Soccer League.
Attendees shared words about what the Riverside Park community means to them.
About Riverside Park Conservancy
From 59th Street to 181st Street, from riverfront to city-side, Riverside Park Conservancy cares for and enhances six miles of parkland for present and future generations. Working together with NYC Parks, we make improvements as diverse as the park itself and the city it serves.