Riverside Park north of 120th Street has seen years of neglect and disinvestment, which has led to great disparities in amenities, cleanliness, and overall conditions between the Park’s northern and southern tiers.
We are determined to address that – so in 2009, we created our North Park Initiative to focus time, advocacy, and resources on the part of the Park serving West Harlem from 120th to 155th Streets, as well as the shoreline portion of Fort Washington Park through 181st Street, which serves Washington Heights. Those areas are home to communities that are predominantly Black or Latinx, who experience poverty rates three times greater than the Upper West Side.
We are determined to address the way that systemic lack of investment in non-white and low-income neighborhoods has impacted our public parks. As part of our North Park Initiative, and our overall mission, we continue improving conditions in Riverside Park to provide all of our neighbors with the benefits that come along with living in close proximity to top quality parkland.
But we need to do so much more. Rather than hold a traditional gala in 2020, we are asked our neighbors to step up to do something meaningful to address this serious park equity issue, and to help us bridge the gap. We set a goal of 400 donors toward our North Park Initiative in 2020 – one for each acre of parkland we care for – and exceeded the goal by several hundred supporters.
Our work is nowhere near finished, and we continue focusing staff time and resources north of 120th Street – and advocating for more City investment into structural improvements.
