Photo by Alex via Wikimedia Commons
Alongside the celebration, there’s been some grousing about the $100 million gift that John A. Paulson made to Central Park last week—that it’s extravagant, inequitable, etc. On the Huffington Post today, Charles Birnbaum of the Cultural Landscape Foundation lays out the reasons to welcome such generosity to support public open spaces. He speaks with several parks conservancy heads, and with Tupper Thomas, the former longtime president of the Prospect Park Alliance, who says: ”If the city had to shoulder Central Park’s entire operating budget, rather than just 15 percent, how would that impact the budget for the rest of the City’s park system? There would be nothing left.”
