Physical changes happening in
parks are an ideal opportunity for community involvement, and residents can
have a tangible impact on their neighborhood by contributing ideas about park
design. The Capital Projects
division of the Parks Department designs new parks and plans renovations for
existing ones. The opportunity for
input into CapitalÕs design process is the scope meeting. At
scope meetings, Parks staff, the designer, elected officials, residents, and
community board representatives come together at the site to share ideas about
the future park or park to be transformed. The designer gathers ideas from everyone present and
incorporates them into the parkÕs design.
Volunteers and community organizations are welcome to attend scope
meetings and contribute their ideas.
Volunteers from Dred Scott
Bird Sanctuary in the South Bronx participated in scope meetings and had a
profound impact on their park.
Parks acquired property on
Grant Avenue between 169th and 170th streets in
1995. Inspired by Ann Adams and
supported by former City Councilman Wendell Foster, residents Troy Lancaster
and Jim Beer founded the Dred Scott Bird Sanctuary (DSBS) as a GreenThumb
garden on the undeveloped parkland in 1996. Nobody believed that there could be a bird sanctuary in the
Bronx, but Troy and Jim planted to attract a variety of avian species, and many
colorful birds started to make their homes in Morrisania. The sanctuary is now thriving: music of
songbirds carries into surrounding streets, and the garden, full of fruit trees
and flowering vines, is a green refuge from the city streets. Troy says that his neighbors are
impressed that the birds in the garden are Òas pretty as birds you see in a pet
shop, but theyÕre in your community.Ó
Soon after the founding of
DSBS, Parks de-mapped the block of Grant Avenue running through the parkland
and made the area into a unified park.
With such large-scale projects, parks are built in stages, and Troy and
DSBS member Robert Garmendiz attended scope meetings for each phase of
design. Their Outreach
Coordinator, Maria Luisa Cipriano, informed them when meetings were taking
place and encouraged them to attend and share their ideas. As longtime residents and the most
persistent presence in the park, DSBS members were uniquely qualified to
describe the uses that Grant Park should accommodate. Robert went to a scope meeting where the idea of building a
baseball diamond was presented. He
pointed out that there was already a baseball diamond at a high school across
the street, that building one on the hilly site in question would be time
consuming and expensive, and that seniors in the neighborhood needed a place to
sit and stroll. A passive
recreation area with meandering paths, benches, and trees opened at the site in
2006.
Local participation in park
design gave the community facilities it needed and encouraged neighbors to take
responsibility for caring for Grant Park.
Troy went to a scope meeting and explained that children in the
neighborhood needed a place to play.
A playground was completed in 2003. ÒYou can build a park and if thereÕs no community
involvement itÕll be trashed in three months. Our playground is three years old and itÕs beautiful,Ó
observes Troy.
The playground is packed with
local children in the afternoons, after schools let out. Troy opens the playground in the
mornings and locks it up at night, and now when he comes to close up around
8pm, people know that itÕs time to leave and head towards the exit without
being asked. Park users know and
respect Troy because they see him caring for the park, whether heÕs planting in
the Bird Sanctuary or picking up trash in the playground. Troy says, Òwe need the Parks
Department and they need us.Ó
Parks has built beautiful new facilities in Grant Park, but it is up to
volunteers like him to care for them.
The final phases of
construction will begin soon: the block of Grant Avenue bisecting the park will
be closed, and more recreational features, including a soccer field and an
amphitheater, will open in the next few years. Getting involved in Capital projects requires patience, but
the DSBS volunteers are not discouraged by the time it is taking to see their
vision become a reality. Robert
appreciates that the process Òhas given us time to grow and get smarter.Ó TheyÕve learned that, with any new park
feature, Òyou donÕt want to build it and then leave it empty,Ó and so are using
this time to plan programs for the park.
They may use the amphitheater for graduation ceremonies, promoting
education in their community by staging these celebrations in a beautiful
public setting.
Ultimately, the involvement
of volunteers in shaping the design of a park empowers the entire
community. Troy and Robert say
that their neighbors are still incredulous about the street being closed and
turned into park space. Once the
park is finished, Robert is confident that Òpeople will see that they can do
it, too. They can change their
neighborhood. ItÕs hard work, but
things get done eventually.Ó
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Visiting DSBS today is like
entering a magical space, a ÒsanctuaryÓ from the hard, gray concrete and
asphalt of the city. Jim and Troy
allowed the design of the garden to develop organically: they laid out winding
trails and planted native trees and flowers, letting nature determine what
would grow there. Some of the
trees were donated by the New York Botanical Garden, which has encouraged and
supported DSBS since its inception.
Jim recalls that they put things in the ground and waited to see what
wanted to live there, cultivating the plants that thrived and learning to avoid
the ones that struggled. The
result is an informal yet artistically composed landscape full of unexpected
treasures, such as an array of fruit trees and bushes most people would not
expect to find in the Bronx.
Blackberries, raspberries, apples, peaches, plums, cherries, currants,
and elderberries all bloom in the garden, and they are plentiful enough to feed
the birds and the neighbors, who stop by the bird sanctuary throughout the
summer to ask for ripe fruit. The
fruit, grown without pesticides, is cleaner than anything found in supermarkets
and introduces people to the benefits of eating locally grown foods.
With the support of City
Councilwoman Helen Foster, the volunteers of DSBS are laying out ambitious
plans for the future of the garden.
They hope to install new walking paths and benches, solar panels for
electricity, a chicken coop, and a system for collecting rainwater in a
naturalistic pond so that the reusable water will become another component of
the Dred Scott ecosystem. They
also want to erect a geodesic dome.
Heralded by visionary architect Buckminster Fuller as the shelter of the
future, these domes are lightweight and sturdy, and they can cover a large area
with few building materials. The
dome is an open frame that can be covered to provide protection from the rain.
The dome will be just one
component of an environmental education program based in the park, sheltering
students from the rain and also introducing students to innovative design. The education program, called the DSBS
Learning Center, is the brainchild of teacher and DSBS member Patricia
Grant. Patricia plans to start the
Learning Center in the summer of 2008.
A group of fifteen five- and six-year-olds from local elementary schools
will spend five weeks in the garden during July and August. Patricia will introduce the children to
nature, teaching them about birds, flowers, and trees, allowing them to enjoy
the beautiful green space of the garden, and, most importantly, teaching them
that they are responsible for respecting and caring for the earth. The curriculum will follow New York
State Learning Standards and the impact of the program on the students will be
carefully measured and documented.
By instilling the value of conservation at such a young age, Patricia
hopes to have a lasting impact on the future of these children and the
neighborhood they will inherit.
Troy explains: ÒWe want to put these kids in more green and less
gray. If we can put these kids in
the green, weÕll make good citizens.Ó
Although it has been in
existence for more than ten years, people are still shocked when they hear that
there is a thriving bird sanctuary in the Bronx. The volunteers at DSBS hope that someday the garden and its
avian inhabitants will become a popular attraction. They dream of the day when buses will bring tourists to
visit, seniors to sit and enjoy the birds, and students to learn about the
environment.