Bryant Park Used as Model for Park Management

An article in Comstock’s, a Sacramento-based business newsletter, caught our eye recently. Titled “New Midtown Parks Group to Activate Five Sacramento Parks,” the article reports on the plans made by the Midtown Association, a Sacramento BID, to form a sub-association which will use private funding to activate five parks “by making infrastructure improvements and planning schedules chock-full of activities.”

Sound familiar? It should. As the article states, the new organization is modeled on Bryant Park, a public-private partnership between NYC Parks and Recreation and Bryant Park Corporation.

One of the Sacramento parks involved, Fremont Park, has already benefitted from the BID’s support. Once a hotspot for drugs, it now hosts free yoga classes, an outdoor movie festival, and more. That not only brought more people to the park, it also spurred business owners to get more involved in their neighborhood park. “Now, Fremont is a community gathering place and a real amenity for the neighborhood,” a local restaurant owner is quoted saying.  

Parks are crucial factors in making cities livable. This article efficiently hits many of the ideas and concepts that have guided us in creating dynamic public spaces, and is well worth a read.