Revitalizing Urban Parks

"Experts say the Cabbagetown experience is being repeated in communities across the USA as residents and local officials address a problem that hits very close to home: Many of the nation's urban parks are in decline, marred by trash, broken or rusted equipment, poorly maintained trails, graffiti, crime and gang activity..."

The heyday of urban parks was in the 1920s and 1930s, when nearly every city had at least one standout park, says Peter Harnik, director of the Center for City Park Excellence at the Trust for Public Land, a national non-profit conservation organization. 'After World War II, there was a much greater interest in the suburbs,' he says. 'It seemed that everybody would live in the suburbs. From the 1940s through the 1990s, (city) parks went relentlessly downhill.' "