Treasures Of New York: City Parks, Airing September 9th On Thirteen

In conjunction with NYC Media, the official network of the City of New York, Treasures of New York takes an intimate look at the planning and design of five iconic parks in New York City and shares their rarely-told history. City Parks premiered on Wednesday, September 5, 2012 at 7 p.m. (ET) on WLIW21 and airs on Sunday, September 9, 2012 at 7 p.m. (ET) on THIRTEEN. The film features former New York City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe; former Mayor Ed Koch; Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz; Candice Bergen and other leading members from the Parks Conservancies. After broadcast, the film will be available to national audiences at thirteen.org/treasures-of-ny. The website offers past episodes and conversations with visionaries behind New York’s greatest institutions.

Using archival footage and expert interviews, the film brings to life the history of the five representative parks of each borough which include Bronx’s Pelham Bay Park, Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, Manhattan’s Central Park, Queen’s Flushing Meadows Corona Park, and Staten Island’s Greenbelt. Both engineering marvels and distinctive natural oasis in an urban setting, these public green spaces have transformed the City’s landscape and enriched New Yorkers from all walks of life.

During the Industrial Revolution, New York City began to develop one of the most diverse and dynamic park systems in the country. In Central Park, a swamp was converted into an ice skating rink. In Prospect Park, water was pumped from a well deep below its land to form a lake. Such engineering feats drew spectators during the building of Prospect Park. Through time, Central Park suffered great negligence brought on by the Depression while other parks were radically reimagined and repurposed for a different future. In spite of their sometimes rocky past, five major parks in the five boroughs exemplify the City’s unique natural heritage.

Under Parks Commissioner Robert Moses’ tenure, nearly every park in the City was renovated. Expanding on the vision of Calvert Vaux and Frederick Olmsted, the original landscape architects of Central Park and Prospect Park, Moses created a man-made Orchard Beach in Pelham Bay Park and turned a landfill into Flushing Meadows Corona Park, complete with world-class athletic facilities and museums. Flushing Meadows even once housed the United Nations. However, when Moses had plans to construct a highway system across Staten Island’s woodlands, his efforts were thwarted by citizens who fought to preserve the pristine wilderness, which later became the Greenbelt. This accidental paradise stretches 32 miles through more than 2,800 acres of public and private land in central Staten Island.

Today, New York City’s parks welcome millions of visitors each year. Central Park alone averages 40 million guests per year, second in popularity to Times Square.

From forests to concert stages and wetlands to swimming pools, the City’s parks are a national and global model for cutting-edge design and civic pride. They feature creative re-use of landfills, wildlife preservation, sports and entertainment. Not only do the parks make wildlife universally accessible in a big city, they contain historical structures and outdoor sculptures that maintain New York’s cultural and aesthetic legacy. Perhaps most importantly, City parks reflect democratic values; an open space embracing everyone to come explore nature and enjoy life.

Treasures of New York: City Parks is a production of NYC Media for NYC Life’s Blueprint and WLIW21 in association with WNET, the parent company of THIRTEEN and WLIW21, New York’s public television stations and operator of NJTV.

<< Back to Daily Plants Main.