First Meeting of Parks Conservancy

“It means we got a ton of work ahead of us,” said the New York City native who lives adjacent to Eastwood’s Sunnycrest Park. “It means that we, the residents, have formed this conservancy to help the city Parks Department, to partner with them in raising funds to ensure that these parks are here for generations to come.” At the Conservancy’s first official meeting Oct. 15, members were assigned to committees, such as external affairs, events and tourism, environment and ecology, and volunteer.

Sunnycrest Park: One of the crown jewels of Syracuse greenspaces will receive even more tender loving care now that a Syracuse Parks Conservancy can help the city with maintenance and fund-raising efforts.  MICHAEL DAVIS PHOTO

 

“We expect the volunteer committee to be big,” Behnke said, “because we have such a wide range of parks. We want to build our relationship with the Parks Department, and with a new mayor, now, and the changeover, we don’t know if things will be easier or tougher. That’s why we got the committees going and started building them up to do the heavy lifting. A lot depends on if {Parks Commissioner} Pat Driscoll stays.” 

But Driscoll’s status won’t change the conservancy’s plans. “One of the things we would like to do right away is plant 250,000 trees, over a 10-year period. But you have to have someone take care of the trees, most likely Parks Department employees, so you have to think things out,” Behnke noted.

The conservancy also has to be careful to respect city employee work rules and to not disburse any funds without the parks commissioner’s knowledge or permission. The public-quasipublic relationship will be a tricky one. “We could get a million dollars in today,” said Behnke, “but we couldn’t spend it.”

Currently, 12 citizens sit on the board of the conservancy, though there is room for 21. Anyone is welcome to attend meetings of the conservancy, and get involved in preserving the nearly 1,000 acres of greenspace under the city parks umbrella. Meetings of the Parks Conservancy take place the fourth Thursday of every month, except for this month, when it will be Nov. 18, upstairs at the Palace Theatre, 2384 James St. For more information, visit www.syracuseparksconservancy.com or call 374-7634.

—Molly English-Bowers