The Central
Park Conservancy has been raising money in order to enhance all of
New York Central Park’s 21 playgrounds. Central Play, its fundraising project, is
seeking to raise $40m from private donations to use in construction enterprises
over the next five years.
While the
Central Park Conservancy itself raises 80 percent of the $45.8m annual budget,
there is still 20 percent to be gleaned from private donors, oftentimes large
corporations. For example, for Central
Play, a donation of $3m has been received by JPMorgan Chase. As well, a year ago, a pledge to the Central
Park Conservancy of $100m was received from John Paulson of Paulson
& Co.
According to
officials from the Conservancy, the project is going to require a capital
injection of $31m. Renovations will have an impact on park users
over the next few years while the projects are being undertaken, but as Dena
Liner of the Central Park Conservancy explained, once the playgrounds that are
temporarily closed re-open, it will be “almost like a big surprise for the neighborhoods that have loved
them, with brand new equipment including new water sprinklers, water features,
climbing structures, brand new swings, sandboxes, everything, so it's going to
be a big surprise for the five million kids who love their park.” Since the majority of the playgrounds were
built in the 1930s and have, for the most part, not been modified in decades,
it will definitely be a “big surprise.”
