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City considers private oversight of Mill River Park.
Agreement would be modeled after New York's Central Park.
By Donna Porstner
Staff Writer
The Advocate
The city plans to transfer oversight of Mill River Park to a nonprofit corporation that would oversee the park's care and shepherd it through a major revitalization that's been discussed since the 1920s. Officials plan to enter into a management agreement with the Mill River Collaborative to take over the responsibilities of maintaining the passive downtown recreation area along the banks of the Mill River. It would be the first Stamford park that's not under the jurisdiction of the city's Parks and Recreation Commission. Officials say the idea is to bolster city funds with private money raised by the Collaborative, a corporation founded in 2002 to assist with park restoration.
City Rep. Harry Day, R-13, chairman of the Board of Representatives' Land Use Committee, which is reviewing the proposal, and a member of the Collaborative's board of directors, said the deal would provide a level of service the city could never afford on its own. "The idea is that the city continue to provide the level of support that it has furnished, and the Collaborative is there is provide an incremental level of support to make it a world-class facility," Day said.
But some city officials are reluctant to hand over a city park to a nongovernmental agency. "Right now I am very concerned that an outside agency is going to have full control over this park and do whatever it wants," city Rep. John Zelinsky, D-11, said.
Under the proposed contract, the Collaborative would be charged with creating and maintaining a "first-class urban park." It would take on duties traditionally handled by the parks department, such as landscaping, and removal of litter, trash and graffiti. The group also would provide security, run educational programs and make capital improvements using city tax dollars and private funds.
The Collaborative also would have control over special events, such as concerts and festivals, traditionally approved by the Parks and Recreation Commission.
The arrangement is modeled after New York's Central Park Conservancy, which since 1998 has contracted with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation to provide day-to-day maintenance of the world-famous park. The conservancy raises 85 percent of Central Park's $25 million operating budget through donations from corporations, foundations and individuals, and from other fundraising. The city provides the other 15 percent. Since its founding in 1980, the conservancy has invested more than $450 million in Central Park.
Supporters of such a public-private partnership in Stamford say it will allow the city to support scarce government resources with private dollars. Over the past five years, Mill River Collaborative Executive Director Milton Puryear said his group has raised more than $1 million.
The Collaborative would receive at least $200,000 from the city each year to run the park. In addition, the agency would be allowed to request city funding for capital improvements, just like the Ferguson Library, the Bartlett Arboretum and the Stamford Museum & Nature Center.
The operating budget provided by the city would be in addition to tax dollars from new construction in the Mill River Corridor, which are set aside for park improvements.
The Collaborative would supplement the city's investment with at least $200,000 a year raised privately. The group would be allowed to host fundraisers, sell the naming rights to new park facilities and open concession stands. It would be allowed to charge fees for park programs that could be used to subsidize park operations. If the group does not meet its fundraising obligation, the city could withhold funding.
To give the city more say in Collaborative decisions, Zelinsky has proposed putting a city legislator on its board, formalizing an arrangement that's been in place since the group's inception. "I'm strongly concerned that they are turning over the responsibility from the Parks and Recreation Commission over to this Collaborative, and members of the Collaborative board don't have to be approved by the Board of Representatives like other boards and commissions," Zelinsky said. "So in all fairness, I thought there should be someone to look out for the public interest and let the Board of Representatives know what's going on."
Day said the city is not giving up control over the park because elected officials would still hold the purse strings. Under the proposed agreement, the Collaborative would have to seek city approval for capital improvements of more than $25,000. The city could make its own park improvements, though officials would have to give the Collaborative 60 days' notice. "There are built-in protections here," Day said. The Board of Representatives would oversee the Collaborative just as it oversees the Parks and Recreation Commission, Day said. "This is in no sense ceding control," he said. He likened the arrangement to hiring AFB Construction Management, a private, for-profit company based in Trumbull, to oversee parks maintenance. "AFB runs our parks right now - that's a private entity," Day said. "We have not turned over control of our parks to AFB."
Giving the Collaborative the authority to sell naming rights to new park amenities also is stirring controversy. Long-range park plans call for removing the dam to restore the flow of the Mill River as well as adding a fountain, a skating rink, a carousel and kayak rentals. The city has been slowly acquiring properties around the perimeter of the park to expand it. Eventually, plans call for linking the greenway with Kosciuszko, Southfield and Scalzi parks through a network of trails.
City Rep. Patrick White, D-1, said he's worried about the proliferation of corporate advertising in city parks. He worries if it's allowed in Mill River, it will spread to other city parks. "I don't think we should betray our parks this way," White said. Corporations should donate because they want to be good corporate citizens - not because they get something out of it, he said.
"If that's the only way they'll help out, then quite frankly I don't want their help," White said. "I don't want to be seduced by their advertising."
The contract would require the Collaborative to give the city at least 60 days' notice of plans to name a facility, and the city would have the right to reject a name for "good and significant cause." The contract does not explain what constitutes "good and significant cause," or say who in the city would review the names selected.
The Land Use Committee has recommended giving city legislators the power to veto a name, though the full board has to vote on including such language in the contract. Day said the naming opportunities should be handled tastefully, like at the Palace Theatre and Rich Forum where portions of the building are named after benefactors. If it's tacky, then it won't be an effective fundraising tool, he said."The safeguard is if you don't do it with taste, the contributions will come to a complete halt," Day said.
For the plan to proceed, the Board of Representatives would have approve the contract, as well as separate city ordinances granting the Collaborative naming rights and transferring control of the park to the Collaborative.
"This is still going to be a city of Stamford park - we're not changing that - and hopefully it will be one of our best parks," Day said. "We are just operating it in partnership with the Mill River Collaborative, which can offer much greater resources than the city can provide. Through a private partnership we can do things as a city that we can't do with other parks. We can bring it to a whole other level." The agreement between the city and the Collaborative would be for 10 years, and would be automatically renewed for another five years unless either party opts out.
"If things don't work out right, this arrangement can end," Day said.
Copyright © 2006, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.
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