July 2011 - Parks & Recreation - 20

Who, What, Where & how Around the Parks

Strength in Numbers
144:

The number of parks Milwaukee's " The
Park People " umbrella friends group supports.

30: The number of years that the Friends of

Wildlife Prairie State Park (Illinois) existed as a
supporting citizen volunteer organization before
taking over the management of the park. (The
transition became necessary when the state of
Illinois cut funding for the 2,000-acre park.)

$500,000:

The amount that the Friends
of Wildlife Prairie State Park raised in 2010 to
accomplish that transition.

8: The century (A.D.) in which a Norse runestone
found in Oklahoma was inscribed. The runestone
is now the focal point of Heavener State Park in
Oklahoma. The park's friends group is, in the wake
of Oklahoma state park closures, keeping this
unusual destination park open-in conjunction with
the Heavener City Council.

1995:

The year in which the novel Runestone
was published, offering speculation as to how a
pre-Columbian Viking might have made his way to
Heavener, Oklahoma.

55: The number of acres that will revert to the
original owners of the land (along with the Norse
runestone) if the park closes.

24: The number of columns that once made

up the pergola that was the centerpiece of Kiest
Park in Oak Cliff, Texas-a 1934 Works Progress
Administration project.

11: The number of Oak Cliff residents who

formed the citizen group that got funding for the
restoration of the pergola, as well as construction
of surrounding trails. (The rebuilding will begin later
this year.)

$20.1 million:

The total cost of the
Kiest Park rebuilding project spearheaded by those
11 citizens.

95: The percentage by which crime was reduced
in Meridian Hill Park in Washington, D.C., after it was
adopted by a neighborhood friends group in 1990.
(A 1989 study called the park the " most murderous "
in the region. And a police officer quoted in the
Washington Post called it a " supermarket of drug
dealing. " )

30: The number of Washington, D.C., park

friends groups started as a direct result of the
success of Friends of Meridian Hill.

$12 million: The amount of money

being donated privately to the city of Atlanta for a
parking deck for the popular Piedmont Park.

12: The number of acres of green space no

longer available to the public if that parking garage
is built. For this reason the Friends of Piedmont
Park have campaigned vigorously to turn down
that private donation, to reject the parking deck
plans, and to keep the park as mainly a pedestrian
destination.

1683:

The year William Penn, founder of
Pennsylvania, entered into a treaty with the Lenni
Lenape tribe.

1995:

The year the Friends of Penn
Treaty Park (a municipal park near
Philadelphia) dedicated a statue
of Chief Tamanend, who entered
into that
treaty with
William Penn.
(The friends
group
members
proudly declare
their park to be
the only one
expressly dedicated
to peace.)

Statue of
Chief Tamanend

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July 2011 - Parks & Recreation

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