March 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 73

availability of the sorts of amenities
that get people up, moving, walking,
exercising and socializing - amenities like those routinely offered by
park and recreation departments.
Indeed, companies like Greenfields
Outdoor Fitness, helmed by CEO
Sam Mendelsohn, are eager to sign
on to such concepts and often cite
ancillary health benefits as reasons
for including their products - outdoor fitness equipment like chest and
vertical press machines, stair climbers, core strengthening machines and
others - in park renovations or new
builds. " Our goal is to help every local park offer this social, multi-generational fitness opportunity to its community members, thereby filling an
essential role in our society and cementing the public park as a relevant
feature of the modern landscape, "
Mendelsohn said.
Promoting the idea of a deeper connection between healthcare
costs, health impacts and park and
recreation assets advances the argument that such assets are " essential "
to communities, and thus should be
held to somewhat different standards
than investments that could be expected to generate 100 percent cost
recovery. It also brings more partners
to the table, giving wary financers a
better sense of security. " That's the
beginning of checking the boxes to
see if something is financeable, "
Pathik said.
Essential and Financeable
It's helpful to remember, especially
when approaching investment banks
or other holders of investible capital,
that Wall Street is in the business of
" selling you money, " as Pathik puts
it. " Wall Street makes money selling
you money - that is why they care
and that is the basics of it. If [the

amenity or service you're attempting to finance] is not essential, if you
don't have a broad stakeholder group,
if you don't have some revenue or
way of funding it, it's very difficult to
get the attention of Wall Street. "
So, what does it mean to be essential? Dan Gilman of Jefferies Global Investment Bank, which offers
products and services in investment
banking, equities, fixed income and
wealth management in the Americas, Europe and the Middle East
and Asia, shed some light, saying,
" We ask a couple questions right off
the bat - particularly for parks and
recreation, we want to know who is
going to use [an amenity], whether
it will be essential, and, the biggest
thing: Does this generate revenue? "
A project needn't generate piles of
revenue or even recoup 100 percent
of its initial cost to get financing, so
long as investors understand it's an
essential part of a community, some
reliable partners and money are initially brought to the table and some
amount of revenue is reasonably expected to be generated. Beyond Wall
Street there are scores of additional
funding partners that can help bring
essential park and recreation projects
to fruition, including community redevelopment agencies, foundations,
local banks seeking to fulfill community reinvestment act obligations, developers and others. Bob Cornwell,
formerly of CSG Advisory Group in
San Francisco and who lent his voice
to an afternoon panel in San Diego,
provided an overview of common
mistakes made by both the public
and private sector when coming to
the table on such collaborative arrangements. He also emphasized the
importance of ensuring a voice from
the park and recreation field be included from the start of any potential

development or redevelopment project, so that the many benefits - and
essential contributions - of parks
and recreation can be realized by
all involved. " Leverage your assets, "
Cornwell advised. " Everybody wants
what parks have right now. "
To view presentations from the
San Diego Innovation Lab, including
Cornwell's information on common
mistakes and tips for forming useful
and lucrative public/private partnerships, go to www.nrpa.org/innovation-labs-san-diego-california.
Samantha Bartram is the Executive Editor
of Parks & Recreation magazine (sbartram@
nrpa.org).

Innovation
Lab: Boston
Following our most recent sojourn to
sunny San Diego, NRPA is next headed to Boston, Massachusetts, to host
an Innovation Lab on data and technology. May 12-13, NRPA and several
high-level park and recreation professionals, as well as many partners in
our industry, will converge to discuss
the latest trends in technology and
how best to leverage the data we
collect about our programs, facilities,
initiatives and special events.
For the latest information on registration and to access archived information from past Innovation Labs,
visit www.nrpa.org/innovation-labs.
Also, be sure to check our Open
Space blog (www.nrpa.org/blog)
for an upcoming post by NRPA Vice
President of Urban and Government
Affairs, Kevin O'Hara, focused on
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh's Office of
New Urban Mechanics, which seeks
to explore how new technology, designs and policies can strengthen the
partnership between residents and
government.

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March 2016 - Parks & Recreation

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