Paying for Public Parks

Even perpetual problem solver Leslie Knope might be stumped.

For three years now the budgets for city parks and recreation departments have been slashed by double digits, putting them in the most desperate funding predicament of recent memory.

Sure, there are public-private partnerships, grants and corporate giving initiatives helping to make up the difference, but undoubtedly the quickest savior for parks is also the most controversial – levying charges on the very people who use public spaces.  More Read