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Olmsted Parks Conservancy FTW
As the City of Buffalo prepares to re-assume control over a notorious patronage pit maintenance of its city parks system, the contract whereby the Olmsted Parks Conservancy, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the maintenance and preservation of the city’s Olmsted Parks system is poised to expire. The contract was with the county, after all.
The city, by the way, did not provide the Olmsted Parks with excellent service during the time it ran them.
The city does not seem to be interested in renewing the contract with the conservancy, and the reasons why are so familiar. It’s all about power, jobs, and patronage. From the Buffalo News article:
talks with city officials have gone nowhere since Brown announced in September that the city would retake control of all its parks, playgrounds and recreation centers.
“They’re trying to create an illusion that negotiations are going on. They aren’t,” [Conservancy Chairman David] Colligan said.
It seems to me that it’s far better for the city and region as a whole to have a dedicated not-for-profit group whose sole focus is the loving maintenance of the Olmsted Parks maintain those parks in the positive, successful, and beneficial way they’ve been doing for the past five years. It’s time to take action and be heard.
From their website:
TAKE ACTION
View and Sign the Online Petition
Call your elected officials & tell them how great the parks look today. City Hall Phone Directory
Call/ write /email the media and let them know how much you care about these historic Olmsted Parks.
Join us on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/BFLOparks
In addition:
Call Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown at 851-4841
Tell him you want the city to negotiate a parks agreement with the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy as soon as possible
Tell him that the work of the Conservancy is crucial to the resurgence of this city
Tell him that the Olmsted Parks Conservancy has a track record for success in parks management and fundraising
Tell him you want Clean and Green parks
Ask him why he would want to change a good thing.
Come out and show your support for Buffalo’s Olmsted Parks, this Sunday, December 13th. Bring your family and friends to Martin Luther King, Jr. Park at Fillmore and Best in Buffalo.
Meet by the MLK Jr., Monument at Noon.
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