In light of the recent vandalism incident at Delaware Park (and other Olmsted Parks), some people are wondering what they can do to help. As much as the Olmsted Conservancy loves all of the help with tree plantings, there are even easier ways to make a difference that don’t involve rolling your sleeves up. By texting PARKS to 20222, you will automatically be making a $10 donation that goes towards park improvements, including tackling vandalism.
Sometimes we don’t think about how much our Olmsted Parks play an everyday role in our lives. What would Buffalo be without this historic park system? If you shop at the Bidwell Farmers’ Market, you use the parks. If you play golf at Delaware or Caz, you’re using an Olmsted park. If you skated for free at The Lodge this winter or sledded down Shakespeare Hill, you used the parks. Maybe you’ve though about joining in on the drum circle at Riverside. In any case, our parks connect us. They bring quiet and calm into a cityscape. They provide us with wedding day backdrops, dog walking spots, places to jog, bike, row and open areas to fly a kite.
The road to recovery is a long one thanks to ‘visionaries’ like Robert Moses, but one day we will reclaim much of what we have lost over the years. In my lifetime I want to see, first hand, what the Quarry Gardens look like. I want to sit in a Calvert Vaux bandshell and go to a function at the Lakeview House. There are some incredible advancements taking place at Olmsted – advancements like the reconstruction of the Humboldt Basin at The Parade (see here) and the restoration of the Parkside Lodge back into a community gathering place. None of these dreams-to-realities would be possible without the community’s support.
$10 may appear to be a small step towards the larger advancements, that is true. But with enough people making that single donation to one of the city’s greatest non-profits, Olmsted can attempt to combat lowlife vandals while continuing to make significant improvements that make our daily lives even better.
I hear that there were around 100 kids at Delaware Park the night that the vandalism occurred. I find it hard to believe that there is not one person who can come forward to identify just one of the jerks that caused the damage. If you recognize one of the tags, step forward. If you think you know who was behind this, do the right thing and place a phone call. Once again:
Those
with information regarding the vandalism are asked to contact the
Buffalo City Police tip line, (716) 847-2255, and or the Buffalo Olmsted
Parks Conservancy, (716) 838-1249.
*National Garden Festival