It’s time for a new landscape for longtime NYC Parks Commissioner, Adrian Benepe, the city announced Monday.
Benepe will be leaving his position of more than a decade for a newly created post focusing on urban park development at Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit group based in San Francisco. He will be working out of the organization’s Manhattan office on a program to expand parkland nationwide.
Benepe is credited with helping add more than 730 acres of parkland across the five boroughs under an administration with an interest in expanding public spaces. Locally, he aided in the Forest Park Greenhouse upgrade and creation of the swamp playground at Juniper Valley Park.
Despite having a reputation with the mayor for “leading transformative changes in every corner of New York City,” the commissioner has been criticized for allowing the upkeep of current parks to slip at the expense of creating new, flashier spaces.
Veronica White, the founding executive director of the city’s Center for Economic Opportunity, has been appointed to succeed Benepe after Labor Day.
“I’m confident she will build on Adrian’s success, and keep making our city parks greener and greater than ever,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
