Prospect Park's Turnaround Expert Set to Retire
“In the 1970s, Prospect Park in Brooklyn looked more like a crime scene than the pastoral refuge imagined a century earlier by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux,” writes the New York Times this morning in a love letter to Tupper Thomas, the longtime head of the Prospect Park Alliance and the person most responsible…
“In the 1970s, Prospect Park in Brooklyn looked more like a crime scene than the pastoral refuge imagined a century earlier by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux,” writes the New York Times this morning in a love letter to Tupper Thomas, the longtime head of the Prospect Park Alliance and the person most responsible for the park’s tough-fought return to glory. When Ms. Thomas started her quest to revive the park in 1980, only two million people a year visited the park; now that number’s over nine million. Her enthusiasm, charm and persuasiveness proved to be winning qualities in garnering the park much-needed funds from both public officials and private donors, according to The Times. Ms. Thomas will conclude her more than three-decade run next year when fundraising for the new Lakeside Center has been completed.
Returning Prospect Park to the People [NY Times]
Photo by *Sparked
She’s great, but her work isn’t finished until the cars are gone and the parking lots are turned green.
Tupper is an amazing lady who has left a great legacy. We moved to the Slope when we got married in ’83, moved to the “other side” of the park in ’85, and believe me, things were still lousy. My overprotective father called the 70th precinct in a panic when I mentioned that I wanted to get a bicycle and ride in the park; the lieutenant told him, “ONLY in daylight, ONLY on the west half of the park, and if I were you, Dad, I’d throw the bike in the river.” (I was 26 at the time, but that’s another story.) The Parade Grounds were a dust bowl that filled with rainwater; now they too are a fantastic resource, and the recent murder there stands out as the exception, not the expected. She didn’t do it alone (the declining crime rate had a lot to do with the rising public use of the park), but she has been an Energizer Bunny Extraordinaire and a true public servant. She deserves every kudo. For my favorite Tupper story and photo, see “A Year in the Park” today (www.ayearinthepark.typepad.com).
As a member of the Park’s ComCom (community committee) I have worked with Tupper Thomas for many years on various Park projects. In addition, living directly across the street from the Park as we do, we’ve also been resident witnesses to the slow but steady and comprehensive restoration of the Park as the jewel of our borough. There’s no question that under Tupper’s park-cherishing, people-loving, fearless leadership, the Park’s transformation has been seriously awesome. I cannot imagine who the heck will fill her shoes when she moves on. In the meantime, Tupper deserves every ounce of praise she gets for a job well done and more!
BTW, Arkady, in case you missed it — here’s the back story on the source of the animal remains that recently popped up in the Park: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/02/at-prospect-park-lake-graceful-swans-and-chicken-feet/?scp=1&sq=Prospect%20Park%20animal%20remains&st=cse At this point, the lake has been cleaned and checked for contamination (and cleared).
BIG shoes to fill, eh Minard.
She is so deserving of all the kudos she is getting and will receive in her year of retirement.
PP and the Alliance is far from perfect, but I am so grateful for what she has accomplished in the last 30 years.
I can’t believe Tupper Thomas is going to retire. This has been her life’s work. And what a contribution to the Borough she has made!
Who could ever replace her?
I love Prospect Park!!! I got married in the Boat House in 2005 and it was incredibly beautiful! I saw the Boat House in ’98-’99 for the first time and it was complete dump in this very magical fairytale setting. I was hoping they would fix it and they did! When it got renovated I knew that was my first and only choice for a wedding location. Thank you Prospect Park Alliance!
There WERE attempts to improve Prospect Park in the ’70s, but they lacked the comprehensive approach taken by Tupper and the Alliance. To give an example: When we lived in Park Slope in the early ’70s, we’d walk through the park on the weekend to hear Goldman Band concerts at the Music Pagoda on the east side of the park.. The pagoda at that time was an ugly shed, supported by iron pipes, the original having burned down some years before. In the mid to late ’70s the Music Pagoda was beautifully restored (and we moved to the side of the park near it). At the inaugural concert, by the Brooklyn Philharmonia, conducted by Lucas Foss, someone threw a rock at the orchestra, damaging an instrument. Foss ended the concert (and, for the most part, the use of that venue).
You mean KRS-ONE doesn’t sleep here no more?
***Bid half off peak comps***
Right on, ENY! Even as late as the early 2000s, that Park was empty on weekdays and muggings and worse happened all the time in the area adjacent to the library. There are still some residual issues, but the space has come a long way. She deserves the praise.