5 Minutes With The East Midtown Greenway Team
East Midtown Greenway, Awards for Excellence in Urban Open Space Finalist
Sue Donoghue, Commissioner, NYC Department of Parks & Recreation
Who has had the greatest influence on your career and what was the best advice he or she gave you?
I have been fortunate to have many significant mentors in my career, but one who particularly stands out is Ellen Schall. I had the privilege of getting to know Ellen when she was the Dean of the NYU Wagner School of Public Service and I was a graduate student. Ellen taught a course called “Reflective Practice, Learning from Work,” and the throughline was the importance of understanding yourself in the context of others—your strengths and weaknesses—in order to be able to lead effectively. I have considered and incorporated this reflective practice throughout my career and in many varied roles. I know my strengths and capabilities as a leader and also know areas for improvement, and I strive to both adapt and involve others to strengthen the team as a whole. Ellen also believes that leadership is a lifelong practice, something that resonates with me and is a consistent focus – both learning from my own experiences and the experiences of others.
As a ULI NY Awards nominee, what makes you most proud of your project?
This project is an excellent example of how our public spaces can deepen New Yorkers’ connections to the city – both the built environment and the nature that surrounds us. By filling a critical gap in the borough-wide greenway network, the East Midtown Greenway makes it easier than ever to bike, jog, or stroll along Manhattan’s waterfront. We know that not all neighborhoods have the same level of access to greenspaces, and this project is an important step toward ensuring that all New Yorkers can enjoy all the mental and physical health benefits of time outdoors. The new greenway is also helping reconnect New Yorkers with our waterfront. Despite being a city of water, New York has historically been cut off from the waterfront, particularly many of the low-income neighborhoods that our Manhattan Waterfront Greenway loop is connecting. Through our Vital Parks analysis, we found that currently, only about 30% of people live within a 10-minute walk of the water. Thanks to this project, New Yorkers can travel from across the borough to step out above the waves on this beautiful esplanade.
What excites you about the future of New York City?
Our greenspaces are being appreciated more and more for their essential role in our city – policymakers and regular New Yorkers alike are seeing our parks as key for the livability of our city, not as luxuries for well-off communities. We recently launched our “Vital Parks for All” plan, which is dedicated to recognizing our shared greenspaces—parks, playgrounds, pools, greenways, and more—as essential, living infrastructure, and ensuring that all New Yorkers have access to these critical resources. We’re making an initial investment of over $3 billion, through the lens of equity, across ten strategic priorities, including expanding our citywide tree canopy with a focus on heat vulnerable neighborhoods, acquiring new parkland in underserved areas, and building and retrofitting recreation centers across the city to ensure New Yorkers have affordable access to high-quality gyms and programming.