Thursday, May 6, 2010

Parks II: On The Other Hand

So, continuing with my musing along the lines of public spaces, I wanted to highlight this little gem I found in the Williamsburg Courier, titled "Retiring Park boss admits: 'I don't like parks'":

Spiegel was appointed Brooklyn Borough Commissioner — the first and only person to occupy the post — 29 years ago when he was 34-years-old.

But he won’t be spending his golden years relaxing in the parks he oversaw.

“I don’t know how much I’m going to use them,” Spiegel said. “I never did — I’d see too many things that pissed me off.”

(...)

And even though he spent close to 30 years with the Parks Department, Spiegel said he could have easily oversaw some other city agency.

“If I had been appointed someplace else I hope I would have done just as well,” he said.
Moral of the story: if nobody cares about something, people like Spiegel will wind up running them.