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(Janet Anderson, Ph.D., is the author of the book Island in the City, and an employee of the City of Detroit Budget Department. Below, in a special piece for thedetroiter.com, Anderson writes about Belle Isle's role in Detroit's history and the steps that need to be taken to ensure the park's future.)

A city's public spaces say a lot about the character, worldview, and hopes of the city's people. What do we want Belle Isle Park to say about Detroiters, and about Detroit?

Belle Isle is one of the finest of the parks created during the 19th-century park movement in America. During the second half of the 19th-Century, every major city in America initiated plans for major parks that would change the cultural landscape. These showcase parks joined the "City Beautiful" movement for order and aesthetics in rapidly growing cities, spurred on by increased popular interest in science and the healthfulness of natural environs.

The result was great public spaces throughout the country, such as New York's Central Park, Chicago's Lakeshore District, Philadelphia's Fairmount Park and Detroit's Belle Isle. These parks uniquely married nature, recreation and leisure opportunities, and cultural activities in a way that goes far beyond what we refer to as recreation today. It's this balance of natural and cultural values that distinguishes Belle Isle and the great parks, and that demands preservation.

THE GREAT SPACE

There's little doubt that Belle Isle is the most complete park space in the region. It offers the best place to enjoy the Detroit River, the best mix of activities in a walkable area, and one of the most authentic historic experiences of Detroit that is available today. Yet the island's greatness stems as much from what it represents as it does from what it offers. Belle Isle may be most loved for its role in making the city everyone's.

Indeed, the Great Space is urbanity at its most vital. Public space is an area that is shared by everyone in a community. To what extent are the public investments of today - think new stadia - equally available to all people, or designed to entertain everyone?

In the process of creating Belle Isle after the City purchased the property in 1879, Detroit changed from merely a place to make money, to a home and community and place to live.. A beautiful architectural environment - an important part of the park's designation on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 - complements a tradition of distinctive entertainment activities, civic gatherings, and personal leisure opportunities that were only made possible by generations of public works investment.

Along with the Art Museum, the first cultural institutions in the city were built on Belle Isle (the zoo, followed by the Aquarium and Conservatory in 1904). The planning of the park was linked to acquisition of land for a great "Grand" boulevard to ring the City, and the siting of park monuments spurred beautification efforts that preceded the City Plan Commission. Public works projects made the park so attractive that parkland was subsequently added throughout the City, resulting in thousands of acres spread across dozens of parks.

Noted architect Albert Kahn left his mark all over Belle Isle, in fact, cutting his teeth on the Conservatory (photo by Aaron Mertes) and Aquarium project in 1904 and the Italianate Casino in 1907. His Livingston Lighthouse design is one of the least known of the park's great architectural works, the only art deco white marble lighthouse working today. The Scott Fountain and adjacent 100 formal grounds still provides an excellent example of the Beaux Arts planning school, worthy of the international competition leading to Cass Gilbert's design in 1917. Eliel Saarinen's simple lines in the skating pavilion will be much better known once its restoration is complete early in 2004. The Detroit Boat Club building at the park entrance - said to be the first reinforced concrete structure in the nation - is endangered today though used by the very active Detroit Rowers

In fact, use of the park has never been higher. While joggers and bikers are often overwhelmed on nice summer days by cruisers on the over-expanded Shoreline Drive, any day is the right day at the park for nature lovers.

Consistent with Frederick Law Olmsted's 1882 recommendations for the park, three lakes, a lagoon and wetlands complement a forest preserve with a tree palette unique to the northern region. The hiking path leading from the Victorian athletic shelter, behind the old zoo, is an excellent tour of the preserve. Infrastructure work and landfill extensions over subsequent decades contributed to a transformation of the space from its original ecology, explained by Suzan Campbell, City of Detroit Naturalist (2001):

"Prior to European settlement, Belle Isle was covered with a constantly changing matrix of marsh, wet prairie and wetland forest, which varied as the river rose and fell…. Although the vegetation was adapted to periodic flooding, the people using the island viewed it as an obstacle to be overcome; by the end of the 1800s, the entire island had been ditched for drainage, and the marshes had begun to be filled. Through the foresight of Frederick Law Olmsted, a large portion of the island was preserved as forest in a relatively undeveloped state." (2001)

In addition to City resources, philanthropic investment has been important in transforming the landscape, in the form of memorials, and activities of nonprofit organizations such as the Detroit Historical and Zoological Societies, and in recent decades, the Friends of Belle Isle and Belle Isle Botanical Society. The City experimented with management and financing structures just to make this novel undertaking possible.

HOW DETROIT COULD IMPROVE PARK MANAGEMENT:
UNDERSTANDING TRENDS IN SHOWCASE PARKS TODAY

Resources for park maintenance have been at issue since the City began to develop its substantial parks system over a century ago. The Master Plan for Belle Isle prepared in 2000 by Hamilton Anderson Associates for the City estimates that $180 million is needed for park improvements. Belle Isle is a showcase of Detroit - as the East Riverfront Conservancy leaders put it - part of the front door and "living room" of Detroit. Several proposals have been put forth to help the park get the specialized attention it requires.

New staffing arrangements and dedicated revenues - tried with much success in other cities - provide more autonomy, flexibility and revenue-raising opportunities. Traditional municipal arrangements for accomplishing capital improvements, park maintenance, and cultural institution support are giving way to partnerships in the form of conservancies or management contracts. During the last twenty years, increasing activism of nonprofits and private interests has helped to relieve the dependency on public funds and provide more specialized attention to park requirements. Alternative funding sources are of growing importance: dedicated funding for the park function; grants and other contributions; even special assessments and developer impact fees.

1. NEW STAFFING ARRANGEMENTS:
Short of selling the island, the City has many alternatives to the current arrangement. In 1970, Detroit voters approved leasing the management of Belle Isle to the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority, but the plan was defeated by a five-county vote in 1972. Other cities use regional authorities or parks districts, and service contracts to provide additional maintenance and sanitation activities effectively and at low cost. Downsizing in a union town would be difficult, but would not be required. Delegating tasks to nonprofit organizations could harness volunteerism and maximize historic tax credits available to them.

Conservancies/alliances are nonprofit coalitions of community, business, citizens, and institutions, in partnership with the City Government to raise funds and address the special needs of showcase parks, particularly through planning and capital improvements. These are forming in almost every other city:

• Friends of City Park in New Orleans (1979) - responsible for raising funds for capital acquisitions and improvements; are developing an endowment to maintain the forest.
• Central Park Conservancy in New York (1980) - raises 80% of Central Park's $17 million annual operating budget; 250 staff and 1200 volunteers manage all park operations except for Police. Has raised $270 million to date for park improvements
• Forest Park Forever in St. Louis (1986) - Mayoral-appointed Advisory Board and 6500 membership raise funds to help implement Master Plan infrastructure improvements.
• Prospect Park Alliance of Brooklyn (1987) - implements infrastructure improvements identified in its Strategic Plan, by operating the carousel, boathouse, skating and food concessions.
• Olmsted Parks Conservancy in Buffalo (1994) - organizes collaborations around specific functions, such as the consortium of governmental and nonprofit agencies reforesting the Olmsted Loop.
• Emerald Necklace Conservancy in Boston (1996) - work program focuses on restoration, maintenance, and educational outreach.
• Pittsburgh Park Conservancy (1996) - restores Schenley Park, Frick, Riverview and Highland Parks.

Management Contracts give specific delegations of public authority or land use to nonprofit organizations or private companies for public purposes:

• The City of New York contracts with the Central Park Conservancy for all operations except Police.
• The City of Boston contracts for park rangers for Emerald Necklace Park space.
• Milwaukee County has recently begun leasing pavilions in Lake Park. The Milwaukee Harbor Commission since 1992 has contracted the management of the main public shorefront parcel under its responsibility (Maier Park, site of Summerfest and other festivals).
• Since 1993, the Chicago Lakeshore Parks District has privatized the zoo, harbors, Soldier Field, equipment maintenance, and garbage pickup.
• Pittsburgh's Phipps Conservatory and Brooklyn's Botanical Gardens are among the privately managed.

Single Purpose Districts or Regional Governments are public organizations with autonomy to focus primarily on the park, or which draw from a broader regional base:

• Lakeshore Parks District in Chicago - the Executive is appointed by the Mayor, but the district has its own Charter, tax levy and budgetary authority; starting in 1994, has privatized major functions, partnered more, and increased non-tax revenues from 21% of funding to 28% (by 1996). Spends twice as much per resident as in New York, and three times as much as in Los Angeles.
• Fairmount Park Commission in Philadelphia - headed by independent 17-member board, supported by 75 private Friends organizations and $4 million trust; park acreage managed extends outside of the city.
• Milwaukee County Department of Parks, Recreation and Culture - maintains almost all shorefront in the City of Milwaukee from the general County tax levy.

City Departments - traditional bureaucratic organizations with multiple functions - are starting to share park management responsibilities, but parks usually compete with all other traditional government activities for general tax support:

• Baltimore Department of Recreation and Parks
• Boston Parks and Recreation Department
• Buffalo Department of Human Services, Parks and Recreation
• Cincinnati Park Board
• Detroit Recreation Department - modest nonprofit support for the park, the Conservatory and the Dossin Great Lakes Museum; Zoological and Historical Departments also manage island facilities.
• New York Parks and Recreation Department - administers Prospect Park with considerable support
• San Diego Park and Recreation Department
• San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department

2. DEDICATED REVENUE STREAMS:

The island currently competes for funding with 4 other divisions within the Recreation Department, which itself competes with 30 other City of Detroit agencies for scarce tax resources. Putting Belle Isle Park funding into a separate governmental fund might give more confidence to potential donors that their contributions will be matched by City effort.

An admission fee has been proposed, estimated to initially generate $4.6 million gross per year. This revenue would support $43 million revenue bonds for capital improvements. Development fees from the Grand Prix or other large events could be maximized.

The City of Detroit would need State of Michigan approval to levy a millage for either Belle Isle or the Recreation Department, and a metropolitan tax of any form would require majority vote in the affected counties. A proposal to establish a cultural tax levy in southeast Michigan was narrowly defeated in 2000 and 2002. Special hotel taxes or a City sales tax to support the Recreation Department or Belle Isle would also require State of Michigan approval.

Something must be done for the island, and other cities' efforts can be a model. Public-Private partnerships have been successful when the municipalities give up some authority. Master Plans can spur improvements by uniting everyone around one vision. Defining the respective roles of government and all the park stakeholders can increase the effectiveness of each. But there is no substitute for the commitment of money and individuals' time.

Below are some examples of Dedicated Taxes or Funds for City Parks in General:

• Chicago Lakeshore Parks District - tax levy was over $200 million in 1999
• City of Boston Parkman Trust Fund - four full-time maintenance positions and some supplies
• Allegheny County Regional Asset District - new 1% sales tax helps fund Pittsburgh's Schenley Park and Phipps Conservatory operations under 10-year contracts, and provides capital.
• St. Louis taxing district - new ½ cent sales tax dedicated to capital for cultural institutions provided $17 million for Forest Park
• San Diego - Balboa Park Endowment of the San Diego Foundation ($2 million principal); citywide open space assessment on utility bills, developer impact fees, and Maintenance Assessment Districts in neighborhoods support other parks functions
• San Francisco hotel tax and Open Space Program property assessment - support Recreation and Park Department activities

In addition, many Showcase parks rely on large Grants or Private Contributions:

• Brooklyn's Prospect Park Alliance - received $500,000 from a local Trust, and a $500,000 match
• Central Park Conservancy - endowment is worth about $65 million
• Philadelphia Fairmount Park - Friends organizations provide $2 million and 21,000 volunteers per year; in 1996, the Penn Foundation granted $26 million for facilities and new education programs.
• St. Louis "Restoring the Glory" capital campaign - in 5 years, Forest Park Forever has raised $38 million of its half of the $86 million total cost of the new Master Plan for Forest Park.

Finally, User Fees for certain park facilities have been implemented:

• Admissions are often charged to cultural institutions or attractions at the parks, but never to enter any park itself. New Orleans' City Park, for example, receives no public subsidies; but sports, amusements, cultural facilities and other activities in the park are all separate self-sustaining operations.

In summary, the City of Detroit can support an increased role for island advocates, and improve the performance of current park operations, by maximizing revenues and restructuring park management, in the following ways:

1. Develop a clearly-focused organizational framework for park management, including facilitating coalitions among recreational and cultural stakeholders.
2. Discuss the proposed Belle Isle Master Plan broadly, and adopt and follow a clear roadmap of capital improvements.
3. Create a nonprofit arm to implement the Master Plan, in the local model of the Detroit Zoological and Historical Societies, and the national model of St. Louis Forest Park Forever, in order to elicit more philanthropic and volunteer investment.
4. Analyze more closely the trends in contracting for park management tasks, and then move forward aggressively on any park operations that will improve the park experience.
5. Maximize revenue-generation of activities and operations on the island.

6 WAYS BELLE ISLE CHANGED DETROIT FOREVER:

By Redefining Public Space … into something that all members of society could and should share. It was the most ambitious public space project in Detroit, and the first envisioned for all to use together.

By Promoting Culture, Recreation and Leisure … spurring development of unique institutions, throughout the region. It showcased the natural world, provided a focal point for civic gatherings, and stimulated memorial sculptures. The popularity of the park led the city to develop more park space and program activities.

By Sparking Distinctive Residential Development … because of the protection of fresh water supplies. Business interests fought to develop the island with manufacturing and a railroad junction; instead, some of the most distinctive residences in Detroit were built facing the island across the River.

By Helping Spur Drive for Local Government … after intense controversy about its purchase caused the State to repeal the citizen meeting requirement in local budgetmaking. The push culminated in "Home Rule" in 1908.

By Promoting Citywide Planning … by the beauty of the park's landscape design, which fueled the move toward a more beautiful and orderly physical environment. Its aesthetics and mix of land uses, supplied a vision for the Cultural Center, Grand Boulevard, Palmer Park and other developments.

By Elevating Detroit's status … nationally and internationally, as a place with a high quality of life.

To order Janet Anderson's book Island in the City, or to find out more about Belle Isle, visit The Friends of Belle Isle at www.fobi.org; or order Island in the City directly by sending your check for $20/book , plus $4 shipping ($2 shipping for each additional book) by U.S. Priority Mail to: Friends of Belle Isle, 8109 East Jefferson Avenue, Detroit 48214. Or call (313) 331-7760.

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