Piedmont group pays off

The conservancy has reeled off many successes in the past decade, protecting and improving the park that for more than a century has been Atlanta's prime gathering place. While some of its actions have drawn criticism, it has received raves both locally and nationally and become a model for other park groups.

The group, patterned after New York's Central Park Conservancy, has grown into a money-raising juggernaut. It has pulled in $65 million in contributions in the past 12 years, drawing support from Coca Cola, Cousins Properties and UPS, whose executives have also manned its board.

In 2007 alone, records show, the conservancy raised $12 million in kicking off its current capital campaign, and the group says its spends more than $3 million annually to run the park. By comparison, its partner, the Atlanta Department of Parks, Recreation & Cultural Affairs, hopes to get $11 million next year from the cash-strapped city to maintain its roster of 334 parks.

Piedmont is not Atlanta's oldest park or its largest, but is its pre-eminent public green space. Piedmont was the site of a horse-racing track and the 1895 Cotton States and International Exposition before becoming a public park. It's hosted the city's biggest festivals. And last week, the conservancy announced Paul McCartney would play a fund-raiser concert in the park Aug. 15.

Public vs. private

The public-private partnership between the city and the conservancy is widely viewed as the emerging model for cities to maintain and add parkland. The National Park Service cited the conservancy in a 2007 report on "best management practices" in urban parks.

"It's spoken of in the same terms of Central Park, Golden Gate Park and Millennium Park [in Chicago]," said Atlanta parks Commissioner Dianne Harnell Cohen.

The conservancy, with 32 employees, performs 90 percent of Piedmont Park's maintenance, oversees security and manages the facilities. The city, which paid $175,000 toward operating costs last year, picks up trash, mows and has police patrols.

But some say the "private" half of the conservancy-city relationship sometimes elbows out part of the public mission. The conservancy's support of a new pay parking deck in the park has drawn criticism. The renovation of several facilities into money-generating entities has raised concerns that the park may become exclusionary, and some say the conservancy's fund-raising success limits the possibilities for other city parks.

Doug Abramson was in the group that founded the conservancy, but later broke with his comrades. "It's a corporate board. Citizens are tokens," he said.

"How do you balance the revenue-generation potential with the fact that it is a public park?" asked Abramson, who unsuccessfully sued to stop the new six-level parking deck. The new deck's fees, roughly $2 per hour, have drawn complaints from visitors.

Abramson said renovated park facilities like Greystone, Magnolia Hall and the Clara Meer Dock and Visitor Center are primarily money-generating facilities. In 2007, rentals of the Visitor Center and Magnolia Hall generated nearly $750,000. It costs $4,500 to rent Greystone on a Saturday; drinks are a minimum of $3,500 more.

In a public park, "price can be an exclusionary mechanism," said Aaron Worthy, an urban planner and former conservancy member.

Conservancy president Yvette Bowden is unapologetic. "At a baseline, you want a clean, safe, sustainable park —- and that's not cheap," she said. To meet its operating costs of $3.2 million a year, dependable revenue is needed. The conservancy tries to reduce rental fees for community groups, she said.

'It sets the bar'

It's estimated that more than 3 million people use the park annually. That number could increase to 5 million when the plan to expand by 53 acres is realized.

The $41 million effort will build an interactive fountain and public area called "Piedmont Commons," restore overgrown meadows and woods and convert culverted Clear Creek to its natural state. It is expected to be finished by the end of next year.

"They have added value beyond the basic standards" of administering the park, commissioner Cohen said of the conservancy. "That's why they are such a valued partner."

Other Atlanta parks —- notably Chastain and Grant —- have formed conservancy groups. But they are light years away from Piedmont's. In 2006 and 2007, Chastain's conservancy generated $558,000 in revenue, according to IRS records. Grant Park's brought in $55,000.

Other parks' needs?

It was a long struggle to gain credibility, said Semrau, who lived across 10th Street from the park.

In 1983, Friends of Piedmont Park was formed after a master plan suggested $3 million in improvements and an outside organization to help assist in fund-raising.

The Friends became the conservancy in 1989, and in 1992 entered into an agreement with the city to help run the park. It took a couple more years to hammer out a master plan that allowed the group to get going in earnest.

Worthy thinks other conservancy groups face trouble getting similar support from deep-pocket benefactors. "People don't give to good causes. They give to people they know."

It's up to the mayor, City Council and parks commissioner to try to direct donors toward other park needs, he said.

Conservancy vice president Monica Thornton said her group mentors others about fund-raising and organization, and that the "public" portion of the public-private relationships always remains in the forefront.

"This is a great template for people elsewhere," she said.