In the State of CT alone, from 2009-2015 there were 6 Towns we know of (Rocky Hill, New Britain, New London, Haddam, Newington and Glastonbury) where existing municipal or state public lands were threatened with development.  Citizens in each Town organized quickly, fought hard, and all eventually won their battles to save their parks, with the exception of New Britain where A. W. Stanley Park was saved but a portion of Stanley (public) Golf Course was lost.

Many state and municipal governments are looking at their assets as they try to meet budgets in these challenging times, and we anticipate that the battle to save our parklands has only just begun.   Therefore, leaders from at least 3 of these communities are working on telling their stories in a book and hopefully encouraging others to never give up because its worth the fight.   

Recently I met Will Rogers, CEO of the Trust for Public Lands.  The Trust works with government officials and developers and recently celebrated the successful project The Preserve in Old Saybrook, CT. They serve one part of the equation - finding and preserving new parklands.  

However, in most cases with existing parkland, you are fighting against the government or a developer, and therefore other resources are needed.   Will Roger mentioned a new organization with a program that might be able to help:  http://www.rri.org/defenseofplace.php  

According to Rogers, and my own research, there is not a lot of literature out there on how to navigate the public hearings, zoning regs, the law and politics of it, and the press and social media, in order to save existing parkland.   This group hopes to fix that.   In the meantime, if you are trying to save your park, try the Resource Renewal Institute and/or send me an email.   You can do this.

Jackie
Jaclyn.Farnham@snet.net