"Going Green".

• Position: Uprgrading and expanding park lands in the U.S. - Brief Article

Platt, Kalvin

Planning, August 2000, pp. 18-21.

This article provides a whirlwind tour of several recent initiatives to expand and upgrade the United States' network of greenways and parks. The author begins by touching on the benefits created by greenways in the past, including property tax revenue gains and the revitalization of some urban riverway ecosystems. He then discusses some of the challenges in establishing greenways, such as jurisdictional overlap and assuring property owners that crime will not result from their proximity to the park system. According to the article, however, funding can be the biggest challenge of all. Major sources of federal funding include TEA21, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and the Forest Legacy Program. Other options that have been utilized in densely developed areas include zoning measures, transfer of development rights, tax incentives for property owners who donate land, and tax...