The cost of renting a public park
When a public park closes and people aren’t sure why, nobody likes it. I began getting email and text messages in the middle of last week about the big white tent going up in the middle of Schenley Plaza. Workers had fenced it off; security had been set up; and cryptic little green signs were posted on the fencing, saying only: “This Plaza is Reserved For a Private Event.”
The queries were all in “what the ... why of all the ... you oughta” variety. I contacted the city and the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy to find out what was up.
Two University of Pittsburgh alumni were having a wedding in the big tent Saturday. The neighboring restaurant, The Porch, provides the catering for such events and it was closed Friday and Saturday, too. Anyone with enough money could do what this couple was doing. The conservancy advertises the rental rates on its website.
The entire plaza was closed only Saturday, but most of it was closed for the better part of last week. The conservancy’s advertised rental rates include $ 2,250 for a wedding ceremony and reception under a tent on the 1- acre Emerald Lawn, and $ 7,500 for taking the entire plaza for the day.
The event received a permit from the city’s special events committee,
and there’s a $ 200 fee for that. There’s also a daily site fee of $ 75 “for events of more than one consecutive day.” It was unclear from the list what other fees might have been levied, but it says “all times include setup and clean- up,” and tables, chairs, a stage, lights, tents and such need to be rented separately.
“They paid a rental fee for the day of the event, and made an additional donation equivalent to the cost of use for all additional days,” John Pepper, director of marketing and communications for the conservancy, said in an email. “All revenue will support the maintenance and operations of Schenley Plaza.”
Even if I could find them, I had no interest in calling anyone in the wedding party the day before the wedding to see how big a check went to the city and conservancy. They evidently filled out all the necessary forms and paid all the required fees, so I wish the couple nothing but happiness.
But one wonders what kind of sense it makes for a prominent public park to be wiped out periodically so it can be transformed by the moneyed into their own private party spaces.
The conservancy has devoted $ 200,000 to finance the gathering of petition signatures for a November referendum ( not yet written) on whether to raise property taxes by a half- mill and devote the roughly $ 10 million raised each year to parks. Some of us believe City Council should devote more of the city’s growing revenue to park maintenance and improvements before raising any taxes, but there’s no question the parks need better care.
Keeping the public out of the better part of this plaza for most of a week is not a good way to finance the parks in the interim.
“The cost to operate and maintain this beloved public space is not insubstantial,” Mr. Pepper wrote. “Apart from last year, the plaza has run in the red each year since its opening.”
The plaza opened in the spring of 2006. Before that, it had been a 240space parking lot. Though the Pittsburgh Parking Authority built other parking spaces nearby and reported a net loss of only 68 spaces, the transformation still inconvenienced commuters to Oakland. Pittsburghers accepted that inconvenience because the promise was a little gem of a park, and we got one.
Snatching that green away on an irregular basis with no warning and little explanation is no way to treat the citizenry. The city ought to decide soon that some private events are just too big to hold in Schenley Plaza. It’s a park, not a reception hall.