few yards from main street thmpt story goes like this, the river was once the main stay of the community, the center piece of the community in the 19th century but during the 20th century with industrialization the river became polluted. the river becomes fluted and the city turns its back on the river, forgets about it and believe it or not sort of the ultimate disgrace, in 1960 the state high way department put this on top of it. a 4 lane high way bridge on what uns was the birth place of the community. over time in the 1980's the water became less polluted and cleaner and we began to talk about the publt possibility of reclaiming the falls. that was a very tough sale because when this bridge went up that was 1960, that

meant for 40 years people who live said in greenville all their lives didn't know or remember we had a water fall. we lost the entire institutional memory that the fall existed, the falls that was once the center piece of the city so it was a tough sale. we basically said to people we propose to spends 13 million dollars to build a beautiful park and public garden around a water fall you have never seen, trust us. and they didn't. mr. may,or, i waited until i was reelected to take this on. it was a tough sale because people didn't know the water fall was there. we were tibel remove the bridge and i have the next picture and created falls park. you only

see a slice of it here, but the is a beautiful pedestrian suspension bridge where there was once a 4 lane high way. there is about 20 acres in the park t. is a lush guardsen and what you don't see and do see people and they enjoy it all the time, it is the center piece, but what you don't also see in the picture just a few yards from main street is wep spent 13 million on the park and within a year and a half we had 180 million dollars invested 1 plauck from the park. hotel, condoes, retail, office. we also had launched

from this section is 18 mileoffs bike and walking paths from the water fall. 18 miles up river and 5 miles the other direction. we have tourism now. huge tourism trade. people from the greater at lanlta area come to? joy the rest jaunts down town and the park. the iminties are coming all the time. economic development, tourism, governor school for the arts located, but most of all it is something of tremendous pride for people in the community t. is the identity of the city now and the scepter piece of the city as it was 100 years ago. not bad for a park. thank you very much. >> i want you to know that wasn't too bad for 4 elected officials who were given 2 to 5

minutes each. that is a record right there. >> it is a important subject we are talking about >> mayor price i won't go up against you, you have done amazing things as have all these mayors, but i want to chat about the elephant in the room when it comes to park and public perception qu that is funding. you joined chicago and minneapolis in doing independent funding for your park system which seems like a bold move. can you talk about the debate around that issue? >> sure, the independent funding is not independent district, it is still the mayors system so i still run the park system and the counsel is still the counsel, but it is con strict in state law that allowstuse do something outside the general fungd. the center of the contversey is could we

be trusted to make the right decision. we are given a blank check is what the aopponentants called. we would spend the money and the parks won't improve. the same constituents beat me up about not raising the taxes and people beat me up for trying to raise taxes. difference in local government. the key moment after the election i met with the citizens group looking at deing the parks district, the funding source. and they were pretty much unkwideed and probably leaning against it. this was the first opportunity for me to learn what it was like to be mayor. i said i'll put this on the table. if you don't come windup the recommend i respect that but i will put it on the table because we need to have

the discussion. they went back and thought and recommended to the couns uland counsel pass td. again, there was a huge fear that somehow bureaucrats are getting the mun a. we have a parks [inaudible] appointed by the mayor and conformed by the counsel, we have a overvite group of citizens that review the expenditure plan for the new revenue source so that is how we reach thd compromise and one about 55 percent >> may get other mayors opinions about the fundsing of your s and park squz is this something that is attractive to the rest of you? >> i don't think that is a mechanism we will do. ours are funding in several different stringsism fort worth was at the heart of the [inaudible] drill, the first of the urban drilling and whether you are a drilling fan or not, the fracing brought millions of kls in and why we never allowed

drilling in the parks a lot of the gas is gathered from under the park lands through off site fracing and that money goes into the endowment and trust that generated millions of dollars we can use for the parks. the other piece we leviageed very significantly is public private partnership. we have incredbly generous citizens who love their parks and just recently we accept ad3.1 million dollar grant to redo our rock garden and botanic garden from a family whos parent have been in fort worth forever and took a 80 year old golf course who had seen better days-you know how the golf courses are. it couldn't be habed and wasn't being played and turned it into a community and dog park and

one of the families raised all most a million for the park and the city matches it. the state of texas has grants. with leverage the land and water conservation fund matching our dollar significantly and i'm cochair of mayors for parks so that sign will be funded and due [inaudible] if you mares are not a member of that, there are 40 of us members and encourage to join. it is critical this fund be refunded because all have land and water consurivation costs: the other tool that we use on parkicize a new development going in. i mentioned we are a very sprawled out city, good or bad we just are and growing, but our dwechers have to dedicate 3 acres of park for every thousand of population and have to dedicate a certain amount of

money up and to help program it >> we would kill for 3 acres in san francisco. >> i had a question for mayor murray, it sounds like you didn't have to go to had voter tooz change that stream of revenue >> we did, it went to the balt last august and won by 55 percent. >> 55 percent. how long was -how long did it take to have that conversation so you felt more comfortable in presenting it to the voters >> i sent the recommend in january and think the sounsal sent it to the had balt in may and passed it august. over basically a 8 mujt period of time >> had it ever been lifted before? >> not in seattle, had t had in other cities >> i ask that because we started a conversation here with the parks alliance about a

steady stream of revenue fl parks. we had great success in the 4 year anniversary of our parks bonds and have done very well in the parks bonds and those bonds produced very high quality parks and thing this is where i think the billings of the public trust happened because everyone watched what you have din in the past to complete all these projects and then when you do invite, as i know mayor price talked about, when you invite philanthropy the first thing is how to hold you accountable because if we put money in it from the private sector accountability is delivering on those results and we have done ver wale in restoring the privest [inaudible] so we can have this conversation. one of my concerns of course is the same concern is how are we trusted

with this ongoing stream and whether or not it requires a update. we are open to that discussion, but i will say this, people will look at that today precisely because wree a very strung economicically strong city. they wouldn't look at that stream if our values of the land were up and down up and down so whatever we end up doing is going to require that we continue to be an economically strong city. if we falter on that it doesn't matter what stream you have, it will go down whether it is land prices or the value of housing in san francisco. >> i was sitting for some of the work shops and a lot of discussion was about money and budget and that is always the concern, one thing mayors do is look at the city hol istically and this is a great conference

of parks and great to see families and people enjoy, but we sometimes go to conferences on water and sewer. oh, my gosh. there are such conferences and those are real needs, but they don't center the nice pictures of families and things like that. they do meet and talk about these just like this and can't talk about public/5t part nership or towerism dollars or raising grants and opportunities for grants. we have that in common. the point is, i think there is great reason for optimism. the creativity you hear for where the money is and the opportunity, it beats a lot of other programs and the needs out there, so i would say be in good cheer about it, it is always tough out there but the opportunity are far greater

because we have a product people can see, touch and feel and enjoy. there is a a constituency [inaudible] that will pass the sewer bill [inaudible] the parks bill is approved. >> parks are wrun of the things that bring in economic development like the water fall park. our river vision park brings a estimated 10 billion of investment in so it is a fairly easy sale. like you said, sewer and water are not always. they just don't see where that goes >> we said urblier and agree parkerize a great equalizer for the qualities that sometimes are reflected in fast growing cities and we have been able to harness over 10 thousand scholarships in the past year for kids that wouldn't afford these particular programs like some of the summer programs. we raised that money and i

think a conversation is we need to continue making sure we have that robust play in tact because i think all of the benefits wie identified. >> one of the implications, i know in san francisco, one, i'm proud to say we get 72 percent support on the bonds which is tor fic, in our case we build up and can't build out so all is a lot of multifamily housing and parkerize the backyards for the people. in texas it sounds like you go outh rather than up >> no, we have been big for some time and the stronger push is return people to the inner city. the urban individuals are taken hold. we did a open street project this past weekend on main street. we have a brand new applauseey

down town that is phenomenal. 10 years ago we probably had less than 500 people living down town and now there are 8 thousand just in down town. all our inner city urban village is how to revitalize that. one of the biggest bras is parks. we had a 50 year old historic swimming pool they closed 5 years ago before i was elected and one of the campaign promiseicize to get that reopened and one of our big familiesm came to me and said, i grew up swimming there and i'll help you reopen that if you agree the operating expenses and we put it in the budget in perpetuity because he gave 500 thousand dollars to redo the pool and quee matched it with 350 thousand. wree a focused on the inner city parks. the developers are

taking care of the new parks, but we have foogrow are inside the city >> put in a certain amount of open space as part of the plan, do they also aplije themselves to perpeteral maintenance to theope nl space? >> many do. probably 50 percent of them take up the maintenance of the open space. the other 25 percent the home owners association do it and the other 25 percent the-donated to the city and more often than that the developers will donate if we take it on >> there is a greater greenville fund in your tear or, mayor white, is that a aspect that helps in all aspects? >> most of the major parks including fall parks came with endowment and easy to get the private sector to the see the vision of the park and be excited and want to buy into

it. that is for extra maintenance for the park. one thing about parks too is they are changing. i don't think teng years ago anybody had a dog park, right? now people want a dog park. we are get aglot of density down town with lots and lots och high rise residential and i think it seem tooz be a requirement that if you live in high rise residential you must own 2 dogs. you have other politically speaking neighborhoods in the city when you talk about a dog park and they look at you like you're crazy. that is a emerging thing. in a urban area-you >> you brought it up so i'll pursue it. in san francisco it is a cunl tinchs issue on and off laesh dog and dog parks. we have a nlsh park that has a

whole set of rules. i say our most continchs meetings weilate to dogs. how is seallyl in that area >> it is true everywhere. the role of dog squz parks is a contentious issue >> next to ferrule cats . in the park too >> you are mayors, i want to hear solutions. where do we go with this? it is a interesting challenge for everyone >> we have a more contentious issue we are about to propose to eliminating smoking in parks, but we are a state that legalized marijuana so this is rainteresting is a interesting issue >> our situation with the dogs we have 2 dogs or more, i think it is mandstory that everyone has 2 or more. when you have children you also have

grand dogs so more often than not more have more than 2 including us. the dogs we have areas-we have 2 dog parks and another coming in that are successful in the inner city and outer areas in the suburbs, they tend to have areas des ignated walk your dog on a leash or you can have them off leash but they have to behave and the first time they are sited by another neighbor. the ferrule cat pap yulgz in the parks is a significant issue and we have a spay and neuter program and return them back to the park if someone takes over the colony. the way you know they are handled by the city and we clip their ear and then they go back and the people that feed and love them get the chance to take their [inaudible] it was exextremely contenches over ferrule cats >> i don't they think that

is a problem, is it mayor? >> we have ferrule other stuff, but not ferrule cats. we have ferrule trashers. mainss, cost of course in urban settings are much higher i think and that is what we are challenged with is when we invite a lot of people to come to the city and they do our urban parks are highly used. a higher level of maintenance is one of the challenges. i also think that for both mew and established parks water of course in california is a huge huge challenge. we are about to embark on a very expensive but absolutely need ded reuse water connection between our treatment plants and golden gate park. that is the millions of dollars, but worth it in the long run given the water drought challenges. maintenance is one of the major

discussions we are having now because of the intense use of the parks >> we get the same thing on maintenance in the summer when it is 110 in forth worth and die, do we mow or not mow it. [inaudible] fussed at if we are not mowing, but it is expense v proposition to manage >> it is. i know that we literally have 4 minutes left, i wonder if giving each mayor a opportunity for a minute to talk about just what you would like to give these folks out here that are day to day trying to make parks work and trying to build parks to give some closing thoughts and maybe mayor white we can ask you >> i think the best you can do for parks especially when dool wg people in the private or public sector who have sth funding is take people to the park. one of the problems we have in smaller neighborhood parks that don't have a wide

constinch waens because they are not well known and perhaps low income neighborhoods you need to take people on the bus and drive them ov. the kind of people who enjoy and support parks in your city are really already predisposed to support a smaller park in a community if they are given the chance to be introduced to it. whether it is the fact they don't have adequate bathdrooms or the maintenance isn't kept up, i think getting back to more optimistic message, there are people that have a heart for it and willing to help in a sense that is broader than the big park, but you is to show it to them. there is nothing like taking them there in person and meet the kids and people using it. they tend to call back a month later and say i want to help >> mayor murray >> thank you again for having me here today. i would close by saying that some of the things we are about to do in

seattle with public and private partnership have very important and they can add value. look at new york, we know how good those relationships can be, but when it come tooz keeping programs going and maintaining the parks so they can operate, not having a dedicated sfedy source of income from the public sector means when times get bad and times will get bad again at least in the city like ours where they are good now, parks will suffer. they are one of the first places to suffer and the programming in the parks will suffer. this is a opportunity for us in america to talk about how we maintain those parks kw how we maintain those programs thoferb long run. >> thank you. mayor price. >> thank you all for what you do. you really are at the heart and sole och the parks and nation. parks are that critical element that bring to had public to the communetries

the health and vitality, the resilience. people want to come and need to be outside. children need to be outside. it is very cyclic and with that comes economic development, the more parks the better the parks and more like lato attract better business and the type of business you want. one thing you can do is tell your elected officials what you see in the park. stel them what goes on in the park and how they can make your parks better. we rin big and buzzy sit squgz are not aul illways in the park, but you can tell us what you think and that is huge help for any elected official to hear from the people on the front line >> last but not least mayor lee >> i'm glad again for greater and greener conference to be here in san francisco. it is extremely interesting time, very positive time for ideas, for making the right investment

choices and if i learned anything in the past few years, parks and open spaces have become a economic driver for the city and you can see the numbers, millions of dollars come into the had city because we maintain and create open spaces and parks and maintain historic iconic ones we already have that are the signature for many generations. it is a very netesting conversation about steady stream of revenue that has to be matched by the fill philanthropic, the dollars and i'm excited to be philanthopy as part of that because that is also voters and people interetc.ed in high squault parks. when you have over 33 parks in the city, now [inaudible] from the private sector because of the generosity of google and

[inaudible] coming together to fund those. you anyhow you have people that are really invested in the quality of this and so it is a great time to have this conversation because ult mltlyimately i think people want that steady stream and also want the philanthopy and understand the role from health to education to tourism, to just equality of life and the roll of parks being at the center of our infrastructure and quality of what we want the city to be. i'm glad to not only host this but take from this ideas from the parks aliness and trust [inaudible] park department to go forward and see whether we can get to 100 percent of 10 minute walk tooz a park for everyone in the city. >> thank you mayor. please join me in thanking all these mayors.

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