Every prior US park bond issue had funded only land, never recreational facilities

Evidence

The expenditure of proceeds from previous bond issues had been restricted to land acquisition and in the word “acquisition” was embodied the philosophy that had always in the past governed parks in America, the belief that parks were only land and the trees and grass and brooks on the land, that their sole purpose was to serve as “breathing spaces” for the city masses and to enable them to relax and meditate among beautiful surroundings, to commune with nature, and that they should therefore be kept in their natural state. If the city masses no longer were content with communing, if they wanted space not only to meditate but to swing—to swing baseball bats, tennis rackets, golf clubs and the implements of the other sports that their new leisure time had enabled them to learn—this was a desire that had not yet been translated into governmental action in the United States. But Moses translated it. The $15,000,000 bond issue, he said, must specifically authorize the Legislature “to provide for permanent improvements as well as the acquisition of land…for large facilities which make a park accessible and attractive to people.” “Conservation”—the previous park ideal—had to be combined with “recreation,” he said. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 732

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the historical ‘conservation’ park ideal versus the ‘recreation’ ideal and shows where each lived in administrative language.
• XREF: connects to: Moses invented the idea that parks should host active recreation, not just passive nature — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 710