School is in session: park funding tough to find? Take a lesson from Boston Parks, who partnered with a city college to find the answer.

Years ago, the Lester J. Rotch Playground, located in Boston's historic South End neighborhood, was well known as a place to rent a cheap mattress for a night. There were no kids kicking soccer balls, no mothers shielding their eyes from the sun as they watched their children swing at baseballs, and there were certainly no college athletes stretching before lacrosse or softball practice. All Rotch had to offer was a homeless man exchanging a night on his mattress for $5.

Today, Rotch Playground, a Boston Parks and Recreation Department facility, is free of its lurid past. There is no evidence of its infamous late-night mattress rentals or the once poorly manicured field. What is seen today is an NCAA-sanctioned multi-use athletic field covered in safer artificial turf, a lighting system that is Web-programmable, bathroom and locker room facilities, and an on-site manager seven days a week.

Boston boasts Rotch Playground as its most environmentally friendly and high-tech facility, not costing the city a single penny to renovate. The entire $4.8 million project was funded by Emerson College as part of the ever-growing trend in urban parks--a public/private partnership.

Alternatives for Money-strapped Cities

According to the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, the Boston parks budget has decreased from more than $12.5 million to about $9.7 million in today's dollars through the past three years. Currently, park spending accounts for only 0.6 of a percent of the city's total expenditures, leaving many integral departments to depend on private donations.

After budget cuts in 1997, Boston was unable to maintain all of its urban parks for resident use. Rotch Playground had been in disrepair for so long that renovating and maintaining it was too daunting for the money-strapped city.

"Homeless people would go to the playground, set up cardboard tents, and stay there all day and night" says Peggy Ings, associate vice president for government and community relations at Emerson College. "Public safety had become an issue and the city was fighting hard to deal with that."

That year, the late Justine Lift, then commissioner of the Boston Parks and Recreation Department, approached Emerson College with a proposition. In return for the maintenance of Rotch Playground, the city would allow the college to use the field for their sports teams' practices. This was the park's first public/private agreement.

"What is great about these types of agreements is that everyone benefits" says Paul McCaffrey, permitting division director for the City of Boston. "Metropolitan colleges--such as Boston, Northeastern, and Suffolk Universities, and Emerson College--are land-locked. They all are concerned with buildings to house students, but are realizing that in order to attract athletes and more well-rounded students, they must compete with universities like UMass-Lowell in terms of athletics, which have large sports facilities"

"Prior to the agreement, we would practice on the East Boston Field, which is about three miles away from campus," explains Rudy Keeling, director of athletics at Emerson College. "We have a relatively spread-out school, but we are trying to move all of our buildings to the same general location to build more of a community feeling. To have the field and be able to invite other students and administrators to games really helps create that feeling."

The initial discussions between Lift and the college turned into a three-year agreement between the two organizations. During that time, the college kept the field clean and safe for residents, and their student-athletes received a practice field. However, just as the agreement was about to end, a separate government agency that had been testing the soil for utility piping discovered coal ash and petroleum residue. The city was given a deadline to remediate the contamination, but again, because of budget constraints, the city turned to Emerson College for a new partnership.

"Our agreement was running out and Commissioner Lift offered to extend our previous arrangement into a formal partnership between the city and the college," states Ings. "We saw the offer as an opportunity to do even more with the field, and accepted."

A Partnership Meant to Last

After lengthy meetings and discussions about the needs of the city and the college, the official public/private partnership was negotiated, finished, signed and enacted on May 16, 2003.

Under the agreement, Emerson College will partner with the city of Boston on this project until at least 2028. During this time, Emerson is responsible for the facility's compliance with all applicable environmental laws, installing an artificial playing surface, fencing, lighting and landscaping, and constructing a one-story building to house men's and women's locker rooms, office space and storage.

All work related to the improvements and remediation was determined to be Emerson's responsibility. In addition, Emerson will continue to cover costs and expenses associated with the playground's use, paying half the water costs and hiring an on-site manager for the field seven days a week.

In return, Emerson receives about a quarter of the field's yearly playing schedule. Under the agreement, Emerson students can use the field for their lacrosse and softball practices on designated days and times. Emerson also has exclusive rights to operate children's sports camps on the field from the middle of July to the middle of August.

Future-minded Construction

Opened on March 18, 2005, the Rotch Playground is now home to close to three acres of turn-key artificial turf playing fields, which are made from recycled rubber, and requires no irrigation, pesticides or fertilizers. The turf is more environmentally sound than natural fields and creates a soft surface that is safer for players.

"One of the main citizen concerns when Rotch was being renovated was ground water depletion in the city" says Antonia Pollak, commissioner of Boston's Parks and Recreation Department. "However, the turf is completely permeable, which actually recharges the water supply more efficiently than before."

The design and construction are very future-minded, in regards to sustainability and environmentalism, according to the design firm who renovated Rotch, CDM. In addition to the turf, the lighting is controlled via the Internet, and the heating system can be boosted to high levels in a short of period of time to save energy.

The cooperation between the college and the city contributed greatly to finishing the project in a timely manner. "The one thing that really stands out to me was the cooperation and communication between all involved," says John Kissida, CDM vice-president and project director. "The city really worked to try to facilitate the project. Many times, projects can get slowed down because of approvals and bureaucracy, but this project did not have any of those problems. I think that all the partners could see the greater good that this project would bring to the people of Boston, and really worked to make this go as easily and quickly as possible?'

City and Student Reaction

The city and college may have worked well together, but there were some Boston citizens who were concerned about the improvements to Rotch and their effect on the community.

"Change is hard for people. You can no longer walk your dog in the park because there is artificial turf. Sports events have needed to be modified," Pollak says. "But all in all, there have only been minor issues."

"The interesting challenge about partnerships with colleges is that there is a huge stress on the city's facilities because the colleges just don't have the space to build their own," Pollak explained. "It's a challenge to structure something that everyone is happy with. What's great about this partnership is that they didn't ask for any more time than they had received prior."

Emerson students and athletes have all reacted positively to the project. "They love it," says Keeling. "They have been looking forward to it for some time now, and everyone's really excited about its completion. This has been an ongoing process, and getting everything in order has taken some time, but the students are ecstatic. I haven't heard a bad word about the field from players, coaches or officials. These improvements are truly a godsend."

The private/public partnership that Boston forged with Emerson College has been called a "test run" by many people involved in the project. Everyone was optimistic and excited to be a part of the historic partnership, but until the playground was opened in March, no one was entirely sure how the project would turn out.

"It was a good test case, and I think the test was successful," says Ings. "What we did with the city can be utilized as a model for other groups and other city parks with similar situations."

"It's really all a balancing act because a partnership is perceived as privatization of a public facility," says Pollak. "What works is that we always have the right to say no. We have to make sure that we serve Boston Public Schools first and then worry about the private schools and universities. However, only time will tell when and with whom our next partnership will be."