Shared Spaces: Funding and Managing Libraries and Parks in Tough Times

Public parks and library systems across North America are experiencing fiscal distress. Municipal budgets are increasingly strained to cover the costs of new facilities and the maintenance and operating costs of existing facilities. In a slow-growing economy, assets such as parks and libraries compete with policing and municipal labour for funding in the municipal budgeting process. The Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance (IMFG), with the support of TD Bank Group, held a series of three lectures in spring 2012 to raise awareness of the importance of shared public spaces such as libraries and parks to the health of our city. At a time of fiscal restraint, these shared spaces are often vulnerable to funding cuts. Short-term cost-cutting measures galvanize the community to oppose the reductions, but are there longer-term solutions to the funding problems? Are there new funding models to meet these challenges, and where are they being implemented? Speakers from Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and New York addressed these questions.