March 24, 2014
By Alan Schulkin, City Hall Reporter
New York, NY — Mayor de Blasio has announced the appointment of Mitchell Silver as Commissioner of the Department of Parks and Recreation. Silver will be tasked with bringing a holistic perspective to New York City’s parks and city infrastructure, while also expanding access, sustainability and public health initiatives throughout the city’s 29,000 acres of parkland.
From his early days in New York City’s Department of Planning to his work as Chief Planning and Development Officer and Planning Director for the city of Raleigh, NC, Silver has consistently made the expansion of parks and open space a central part of his planning vision for sustainable, healthy and livable cities. As author of the 2030 Comprehensive Plan for development in Raleigh, Silver focused largely on expanding parks and greenways to address recreational and transportation needs, while emphasizing the need to develop parks and open space in tandem with affordable housing. In New York,
“Anyone who has lived near one of our city’s parks knows the value of a nearby swing set for their child or a safe dirt road for their morning jog. Our city’s green spaces serve as gyms, classrooms, and commuter paths for millions of New Yorkers each day – and no one is more qualified to usher in a new era of expanded access and sustainability that Mitchell Silver. With Silver at the helm of DPR, we’re confident that every neighborhood park, in each of our boroughs, will be well-maintained, safe and easily accessible,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio.
In New York City, Silver served as the Manhattan Borough President’s Urban Planning, Design and Policy Specialist, as Director of the Manhattan Borough President’s Northern Manhattan Office, and as a City Planner in the New York City Department of City Planning. Silver played a central role as an expert consultant in the formulation of the “Harlem-on-the-River” plan, which materialized into the plan for Harlem Piers Park.
