Susan Sipos, Abingdon Square’s horticulturalist, often receives compliments about the park. She usually bites her tongue and thanks the kind passersby.
However, Sipos has a different response to those who will stop, look, and listen. “It’s happening again. There are fewer tulips this year than last. The grass in our little meadow is now splotchy. The irrigation system is broken.” According to Sipos, the park is once again in a cycle of slow decline following its most recent renovation in 2004.
Susan’s employer is the newly revitalized Abingdon Square Conservancy, a non-profit park conservancy that has begun implementing governance and finance reforms designed to reverse the most current slide and ensure that all of the hard won progress in beautification and improvements lasts.
A Cycle of Boom and Bust...Read more: here