i think in the early days of economic development it was all about chasing smokestacks and just bringing jobs to a city and that was your return on investment i think the whole premise of economic development has shifted now people want quality of life is a major indicator and i think companies are now looking for major indicators in that while i think we're definitely in a time when green space and natural amenities and recreational amenities rank a lot higher to people so i think the cities who are going to compete in the twenty first century have to have a twenty first century version of those spaces in neighborhoods that have great faith while functioning parks are more attractive man desirable to residents that might want to live in those neighborhoods and who do live in those neighborhoods parks and recreation are a great job generator the outdoor recreation industry is one of the largest sectors in our nation's economy larger than real estate larger than gas and oil good parks that have activity that are clean are drivers of where people live increase the property value bring more people in the inner city which is what we want to do one of the things the developers understand is that there is an economic and social cultural nexus of open space within developments we run into very few challenges when we say we must have the space because they understand if i a parks people are more likely to invest in one living and working area cities are proving the long term about if their real estate creating public gathering places in kind of activity if it's so clearly defined that properties next to park specially well maintained parks go up value so it may seem like a no brainer to simply put up more commercial property which is a tax rate of all it's going to give us a source of tax revenue but actually that open green space is just as much a source of tax rate about us in the value it contributes in surrounding property i think that's recognized and i think his attention to ok we are going to do this now what space do we keep greening for the sake of the future it was impossible to achieve it almost didn't happen but now it's become a global icon about what you can do with an advantage a lot of people now know about the high end but what a lot of people don't know is that it was going to be demolished you know it was built in the one nine hundred thirty there's an elevated freight the argument we made is that it had an economic benefit to the city that far outweighed the cost one hundred fifty million dollars worth of investment created two billion dollars economic activity that value the highline is creating is directly going to the city coffers to pay for teacher everything the city pays for one of the things i think no one could have left to made it is how much development this kind of project would create but now we shown that we've made the crazy credible analysis economic engine is a tourist destination it is a great emotional experience and you get to see new york in a new a special way had a waterfall that's where the city was founded in one nine hundred sixty four lane highway bridge was placed directly on top of the waterfall and so over time we began talking about reclaiming the area which was the birthplace of the city into a park and it was a very tough sell to basically we're saying to people we're going to spend about thirteen million dollars to create park around around a waterfall you've never seen trust us and most people didn't it was very strange political debate because most people are seeing the false couldn't conceive of what a park around the falls would look like what we've created is an incredible economic development success story we spent about thirteen million dollars to build falls park around the river within a year and a half we had over one hundred fifty million dollars private investment directly adjacent to the park and exceeded any of our expectations that's condominiums hotels restaurants retail and it just went off and there was just the first year or two people and businesses come here young people come here people stay here because of what we've achieved in downtown greenville and along the river over the lifespan of this project it will be over a billion dollars to the district of columbia yards park was the first piece of this yard's puzzle that was delivered in two thousand and ten it helped to create place and it helped to open up the front yard of the anacostia river it kind of put us on the map and then every building that's the livered from there the amenity that we lease to this the park so foundry last hundred seventy units we leased it up in less than six months d almost a billion dollars in private investment has occurred within a quarter mile of the park several of those developers are saying quite clearly we wanted to develop that parcel because of its relationship to the park we want to build on the investment you know we're currently in design but trying to create a mix of retail that's going to feel very integrated with the greenway and we think that's going to be really important to the to the vitality of the retail and also the interest level of our office of residential occupants it's an amenity that people expect in a vibrant thriving urban environment we already have about a twenty one to one return on investment and it's four years and t parks make a difference i think so from both the economic point of view that all the other social physical and environmental benefits parks and public spaces makes sense and to me i can't imagine a great city that does not have a great park and public spaces to cities are really be economic engines of the country so what happens and so so this is extraordinarily important to what happens with the country and i think that importance is growing there is no better investment than a city can make and it's public and structure it's not just the buildings that count but it's those bits between the buildings where people come together when we see the cities that have made those long term investments in urban park and recreation systems those cities seem to be thriving and the reason why is they've put that basic infrastructure in place what we can do is replicate that kind of investment in every neighborhood and you'll see improvements not only are they actual promiscuous people feel safer and they want to be there and there's an issue of equity it makes the neighborhoods feel better about themselves and therefore willing to do great things and to move out of poverty and we often ask the question you know what would you have done differently in your community and one of the uniform responses