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Politics & Government

Adrian Benepe Leaving NYC Parks Department to Join Non-Profit

After a decade running New York City's parks, Benepe will be replaced by the Center for Economic Opportunity's Veronica White.

Adrian Benepe is stepping down as New York City's parks commissioner after a decade of service during which he led a major expansion of the city’s green space, according to the New York Times.

Benepe, who has worked with Mayor Michael Bloomberg since 2002, will step into the role of Urban Parks Director for the Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit conservation organization, the article says.

Veronica White, the founding executive director of the city's Center for Economic Opportunity – a think-tank for the mayor’s anti-poverty initiatives – will be replacing Benepe.

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During his tenure, Benepe oversaw the addition of 730 acres of park space and played a major role in the creation of new outdoor areas and the High Line as well as the construction of parks near the new Yankee Stadium, Icahn Track and Field Stadium and Randalls Island Fields.

White helped to develop an alternative way to measure poverty, which was used by the national Census Bureau's new Supplemental Poverty Measure, though she may be best known for helming the Center for Economic Opportunity's Opportunity NYC program, in which “low-income families are given cash in exchange for meeting certain behavioral standards,” according to the Times.

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In Queens, the Parks Department's responsibilities are under the purview of Dorothy Lewandowski, who will remain in her current role.

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