Spider-Man joined officials from New York State Parks, Parks & Trails New York and the NYS Governor’s Office for Motion Pictures and Television Development at Riverbank State Park to Encourage Youth Volunteerism on I Love My Park Day, Saturday, May 3
New York State Parks Commissioner Rose Harvey was joined this week by Parks & Trails New York Executive Director Robin Dropkin, New York State Governor’s Office for Motion Picture and Television Development Executive Director Gigi Semone, children from the Riverbank State Park community, and special guest Spider-Man from Columbia Pictures’ The Amazing Spider-Man 2 at Riverbank State Park to encourage youth to “Be a Hero” at their favorite New York state park and register to volunteer on Saturday, May 3 for I Love My Park Day.
I Love My Park Day is coordinated at the statewide level by Parks & Trails New York (PTNY) in partnership with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP). Friends groups and park staff will oversee cleanup, improvement and beautification projects and work with volunteers at more than 80 state parks and historic sites. Participating parks and online registration can be found at www.ptny.org.
“Thank you to our friends at The Amazing Spider-Man 2 for helping us spread the message about I Love My Park Day and encourage volunteers of all ages to join this special opportunity for a strong show of support for New York’s wonderful park system. The support of the public and dedicated partners will make our parks and sites the very best they can be,” said State Parks Commissioner Rose Harvey.
“The creation of New York’s remarkable park system was the work of friends, supporters, and many ordinary citizens who believed in the importance of parks. Their efforts have brought the joys of the outdoors to hundreds of millions of New Yorkers. This park legacy is a responsibility handed down from one generation to the next. Through I Love My Park Day, today’s youth are able to step up and do their part as well as create a lifelong connection to their parks. Parks help us all stay healthy and active, and by working together we can make them even better,” said Robin Dropkin, Executive Director of Parks & Trails New York.
“Under Governor Cuomo's leadership, more productions have taken place in the Empire State than ever before and the entertainment industry is generating billions of dollars in spending and creating tens of thousands of jobs,” said Gigi Semone, Executive Director, New York State Governor's Office for Motion Picture and Television Development. “Spider-Man is promoting community activism and our great State parks, another great feat in addition to the 3,000 jobs he helped create in New York State during the production of The Amazing Spider-Man 2.”
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was the largest movie production to be filmed in New York State, resulting in thousands of jobs for New Yorkers. The production had the biggest stage footprint ever seen in New York with massive sets being constructed at three facilities on Long Island and in Brooklyn, and scenes shot Upstate in the city of Rochester. Moreover, filming The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in New York generated millions of dollars in economic activity across the state. Many movie productions, including The Amazing Spider-Man 2, have touted New York State’s film tax credit program as a major incentive when choosing New York as the location to film.
Since the film tax credit program started in 2004, it has leveraged an estimated $14 billion worth of direct spending and has been a huge job generator for New York. Under Governor Cuomo’s leadership, the industry has experienced explosive growth since 2011, with record breaking years for productions and post production in 2013, bringing billions of dollars in new spending and thousands of jobs into New York State. The stability provided by multiyear funding has particularly encouraged the development of television series production work, as well as long term investments in infrastructure, all of which creates thousands of jobs directly and indirectly related to the actual productions themselves.
About PTNY: Parks & Trails New York is the leading statewide organization working to preserve and enhance a network of parks, trails and greenways for all New Yorkers for generations to come. Since 1985, our influential reports and advocacy efforts have been critical to keeping parks and historic sites open and protecting New York’s natural, recreational, cultural and historical resources. For more information, visit www.ptny.org.
About OPRHP: The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees 179 state parks and 35 historic sites, which are visited by 60 million people annually. For more information on any of these recreation areas, call 518-474-0456 or visit www.nysparks.com, connect on Facebook, or follow on Twitter.
Empire State Development (ESD) is New York’s chief economic development agency (www.esd.ny.gov). The mission of ESD is to promote a vigorous and growing economy, encourage the creation of new job and economic opportunities, increase revenues to the State and its municipalities, and achieve stable and diversified local economies. Through the use of loans, grants, tax credits and other forms of financial assistance, ESD strives to enhance private business investment and growth to spur job creation and support prosperous communities across New York State. The Governor’s Office for Motion Picture and Television Development (MPTV) is a division within ESD, which is also the primary administrative agency overseeing Governor Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Councils and the marketing of “I Love NY,” the State’s iconic tourism brand. For more information on Regional Councils and Empire State Development, visit www.regionalcouncils.ny.gov and www.esd.ny.gov. For more information about MPTV and filming in New York State, please visit www.nylovesfilm.com.
