Beginning in 1966  a new park administration worked to transform and upgrade the Moses-era parks that had deteriorated and were increasingly perceived as both dangerous and dull On taking office  Parks Commissioner Thomas Hoving declared  “The old rinky-dink  hand-me-down stereotype of park is out  OUT!”(13) Hoving and his successor  August Heckscher  aimed to reconnect people to parks and recreation through new programming and experiments in design  they viewed the transformation of public space as essential to contend with a period of serious economic and social instability in New York