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     Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the Central Park Conservancy announced that the hedge fund billionaire John A. Paulson, along with the Paulson Family Foundation, were giving $100 million to the Central Park Conservancy. It is believed to be the largest gift ever to a public park.

     Mr. Paulson, a lifelong New Yorker, said that as an infant he was pushed around in a baby carriage in the park and that he later remembered going to Bethesda Fountain as a teenager and seeing it covered in graffiti, with no water flowing. The announcement of the gift carne during a
ceremony at the fountain.
    When asked at the news conference what prompted the gift, Mr. Paulson said: "Walking through the
park in different seasons, it kept coming back that in my mind Central Park is the most deserving of ali of New York's cultural institutions. And I wanted the amount to make a difference. The park is very  large, and its endowment is relatively small."
    The park's current endowment stands at $144 million. Half of Mr. Paulson's gift will go to the endowment, while the other half will be used for capital improvements. Mr. Paulson mentioned that he considered important: Restoring the park's North Woods, and sprucing up the Merchanfs Gate entrance at the park's Southwest comer, the most heavily used entrance.
     Mr. Paulson has been a supporter of the Central Park Conservancy for 20 years, but this is his first major gift to the park. He joined the conservancy's board in June.
     Two former parks commissioners, Henry Stern and  Adrian Benepe, were at the news conference on Tuesday. It  was also attended by Elizabeth Barlow Rogers and Richard Gilder, key figures in the conservancy's founding.
     The announcement was made under cloudy skies in a ceremony attended by hundreds of employees of the Central Park Conservancy in their gray sweatshirts, as well  as the conservancy's board. Doug Blonsky, the president and chief executive officer of the conservancy, which operates Central Park for the city, hailed the gift as "transformational," saying that it would break the cycle of  restoration and decline that has marked the park  throughout its 153-year history.

                                                                                                                      (h ttp ://www. nytimes. com)