By N. Clark Judd

A new organization is taking over the running of Van Cortlandt Park.

Instead of direct city control, Vannie will be operated by a joint public-private partnership called a conservancy, Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said Friday. A conservancy is already responsible for Central Park.

The new group will be responsible for managing the city workers who keep up the park and will also seek to drum up money for projects the city has said it can't fund. The group hopes to renovate the park's downtrodden stadium building, where the conservancy could establish an office; improve horticulture and landscaping; improve a playground on the park's Woodlawn side; update the park's last master plan, now more than a decade old; convert an asphalt field for wheelchair sports; and attract special events, like the classical concert already held there annually.

The organization will work in the mold of the Central Park Conservancy, Mr. Benepe said.

But its creation places Vannie in the crossfire of a longstanding battle between public and private, and raises questions about the future of a group of veteran park advocates who stepped in to raise money for the park's maintenance when they felt the city had neglected its duty: The Friends of Van Cortlandt Park. The group also works to maintain trails used regularly for nationally-known high school and collegiate competition.

"When [Vannie] began to deteriorate again, it was the Friends that really pushed on getting the department to resume its maintenance responsibilities and then obtained the $50,000 contribution from the Road Runners' club to the Parks Department explicitly for the maintenance," said Eric Seiff, a Friends board member.

"That's been one of the sources of tension," he continued, "that we've felt that it hadn't been adequately maintained."

Mr. Benepe said the city will continue to fund the park. But if the conservancy works, it will be responsible for raising money for big improvements and events.

A citywide organization, 250+ Friends of NYC Parks, opposes the privatization of city parks and views conservancies as potentially dangerous.