Now that Gov. Dan Malloy has turned his attention from getting re-elected back to governing, and the state's ongoing budget woes, he might also start thinking of legacy building.

I am sure there are a lot of signature programs that the progressive governor, who bragged on the campaign trail about accomplishments like raising the minimum wage, a paid sick leave law and smooth adoption of affordable health care in Connecticut, has some strong ideas of his own about a gubernatorial legacy.

But I would suggest the governor also consider becoming known as Connecticut's parks governor.

Malloy already has made some progress in this regard.

Some may have considered his pre-election announcement that Seaside, the abandoned sanitarium the state owns in Waterford, will become a new state park to be political grandstanding, intended in part to rescue the fortunes of Democrat Betsy Ritter of Waterford and her bid for a Senate seat.

In the end, the eleventh-hour Seaside announcement may have hurt Ritter more than helped her - she lost her hometown in the vote. But it stands now as the governor's position on what should happen to that spectacular waterfront property.

Electioneering or not, Malloy would be well served to follow through and make Seaside a park, a really good one. He could also make it a money maker.

The other park proposal that was a backdrop for the 2014 election season is the plan to revive the concept of the Thames River Heritage Park, which would link by water the many attractions on the New London and Groton sides of the river, as well as some interesting urban environments in both communities.

This proposal has a lot of institutional and political support around here and an army of volunteers ready to help. Connecticut's own Yale Urban Design workshop has sketched out plans for a simple way to make it happen.

Most of the infrastructure, including the considerable attractions that, linked together, would create a tourism magnet, is in place. It could be a national head turner: a water taxi linking a Revolutionary War battlefield, a waterfront 19th century fort, the Submarine Force Museum and the first nuclear submarine, and, some day, the National Coast Guard Museum and America's official tall ship. It would be great to throw into that mix the Amistad, the state's official tall ship.

More money probably seeps out of the cracks in the state budget in a single day than it would cost to get the groundbreaking Thames park underway.

But even if the governor is not prepared to dedicate new state money to the creation of these parks, there is a model to make them self sufficient.

Connecticut need look no further than Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York City to see how private development in parks can create an income stream that will generate maintenance and infrastructure investments for generations to come.

In New York, the park tenants paying the bills include a hotel and a series of luxury condominiums.

In Waterford, there has been interest by renowned American architect Cass Gilbert in developing the Seaside buildings into a luxury inn and condominiums. The leases and taxes for a development like that could pay for a lot of park development.

For that matter, a park at Seaside and the Thames River park could probably be seasonally linked by water, combining history and tourism with recreation. Bluff Point State Park in Groton, among the grandest waterfront parks in southern New England, could be a stop on the water park tour. So could Harkness Memorial State Park in Waterford.

The governor has ventured out onto a new park limb. I would suggest he keep going, appoint a dynamic parks commissioner dedicated to making it happen and begin inching toward a legacy as Connecticut's parks governor.

This is the opinion of David Collins

d.collins@theday.com

Twitter: @DavidCollinsct

David Collins