NYC Park Throwdown: Central Park or Prospect Park, who earns top accolades?

Let the debate begin!

In the Sunday, July 11, New York Times' Metro Section, two writers take on the challenge (or is it the pleasure?) of going to bat for the park land they covet. 

For a Manhattanite, Central Park as a fulfillment of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted's idea that "great numbers of people from different backgrounds and economic classes commingle outdoors amid the 'harmonizing and refining influence' ... of trees, grass and water."  Writing from her perch in Brooklyn, Prospect Park stands as Olmsted and Calvert Vaux's "true masterpiece."  When it comes to brass tacks, how do the two compare*?

Central Park:
       - Harmonious hobnobbing of New Yorkers and visitors alike

       - Home to the Mall, a singular formal element in this Olmsted and Vaux design

       - World class collection of American Elm trees

Prospect Park:

       - A haven for "locals" versus tourists, unlike Central Park

       - Olmsted and Vaux naturalistic design uncorrupted by formal elements

       - Native soil, literally (New Jersey soil trucked in to Central Park)

The debate continues!  Read the article and log your opinion in the comments.

*According to authors of the New York Times article Park vs. Park.