Parks & Recreation March 2015 by Creative By Design

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Drone Wars Public land managers weigh possibilities and safety concerns as unmanned aerial vehicles become common in parks Page 48

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contents march 2015 volume 50 | number 3 | www.nrpa.org

COVER FEATURE

48 The Drones Are Coming Public land managers weigh useful technology applications and necessary safety concerns as unmanned aerial vehicles become commonplace in parks Richard J. Dolesh Cover illustration by Kim Lewis

Parks & Recreation

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contents march 2015

departments 6 Web Exclusives 12 Letters

columns 8 Perspectives Just Because You Build It Doesn’t Mean They’ll Come Barbara Tulipane, CAE

10 Editor’s Letter

14 50th Anniversary

This Brave New World Gina Mullins-Cohen

Archive Throwback: April 1975

29 Advocacy 16 Community Center Hunger Games Hysteria 16 Agency Spotlight: Arlington County, Virginia 18 Notable News 20 NRPA Connect Hot Topics 20

22 By the Numbers Lawn-gevity

24 People for Parks Mighty Mowers Samantha Bartram

27 Member to Member Public Lands Beseiged by Cats Mark Battista

54 NRPA Update Parks and Recreation Community Standards Report 54 Destodgifying Parks and Recreation 56 Test Your Park and Recreation Knowledge 57 Member Benefits: NRPA Connect 57

Park Champions: Bringing Capitol Hill to a Park Near You Jayni Rasmussen

31 Law Review Park Playground Ban on Adults Unaccompanied by Children James C. Kozlowski, J.D., Ph.D.

40 Future Leaders Young Recreation Professionals as Experience Creators Joshua Magleby, Starlee Jacobs, Mary Dunn and Noemi Morales

42 Conservation Every Kid, Every Park. Nothing Less. Richard J. Dolesh

44 Health and Wellness Solving Summer Hunger Lucy Melcher

46 Social Equity Parks Forward For All Robert García and Ariel Collins

Member Spotlight: Shelly Strasser 58 Staff Spotlight: James Politte 59 Professional Development Calendar 60

63 Operations Switch Switches to Simplify Maintenance Karla Trost

66 Products 67 Marketplace 71 Reader Service and Advertiser Index 72 Park Bench Maple Madness Samantha Bartram 4

Parks & Recreation

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Page 46

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Web Exclusives

ParksandRecreation.org We hope the articles you read in Parks & Recreation magazine are thought-provoking, but it’s tough for us to know for sure unless you share those musings with us! You can always email us or go the snail mail route, but if you want to share your feedback as quickly as possible, consider leaving a comment on our website, www.parksandrecreation.org, at the bottom of any article that catches your attention. Not only is this the quickest way to communicate your thoughts about an article, it’s also a great way to engage fellow readers and start a conversation online. New content is available every month, and you can always browse our archives at www.parksandrecreation.org/archive to catch up on past issues you may have missed.

We know you’re out there working hard to advance the field of parks and recreation through innovative programming and top-notch facilities, so why not get recognized for all your hard work? NRPA is currently accepting submissions for our prestigious Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Park and Recreation Management, National Awards and the NRPA Robert W. Crawford Hall of Fame. Visit www.nrpa.org/awards for application information and to submit your agency for consideration. 6

Parks & Recreation

Check out our digital edition at http://ezine.parks andrecreation .org

Twitter’s stock is rising both in the business world and among social media users, who increasingly turn to the platform for the latest news, celebrity gossip and trending topics. As avid readers of Parks & Recreation magazine, you already know about our handle, @ParksRecMag, and we hope you’ve already followed us! As we get settled into 2015, don’t forget to check our timeline for information about our latest issue, news from the industry and fun initiatives throughout the year. New to Twitter and not sure how to make the most of this minute-to-minute platform? Roxanne Sutton, our senior marketing and communications specialist, is here to help! Check out her blog post, “What the Heck are Hashtags?” (www.nrpa.org/blog/what-the-heck-are-hashtags) for an explanation of how to use the now-ubiquitous “#” sign to its greatest advantage. We love reading all the exciting news our members share on Twitter and we’re always looking for more! If you haven’t yet done so, visit https:// twitter.com/ParksRecMag, click the “follow” button and join us on our ongoing social media journey!

Stay in touch! NRPA website: www.nrpa.org Parks & Recreation website: www.parksandrecreation.org Digital edition: http://ezine.parksandrecreation.org NRPA Connect: www.nrpaconnect.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/NationalRecreationandParkAssociation Twitter: www.twitter.com/NRPA_news, www.twitter.com/ParksRecMag Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/nrpa Instagram: www.instagram.com/nrpa

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Just Because You Build It Doesn’t Mean They’ll Come I recently had the opportunity to spend time with two park and recreation departments in Texas. My visits with San Antonio and Austin were interesting and revitalizing, but they also led me to a few realizations about how successful park systems that think innovatively are able to connect to their constituents. Although their programs were very different, they shared a philosophy that I believe is most essential to their success. They are proactive — meeting their customer, their community member, their resident where they are in terms of location, skill and interest. Waiting for someone to walk into their center or park just isn’t an option. In Austin, I visited the Camacho Activity Center of the Austin Department of Parks and Recreation, a community recreation center with a unique focus on high adventure programming. Their program is very much about connecting kids to nature and the outdoors, and in recent years they have developed a model that essentially takes the park experience to the community. Center staff conduct kayaking, climbing, mountain biking, photography and nature-based programming, and takes it around to the city’s 20 other community centers, sharing their expertise and innovative programming that the other centers don’t provide. Every kid gets a nature experience no matter where they live. Ryan Eaker, center director, said they depend largely on highly qualified part-time staff, which works great for their programming, but it leads to high turnover because the staff is so highly sought after. Search “Camacho Activity Center” on YouTube and watch “We Are Not Your Normal Rec Center.” This just may be the “new” normal for both staff and visitors. In San Antonio, I learned about their Fit Pass 2.0 program, a program that takes a community-wide approach to health. The slogan of this passport program is, “Live Healthier. Stay Fit. Get to Know Your City.” Residents are encouraged to collect points by visiting a variety of parks and participating in recreational and fitness activities offered by their department or their partners. Top scorers receive prizes based on the number of activities they participated in. Riding a bike to a drive-in movie or taking a fitness class offers different point values. Even walking a shelter dog earns points! Michael Baldwin, the San Antonio park department’s special project manager, worked with the city’s former mayor and current Secretary for Health and Human Housing (HUD) Julian Castro to launch this program to combat obesity. Families, individuals and age-related groups such as seniors can all participate, and the program builds a constituency for their parks and facilities by encouraging the public to visit a variety of parks and participate in activities that they might not have ever tried before. These were two clearly different approaches to engaging the public, but each worked beautifully. Park and recreation agencies are the ultimate winners when they adopt a proactive approach as these two agencies have because as the number of park users expands, so, too, does their park fan base. And, as we all know, funding increases proportionally with the number of park advocates. Parks can and should make a difference in people’s lives. It is up to each of us to learn the needs of our communities and provide creative, innovative programs that improve the health of citizens, enable everyone to enjoy park and recreation programs, and utilize the natural features in parks to connect kids to nature and the outdoors. San Antonio’s and Austin’s park and recreation departments are clearly showing that there are a number of innovative ways to accomplish this.

BAR BAR A T ULIPAN E, C AE President and CEO 8

Parks & Recreation

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NRPA’S MISSION: To advance parks, recreation and environmental conservation efforts that enhance the quality of life for all people. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

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Chair of the Board of Directors Detrick L. Stanford, CPRP

Miami-Dade Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department Miami, Florida

Clayton County Parks and Recreation Jonesboro, Georgia

Chicago Park District Chicago, Illinois

Great Rivers Greenway District St. Louis, Missouri

Brian Knapp

ASU Lodestar Center Phoenix, Arizona

Treasurer Neelay Bhatt PROS Consulting Indianapolis, Indiana

Secretary Stephen Eckelberry

NOVA Parks Fairfax, Virginia

Molly Stevens Westcave Outdoor Discovery Center Austin, Texas

William “Joe” Turner Houston Parks and Recreation Houston, Texas

Beverly D. Chrisman

President and CEO Barbara Tulipane, CAE

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Parks & Recreation

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EDITOR’S LET TER

This Brave New World February 27, NBC News reported on explorer Sam Cossman, who in December shot photos and video of the inside of an active volcano in the South Pacific by using GoPro cameras attached to two drones. Climbing to the edge of Marum Crater located in the island nation of Vanuatu, Cossman, armed in a customized fire-retardant suit, respirator and gold-plated face mask, captured thousands of high-definition photos of the boiling lake of lava. The mouth of the volcano was 1,000 feet across and the temperature 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Cossman’s drones perished from the heat and his face mask and respirator melted, but the result was thousands of high-definition photos of the inside of this volcano. This work by Cossman and his team will provide much-needed insight enabling scientists and researchers to understand volcanic activity, as well as the circumstances that make life viable in some of the most extreme environments on Earth, and quite possibly other planets. It is well-known that drones, or as they are also called, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), have a multitude of uses from warfare to research to education and even the ability to provide online shoppers with a better and faster delivery options. What does this mean for you and me, and how does this or how could this impact the everyday life of a park and recreation agency? The recreational use of drones is on the rise. Some retail outlets are quoted as selling upwards of 200 units a day. Park and recreation agencies need to understand all aspects of this growing hobby. On page 48, Rich Dolesh, NRPA’s vice president of conservation and parks, tackles this question in the feature article, “The Drones are Coming.” Investigating this growing trend and its influence on park and recreation agencies throughout the county, Dolesh details the pros and cons of drone use in parks. Interviewing park and recreation directors, as well as UAV enthusiasts, Dolesh addresses the new regulations released on February 15 from the FAA. The wealth of information and insight into the future of this modern-day phenomenon make this an article not to be missed. Last month, President Obama spoke to the critical need for children to have safe and close access to parks, and NRPA’s CEO Barbara Tulipane announced NRPA’s “I Am a Park and Rec Kid” campaign in celebration of NRPA’s 50-year anniversary. This program is designed to demonstrate and promote the personal bond people of all ages, cultures and walks of life have for their community park and recreation agencies. Take part in this campaign. It is easy and one promising fun for staff and community, as well as the ability to plant seeds of loyalty and commitment for the field of park and recreation for the next 50 years. Keep an eye on www.nrpa.org/50th-anniversary for exciting details about NRPA’s “I Am a Park and Rec Kid” campaign, coming soon.

GINA MULLINS-COHEN Vice President of Marketing, Communications and Publishing Editorial Director 10 Parks & Recreation

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PRESIDENT AND CEO

Barbara Tulipane, CAE VICE PRESIDENT OF MARKETING, COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLISHING, AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Gina Mullins-Cohen gcohen@nrpa.org EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Danielle Taylor

dtaylor@nrpa.org ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Samantha Bartram sbartram@nrpa.org EDITORIAL INTERN

Marissa Bracamonte mbracamonte@nrpa.org PUBLICATION DESIGN

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703.858.2174 dstorm@nrpa.org (ISSN 0031-2215) is published monthly by the National Recreation and Park Association, 22377 Belmont Ridge Rd., Ashburn, VA 20148, a service organization supported by membership dues and voluntary contributions. Copyright ©2015 by the National Recreation and Park Association. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Opinions expressed in signed articles are those of the writers and not necessarily those of NRPA. Issued to members at the annual subscription price of $30, included in dues. Subscription: $36 a year in the U.S.; $46 elsewhere. Single copy price: $4.50. Library rate: $48 a year in the U.S.; $58 elsewhere. Periodical postage paid at Ashburn, Virginia, and at additional mailing offices. Editorial and advertising offices at 22377 Belmont Ridge Rd., Ashburn, VA 20148. 703.858.0784. Postmaster, send address changes to Parks & Recreation, 22377 Belmont Ridge Rd., Ashburn, VA 20148.

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We hope the articles you read in Parks & Recreation are thoughtprovoking and engaging, and we want to hear your opinions on what you read in these pages. Through social media posts, website comments, emails to staff or posts on NRPA Connect, let us know how the magazine’s articles apply to your job and your agency. To submit feedback for this section directly, email Associate Editor Samantha Bartram at sbartram@nrpa.org.

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I was reading your article in the December issue of Parks & Recreation magazine titled “Sensory Sojourn” and was inspired to create something like that in one of my parks…Thank you for the inspiration! Email from Becky Graff, District Park Supervisor with Richmond/Mina Lake Rec Areas in Aberdeen, South Dakota, regarding Danielle Taylor’s December, 2014 article, “Sensory Sojurn” www.parksandrecreation.org/2014/December/ Sensory-Sojourn Thank you very much for the interest and great coverage. The article should generate more interest in collaborative partnerships that can accomplish conservation goals. We appreciate all that you and NRPA do to further the cause. Email from Erik J. Meyers, Vice President of the The Conservation Fund and Chairman of the Natural Capital Investment Fund, regarding Reggie Hall’s February article, “Tomorrow’s Park at Today’s Price,” www.parksandrecreation. org/2015/February/Tomorrows-Parkat-Todays-Price

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PARIS S i t e Fu r n i s h i n g s

O u t d oo r F i t n e s s

Archive Throwback: April 1975 By Samantha Bartram

he April 1975 issue of Parks & Recreation magazine could be considered the Social Equity pillar issue of its day. The “Special Minorities Issue” attempted to examine the state of recreation as it relates to minority populations — a cursory glance reveals a focus on programming expectations for African-Americans, education, professional development and leadership, urban recreation, multicultural programming, women’s status in the industry and the socalled “Chicano” experience. A deeper dive, however, reveals park and recreation professionals in 1975 were discussing precisely the same issues of social equity then as we are today. In our current issue, Founding Director and Counsel of The City Project Robert García tackles the subject of park and recreation access in underserved and low-income communities of color. García calls on state parks to examine their appeal to these populations, enjoining officials to “meet their needs.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, this is the exact call to action authors in the April 1975 issue prescribe. Reading through V. Hap Smith’s opening piece, “A Black Man’s Concept of Leisure in America” is to be taken aback at what today would almost certainly viewed as radical rhetoric. Smith writes, “One of the problems in programming for black people is that white administrators do not understand black thinking and too often black people cannot articulate their needs and interests in terms which the white structure can readily understand. This communication gap is a critical void in the development of programs in basically black areas.” Indeed, throughout his piece, Smith writes candidly about the lack of black leadership in parks and recreation; the need for integration of poor and uneducated people in programming decisions; the communication disconnect between the white power struc-

14 Parks & Recreation

ture and black patrons; and self-determination for blacks both in terms of park and recreation inclusion and, as he says, “society in toto.” It would seem that 40 years later, our industry continues to struggle to bridge the many gaps that disincentivise greater engagement with black and minority populations. Also tracking with García’s piece is Donald J. Middleton’s article (with a Buzzfeed-worthy headline, no less), “10 Ways to Re-create Urban Recreation.” Middleton’s description of the plight facing American urban centers reads as if it were written just yesterday, as our country continues to struggle with income inequality and rising debt, and the impact that has on parks and recreation. “Urban

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recreation programming continues to be bound up in the fate of our cities — and the fate of our cities is still very much in doubt,” he writes. “The financial crises which plague our cities will undoubtedly put increasing pressure on urban recreation budgets. As our cities become homes for only the very rich and the very poor, urban recreation will come to be the exclusive province of the poor. The rich will continue to be able to purchase their recreation and to enjoy it largely outside of the city; the poor will become more and more dependent on publicly sponsored urban recreation programs.” He outlines his 10-point plan thusly: “(1) decentralize, (2) particularize, (3) set priorities, (4) integrate, (5) utilize local talent, (6) evaluate, (7) plan, (8) educate, (9) sensitize, and (10) publicize.” The details of Middleton’s points serve as a primer for today’s urban park and recreation professionals, urging them to innovate or face the consequences. “Urban recreation programming will succeed only to the degree that urban recreation leaders exercise initiative, creativity and sensitivity,” he writes. As we continue to seek out ways to make parks and recreation inclusive for all Americans, it may be time for a history lesson. Although many gains have been made during the past four decades, we still have miles to go as we stress the importance of safe, accessible and desirable recreation programming in all areas of our country and for all its inhabitants. Samantha Bartram is the Associate Editor of Parks & Recreation magazine (sbartram@nrpa. org).

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Community Center Hunger Games Hysteria The surging trend of archery in pop culture has spiked interest and participation in bow sports nationwide By Danielle Taylor

or years, archery had been overshadowed in the park and rec world. More popular team sports like basketball, baseball and soccer took the limelight, and at many agencies, bows, arrows and targets collected dust, forgotten in the back corner of an equipment cage, perhaps brought out a few times a year for day-camp activities.

But then came The Hunger Games, a book series so overwhelmingly popular that it outsold Harry Potter on Amazon. In the series, protagonist Katniss Everdeen uses her hunting and archery skills to survive an annual competition in which children are forced to fight to the death in a futuristic dystopian society. The books were followed by a blockbuster movie series starting in 2012, and Hollywood quickly churned out The Avengers, Snow White and the Huntsman, Brave and Arrow over the next few months,

all of which featured skilled archers and gave a new “cool” factor to the sport. Park and rec programmers nationwide quickly felt the impact of the books and films as members of their communities began clamoring for archery lessons. Interestingly, a significant proportion of those intrigued by the sport were young women and girls, driven by the take-charge examples set by heroines Katniss of The Hunger Games and Merida of Brave. “There has clearly been heightened interest, particularly among women

A young archer at Camp Colley, an outlet of the Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department, takes advantage of instruction from the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Archery helps boost concentration, focus and confidence in its athletes.

16 Parks & Recreation

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and girls,” says Judith Kieffer, executive director of the Los Angeles Parks Foundation, regarding archery participation levels at the city’s new Easton Rancho Park Archery Range. “Everyone in the volunteer cadre over there says how many more women and girls come to the range as beginners.” USA Archery, the sport’s Olympic-sanctioning body, saw youth memberships increase 104 percent between 2011 and 2013 and then another 121 percent from 2013 to 2014. Memberships purchased by females similarly shot up by 105 percent in 2014. According to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association, 6,180,000 Americans tried their hand at archery in 2008, but by 2013, that number had climbed to 7,647,000 participants. Factoring in a concurrent increase in bowhunting participation, other research bodies reported even higher numbers. Regardless of the information source, it’s clear park and recreation agencies have an opportunity on their hands. “Virginia Beach Parks and Recreation’s archery program predates the Hunger Games franchise,” shared Michael Kalvort, CPRE, director of Virginia Beach Parks and Recreation, on the NRPA Connect 10 Million Kids Outdoors forum. “However, once the books and movies gained popularity, we started including references in our program write-ups…We created a nontraditional, fun archery compe-

tition called ‘The Archery Games,’ inspired by The Hunger Games. The popularity and participation numbers for all archery classes has remained consistent since its inception with most classes reaching their maximums. We believe the popularity of the franchise has had a positive effect on awareness of archery as a sport and therefore our participation numbers. Anecdotally, many participants reference the series in our classes as reasons for their interest in the sport.” Kalvort also noted that his agency offers free archery demo days, which “usually attract more than 100 people per session and serve as a marketing tool for upcoming classes.” At Starvation State Park in northeastern Utah, the new 3-D Archery Range has attracted significant interest from park visitors and may be a contributing factor in the park’s recent revenue increases. Visitors are invited to use the course under their general entrance fee, and it offers nine stations, child and adult bows and arrows, 20 3-D animal targets and three regular archery targets spread across a high desert pinyon-juniper landscape. Since the range opened last June, participation levels have been “better than we thought we would have,” says Alan Spencer, the park’s assistant manager. When asked if the recent archery-focused movies might have had an impact on the success of the range, Spencer noted, “It very well could have an influence, especially in some of the younger users. We did see more young female shooters than I thought we would have. My own daughters have certainly shown more interest from watching the movie.” In Missouri City, Texas, Interim Assistant Director of Parks and Recreation and father Shane Mize has also seen the influx of young women

taking up archery on his son’s shooting sports team. “I can attest as a parent in the club that the [number of] ladies in the archery classes has increased dramatically,” he says. “In fact, not only has it increased, but in our area of the world the large majority of girls doing archery are doing it with a long bow. The unique thing

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memberships increase 121 percent between 2013 and 2014. is the compound bow is easier to use, aim and is the preferred hunting option. But in shooting for purely sport, we are seeing most ladies using the long bow. So that movie has seemed to create a nonhunting faction of girls who are shooting the long bow for sport only, something that was near unheard of before those movies came out. Any girls in archery were there for hunts and all used the compound bow.” Whether the upshot in archery participation levels will remain high after the excitement from the movies dies down remains to be seen, but the renaissance in this ancient sport is a positive development, to say the least. In addition to the benefits of archery like increased upper body strength, improved concentration and focus, enhanced coordination and other advantages, the sport also offers its athletes a boost of confidence and empowerment every time they hit their target. Danielle Taylor is the Executive Editor of Parks & Recreation magazine (dtaylor@nrpa. org).

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Parks & Recreation

Community Center

Agency Spotlight: Arlington County Department of Parks and Recreation, Virginia By Samantha Bartram

Municipality: Arlington County, Virginia Population: 215,000 Year Agency Founded: 1944 Annual Operating Budget: $37,873,493 expense; $9,532,509 revenue Director: Jane Rudolph Full-time Employees: 216 Part-time Employees: 13 Seasonal Employees: 521

Essential Information 26 square miles, 14 community centers, 73 playgrounds, 89 outdoor tennis courts, 63 outdoor basketball courts, four spraygrounds, one skatepark, six senior centers, 77 rectangular fields, 54 diamond fields, one climbing wall, eight dog parks, eight community gardens, 174 parks, 44,000 park trees

cared for, 19,000 street trees cared for, one disc golf course, two nature centers, five half-day preschool programs, three elementary after-school programs, six teen after-school programs at community centers and 30.5 miles of trails maintained. A Model for Sustainability Arlington County Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) has proven nimble and prescient in its park planning, construction and community outreach. The agency serves an ever-changing mix of city dwellers, commuters and tourists who have high expectations when it comes to recreational offerings. “Arlington’s population continues to grow and become much more diverse within its 26-square-mile footprint,” says DPR Director Jane Rudolph. “DPR strives to accommodate our chang-

Visitors gather at Long Bridge Park to enjoy open space for picnicking and games.

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ing, more densely populated county with cutting-edge urban parks such as James Hunter and Long Bridge, as well as steward our remaining natural resources guided by our Natural Resources Management Plan.” Indeed, James Hunter Park incorporates a wide array of activities including a passive area for open play or picnicking, a “community canine area” where dogs and their humans can meet and interact and a community demonstration garden boasting more than 40 varieties of native plantings. Less obvious is the park’s innovative construction, which serves as a model for sustainable design. Its lighting, displays, water feature and irrigation system all are powered via solar panels. Rainfall is collected, purified and stored in large underground cisterns that provide a constant supply of clean water for irrigation. Permeable pavement surfaces include recycled materials, adding yet another “green” layer to James Hunter Park. For its part, Long Bridge Park is an example of successful reclamation of a previously blighted site. Planners transformed a formal industrial area to accommodate the park and reused dirt from a nearby water treatment plant in construction. Three acres of rain garden plantings help to manage stormwater runoff from the park’s sports fields, which occasionally play host to practice sessions for Washington, D.C.’s Major League Soccer team, DC United. Both parks give a nod to Arlington residents’ and visitors’ taste for clever and unique art — the signage at James

Hunter Park was created through a public art project and Long Bridge Park plays host to an impressive sculpture by artist Doug Hollis. His “Wave Arbor” installment includes two kinetic wind-activated pieces that morph and change with the breeze. These initiatives represent an ongoing philosophy at DPR, according to Rudolph. “As DPR works through its capital projects, it continues to look for innovative designs and technologies,” she says. “We’re [in the process of] building our first Universal Design Playground, and we always look for environmentally friendly features like solar power, porous pavement and rain gardens in our renovations.” Community Service Complementing its outdoor parks and play areas are DPR’s programmatic offerings and community centers. From youth to seniors, DPR carefully considers the needs of its constituents and strives to infuse traditional recreational activities with modern considerations like healthy eating. “To combat childhood obesity and empower the community to develop healthy lifestyles, DPR has created policies that require healthy eating and physical activity standards in all its youth programs, placed only healthy vending machines — branded FitArlington — in its parks, centers and all county office buildings and schools, developed ongoing messaging to remind people to not smoke in parks, and included asset-building curricula in youth and teen programs,” says Rudolph. “Our senior centers are focused on helping residents flourish after 55,” she continues. “While we have traditional clubs and meal programs, DPR also has robust senior sports and fitness programs, community

service projects, classes on cybersecurity, brain games and art history, and lots more to help older residents thrive. An offshoot from one of our programs is Arlington Villages, a new nonprofit that helps residents develop resources and networks to age safely and healthfully in their homes.” DPR’s Walter Reed Community Center is a prime example of its commitment to the area’s senior population, as well as sustainable design. The center features a gym, game area, art room, community computers — free public Wi-Fi included — meeting rooms, multipurpose rooms, outside tennis courts, basketball courts, a playground and gardens. Its Adult Day Health Care Center helps visitors with functional limitations maintain or enhance their independence, while its

onsite Senior Center offers a variety of programs for active seniors. Walter Reed Community Center is also certified to silver-level LEED standards and features a vegetated roof, low-flow toilets, faucet aerators and still other green features. The building was constructed with regional materials and wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. While the above examples are but a snapshot of all DPR has to offer, they illustrate well the innovative and responsive approach the agency assumes when it comes to community service. You can learn more about DPR’s programming, parks and ongoing projects at http://parks.arlingtonva.us. Samantha Bartram is the Associate Editor of Parks & Recreation magazine (sbartram@ nrpa.org).

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Parks & Recreation

Community Center

Notable News ations across the country, the World Waterpark Association and the International Health and Racquet Sports Association, among others. In 2011, Luecker was presented the Industry Leadership Award by the World Waterpark Association. She will be remembered by others in the industry as a great listener who immensely enjoyed her contact with customers, whether on a pool deck or at a trade show.

n Katherine Z. Luecker, vice president of Lincoln Aquatics of Concord, California, passed away on January 27 after a year-long battle with ovarian cancer. She was 55 years old and had been a prominent figure in the aquatics community for more than 32 years. Luecker graduated from Oregon State University in 1983 and first started her career at Lincoln as a regional sales manager, where she was responsible for the Pacific Northwest region. She and her brother Charlie purchased Lincoln Aquatics in 1987 from their father, William Luecker. In 2000, she moved to the corporate office in Concord, California, as vice president, and in 2006, she and her brother also acquired the Southern California branch of Lincoln operated by their uncle, Ed Little. A major accomplishment that made Luecker very proud was her involvement as one of the founding members of the Association of Aquatic Professionals (AOAP). She also participated in many aquatic groups associated with NRPA, state level park and recreation associ20 Parks & Recreation

n The Tuscaloosa County Park and Recreation Authority in Alabama is planning a 38-foot-tall slide, and while community kids are excited about the prospect, parents and other community members have raised questions regarding safety concerns and the overall price. The slide, which is planned for Tuscaloosa’s Snow Hinton Park, would be buttressed by climbing equipment versus the traditional set of stairs. The department estimates the project will cost $275,000 and make their slide the tallest at any playground in the Southeast. n As new dictionaries are published each year, critics take note of the additions and comment on what their inclusion means for the changing world. This year’s publication of the Oxford Junior Dictionary, which limits its word count to 10,000, may be even more telling in what it has dropped. Some of the words removed from this edition include monarch, ivy, heron, newt, raven, wren, acorn, bramble and fern, while MP3 player, cut and paste, celebrity, vandalism, attachment and broadband were added. For more news from around the industry, visit www.parksandrecreation.org/2015/March/Notable-News.

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NRPA Connect Hot Topics

onnect is the place to network online with your fellow park and recreation professionals! Here’s a sample of what’s being discussed now: 1) Adult Softball League Numbers Decline: Are adult softball leagues declining in popularity? Agencies are experiencing less participation and some have canceled leagues. Professionals weigh in on how they are trying to keep people interested in the game. 2) Rec Center/Library/Senior Centers: Participants give examples of facilities that have been constructed to serve more than one purpose. These include community centers combined with libraries and senior centers with fitness centers. Read more to find instances of innovative spaces designed to satisfy public need. 3) Dog Park Surfacing: Dog parks are extremely popular and more are being built every day. When thinking about constructing a dog park, it’s important to consider the best surface to use. What are the advantages and disadvantages to pea gravel, artificial turf or engineered wood fiber? Participants in this thread share their ideas and suggestions to help you make a decision. 4) Movie and License Vendors: Whether hosting a movie-in-the-park night or showing a family-friendly film at your rec center, it is important to obtain a public performance license. Visit the discussion for recommendations about how to handle licensing with multiple facilities. Visit www.nrpaconnect.org and let the networking begin! — Hayley MacDonell, NRPA’s Membership Programs Manager

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Lawn-gevity Right now, a large swath of the United States is still in winterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s icy grasp, but, slow as it may seem, we are approaching spring and with it the need to give our fields, lawns and open green spaces a little TLC. Our partners in the landscape industry and those dedicated park and recreation professionals who put their sweat and toil into the parks and fields in our communities have a lot to consider as they prep for warmer temperatures. Below, find some interesting stats on landscaping, turf maintenance and the people whose green thumbs enhance our recreation facilities all year long.

888,426:

Approximate number of employees working in landscaping/turf maintenance as of January 2014.

87: Percentage of respondents to a 2012 Husqvarna

Global Garden Report survey who believed having access to green space has a positive effect on the neighborhood or community spirit.

51:

Percentage of people responding to Husqvarnaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s survey who cite poor green-space maintenance as a deterrent to visiting their community park.

31 million-plus: Estimated amount of grassy acres spread across the United States. 80: Percentage of that grassy acreage made up by

residential lawns.

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$11.53: 13: Percentage by which the landscaping industry is expected to grow between 2012-2022. $74 billion: Estimated annual revenues of the landscape services industry. 73.6: Percentage of landscape maintenance providers that offer mowing services. 12.7: Percentage of landscape maintenance pro-

Average hourly wage for a grounds maintenance worker in the United States in 2012.

viders that offer green/sustainability services.

Sources: PLANET, Lawn & Landscape, Landscape Management Industry Pulse Report, Husqvarna Global Garden Report, The Lawn Institute and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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People for Parks Mighty Mowers By Samantha Bartram

e live in a complicated world. Politics, economics, climate change — sometimes it feels like we’re facing insurmountable problems and no amount of effort or resources will help. In times like these, we seek stories of courage and leadership to remind us that anyone can be a hero if they’re willing to step up to the plate, or, in the case of Tom Nardone, the mower deck.

I wondered, what does that mean? Turns out it means they took the trash barrels away and stopped mowing the grass.” And like that, dozens of parks and playgrounds became weed-infested eyesores with grass so high Tom Nardone snaps a selfie before tackling one of Detroit’s overas to obscure any grown playgrounds. children who might attempt to play. It was here that NarNardone and his ragtag band of done saw his opportunity. “I always lawnmower vigilantes, better known as wanted a lawn tractor, so I decided the Detroit Mower Gang (www.mowto buy one and go mow some of ergang.com), have taken it up on themthese parks,” he says. Five years latselves to tackle a simple yet urgent prober, Nardone’s one-man operation has lem in their area: overgrown parks and blossomed into a full-fledged volunplaygrounds. As Detroit has struggled teer movement. “Turns out there are with financial woes — including filing a lot of people out there who like to the largest municipal bankruptcy in mow grass and fiddle with lawn tracUnited States history — its departments tors — getting them to come out on and agencies have suffered from a lack a Wednesday night, mow and drink of funding and personnel. Tasks that beer wasn’t that hard!” usually fall to park and recreation emBy day, Nardone is the entrepreneur ployees go untended as limited resourcat the helm of BulletSafe, a medies are diverted to the city’s most pressing um-sized manufacturer of bullet-proof needs. This problem began well before vests and ballistic plates. He’s also a big Detroit’s formal bankruptcy filing in fan of volunteerism — “It’s my favor2013. As Nardone recalls, “Around ite hobby,” he says. Having settled on 2010, the city of Detroit announced it mowing Detroit’s abandoned parks would close about 75 parks. At the time 24 Parks & Recreation

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and playgrounds as his philanthropic activity of choice — with the tacit support of the Detroit Recreation Department — Nardone decided to tackle Dorais Park as one of his first projects. “I found some of the parks were really big,” he says. “[Dorais] had an abandoned velodrome in it. I thought, ‘That is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!’ It was virtually unknown — I felt like I found the Statue of Liberty in Planet of the Apes! But I could see the project was too big to do alone.” Nardone created a Facebook page and put out feelers for anyone who might be interested in joining his endeavor. “I called it the ‘Mower Gang,’ and started inviting people I thought would be interested in the velodrome — bikers, RC car racing folks…Some people showed up to work — hardly any — some spectators came by, and the Detroit Free Press made this super-cool video about it. They put it on their website, news spread and pretty soon people started to show up [for other projects].” To date, some 100 people, at one time or another, have joined Nardone’s “Hell’s Angels of mowing,” and about 25 to 30 of them show up on a regular basis. “Of those, usually 10 to 12 lawn tractors will show up,” Nardone says. “We can mow a lot — maybe 3 acres an hour — but sometimes the grass is chest-high. It’s lots of fun too — when you start, the parks look really rough, but at the end they look so different. There’s a real sense of accomplishment.” Samantha Bartram is the Associate Editor of Parks & Recreation magazine (sbartram@ nrpa.org).

Member to Member Public Lands Besieged by Cats By Mark Battista

cross the nation, cat colonies are becoming commonplace in wildlife refuges, national and state parks, and other public lands. Their presence creates an environmental and legal challenge for land managers. It can be a contentious and emotional dilemma as cat advocate groups mobilize to do what’s best for the cats, while wildlife and public land defenders struggle to do what’s best for wildlife, visitors and the public land. To understand this growing problem and find a solution, park managers need to understand not only the environmental and legal parameters, but also the human factor, the individuals and groups that are enmeshed in this dilemma. The Human Factor Joyce Girling, a retired assistant principal at Manchester Middle School, exercises by strolling along the trails in Rockwood Park located in Chesterfield, Virginia. She also plans a visit at least two weekends a month to feed the 20 cats that live in the park. Girling, along with two others, manages to care for and feed the cats and practices a method known as TNR (trap, neuter and release). They trap the cats, bring them to a veterinarian for neutering or spaying and appropriate shots, and then release them back in the park. Her compassion is obvious as she expresses the emotional side of caring for the cats. “We try to be as detached as we can,” says Girling. With the wild and feral cats that remain aloof, that detachment comes easy. “It’s the ones that are sweet and want you to love them. That’s where you get emotionally involved.” Girling and her cohorts work diligently with the local SPCAs and the Richmond Animal League to find homes for the cats. She said they also work with the wild and feral cats, so they will be more readily adoptable. With her teaching background, it’s no wonder that Girling addresses the problem with a dose of education. “Really what it comes down to is…we’ve got to educate people,” she says. “We’ve got to have commercials on TV. We’ve got to educate through schools and talk about what responsible ownership is all about. That education piece is significant.” Girling seems willing to work with interested parties to find solutions for abandoned cats. But there are some things that are sacrosanct to her and most others who tend to these cats. “I don’t have a problem with compromise, but give me a better solution than euthanasia,” she states. The Environmental Factor Outdoor cats impose a heavy toll on the environment. Most

obvious are the number and variety of wildlife they kill, such as birds, amphibians, reptiles and small mammals. Within the past 10 years, the Wildlife Center of Virginia (WCV), a nationally recognized wildlife veterinarian hospital near Waynesboro, Virginia, treated close to 3,000 wildlife species that were injured by outdoor cats, says Ed Clark Jr., the center’s president and founder. Sadly, more than 70 percent of the small mammals

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Parks & Recreation

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delivered to the WCV because of cat attacks succumbed to their injuries. For birds, explains Clark, the mortality rate was more than 81 percent. Outdoor cats exert other potential problems as well. “Feral cats have the potential to compete with native wildlife species like skunks, opossums, foxes and raccoons for smaller prey species,” says Lee Walker, outreach director for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Walker added that humans and wildlife can be infected with a variety of diseases and parasites from cats, such as rabies, toxoplasmosis, hookworms, feline immunodeficiency virus and feline infectious peritonitis. The unfortunate fate of wallabies at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk, Virginia, was caused by the spread of toxoplasmosis, says Sharon Quillen Adams, executive committee member of the Virginia Alliance for Animal Shelters. The disease was caused by a parasite that was transmitted through the feces of cats living in the zoo. The Virginia Pilot reported that since February 2014, most of the wallabies have died at the zoo, and the wallaby exhibit is now closed. “I think it is a testament to the political problems we have,” says Adams in reference to the death of the wallabies. “There are pressures that are pushing against good management.” This abandoned cat found shelter around a storage shed in Henricus Historical Park in Virginia’s Chesterfield County.

28 Parks & Recreation

Adams also emphasized the human toll through an incident that occurred in August 2014 in Osceola County, Florida. A young girl was bitten and scratched by what the local animal control believed to be feral cat. The cat was captured and tested positive for rabies, and the young girl had to endure rabies treatment. The Legal Factor In the legal arena, there may be more questions than there are answers. But park managers must grapple with local, state and federal laws and understand how they pertain to wildlife and domesticated animals. When cat advocates release cats onto public lands, are they breaking the law? In referring to the Code of Virginia, Adams says, “Yes.” The Code of Virginia states, “No person shall abandon or dump any animal.” It further defines abandonment as “to desert, forsake or absolutely give up an animal without having secured another owner or custodian for the animal or by failing to provide the elements of basic care as set forth in §3.2-6505 for a period of five consecutive days.” Also, does releasing cats on public lands conflict with laws that protect wildlife species? More specifically, is it a federal offense if a cat released in a state park kills a mockingbird, which is protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act? Park managers must also consider the ramifications resulting from a park visitor bitten or scratched by a cat. Would the park be liable if a visitor contracted rabies from a cat living in the park? Clark asks, “Why do we allow an animal that is known to carry an organism that is very, very dangerous to

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children and pregnant woman…why do we allow people to put those animals in places where children play and families congregate?” Conclusion Though cat advocates and land managers rarely agree on control methods, some do agree on the role of education in making the public aware of the problem, explaining the consequences and encouraging responsible cat ownership. To that end, the American Bird Conservancy is producing a public service announcement encouraging cat owners to keep their pets indoors for the benefit of their cats and native wildlife. Parks and other land managers can conduct programs and create other media to educate the public and build support. Legislation can also be an avenue to address the problem. Some suggest that the same laws governing dog owners should be applied to cat owners as well. Basically, they contend that cats should be under the control of their owners. The right people can make a difference. For example, Adams has worked diligently with the local animal control bureau to save kittens born in the wild. Her foster program saved and provided homes for 85 percent of them. All the kittens that were adopted left sterilized and vaccinated. In some areas, cat refuges have been established to relieve the burden of stray cats on public land. In the end, the ideal solution would eliminate cats from our public lands, find homes for existing cats living on public land and instill responsible cat ownership. Can this be achieved? Can cat advocate groups work with land managers? Mark Battista is a Naturalist for Virginia’s Chesterfield County Parks and Recreation (battista5@comcast.net).

ADVOCACY

Park Champions: Bringing Capitol Hill to a Park Near You By Jayni Rasmussen

or years, NRPA’s Legislative Forum brought park and recreation professionals from across the country to Washington, D.C., where they delivered a powerful message to Capitol Hill: Parks and recreation matters. However, the dynamic of Capitol Hill has undeniably changed, and so has the way Congress does business. The concept of the Legislative Forum simply doesn’t fit into the new order. The importance of parks and recreation lies in the differences made in the communities we serve, and the essence of that contribution cannot truly be encapsulated and presented during a few days just once a year. So, we’re excited to announce that NRPA is focusing its efforts on empowering park and recreation professionals to make change happen from their home turf. By serving as Park Champions, NRPA members will be year-round ambassadors of their agencies, building strong, lasting relationships with their elected officials. Throughout 2015, NRPA will be hosting free monthly webinars to train park and recreation officials and citizen advocates on how to be effective Park Champions. Participants will learn how to engage their elected officials through

letters, calls and meetings with clear and compelling messaging. To kick off Park and Recreation Month this July, Park Champions across the country will invite their senators or representatives and/or their staff to take part in

events designed to highlight their respective agencies. From seeing firsthand a child enjoying a healthy meal when they otherwise might have gone hungry, to actually walking on a recreational path that has made all the difference in providing families access to their community park, these events will leave a lasting impression upon which an ongoing dialogue can be built. Coincidentally, NRPA’s 50th anniversary is also an absolutely critical year for park and recreation legislation. The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) Act and the Child Nutrition Act are all set to expire this year. These laws provide essential funding for community park and recreation

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Parks & Recreation

ADVOCACY

projects all over the country — and chances are, your park and recreation agency or community has benefited from one of these laws. So, in addition to the monthly Park Champion training webinars, NRPA will host issue-specific webinars to educate Park Champions on these important pieces of legislation and how they may impact community park and recreation programs and facilities. To make this initiative a success, we need your help. NRPA is committed to supporting and educating its members to be effective park and recreation advocates, but first, we need you to step up as a Park Champion. Your voice will make all the difference in ensuring that Congress continues to recognize the importance of parks and recreation. Plus, there are plenty

NRPA is committed to supporting and educating its members to be effective park and recreation advocates. of benefits to being a Park Champion. In addition to highlighting your park and recreation department, you will build relationships with your elected officials, learn valuable advocacy and event-planning skills, receive recognition at NRPA’s Annual Conference and more. So, what are you waiting for? Here’s how you can become a Park Champion: • Learn more about the Park Champion initiative at www.

ParkRec-Feb2015.indd 1

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nrpa.org/park-champions. Sign the Park Champion pledge. Attend the Park Champion webinars. • Respond to Park Champion calls to action. • Participate in the Park Champion NRPA Connect network. Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase, “Democracy is not a spectator sport.” Well, it may be cliché, but it has never been truer than right now, in a year when there is so much on the line for our field. With this initiative, you have the opportunity to be the voice for your agency and community, and we’re here to support you. So, become a Park Champion and bring Capitol Hill to a park near you! • •

Jayni Rasmussen is NRPA’s Advocacy and Outreach Specialist (jrasmussen@nrpa.org).

2015-02-13 10:47 AM

L AW R E V I E W

Park Playground Ban on Adults Unaccompanied by Children By James C. Kozlowski, J.D., Ph.D.

n January 7, 2015, the city of Hollywood, Florida, became the latest city to adopt a municipal ordinance that effectively bans adults unaccompanied by a minor child from entering and/or remaining in a park playground. In creating “Designated Children Play Areas,” the Hollywood ordinance provides: “It shall be unlawful for any adult to enter and remain in a designated Play Area, where signage is posted, unless the adult is supervising and/or accompanying child(ren) who is/are then visiting the Play Area.” The ordinance defines an “adult” as anyone over 18 and “children” as persons age 12 or younger. “Play Areas” are defined in the ordinance as: “Any portion of an area within a city park that contains playground equipment for use by children, and has been posted with signs identifying the designated area as a children’s play area.” The proposed sign from the city of Hollywood states: “Notice: Designated Children’s Play Area — Adults allowed in this area only when accompanied by a child of 12 years of age or younger. Violators subject to enforcement pursuant

to Section 103.04, Code of Ordinances.” Section 103.04 subjects “the offender, upon conviction, to a fine not to exceed $500, or imprisonment for a period not to exceed 60 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment.”

According to the stated rationale for the ordinance, “play areas are intended to furnish and provide age-appropriate recreational play equipment and open space to accommodate the needs and play behavior of minor children in the city who are supervised by parents, guardians, caretakers, or other appropriate adults.” Moreover, in order to provide “safe play areas for children,” the ordinance is further intended to “maximize play area equipment available for children and minors for whom the city’s play equipment and play areas are specifically designed.” This stated legislative rationale for the ordinance regarding “age-appropriate” playground equipment is not necessarily consistent with media

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reports. According to Hollywood’s mayor, the ordinance responds to the concerns of parents with young children who see “really strange people walking around everywhere” and have been “unnerved by some adult who just does not look right.” One Hollywood commissioner “wondered whether the new rule might draw legal challenges,” but claimed the ordinance “will put a little dent into getting rid of the undesirables in the park,” but it “won’t get rid of them.” While existing legislation in many jurisdictions already bans sex offenders from playgrounds, another commissioner claimed the ordinance will protect “our kids” from sex offenders “that have not been caught yet.” This Hollywood, Florida, ordinance is based on a similar 2010 Miami Beach, Florida, ordinance, Sec. 82-6. — Designated children play areas, which provides as follows: Adults are allowed in designated children play areas in the city only when accompanied by a minor. Children play areas where this section is applicable will be specifically designated and signs will be posted informing the public of the designation. New York City Playground Rule Similarly, the rules and regulations for New York City parks provides for “Exclusive Children’s Playgrounds” in which adults are “allowed in playground areas only when accompanied by a child under the age of twelve (12).” This provision is just one part of Section 1-05 in the city’s park rules that describe “Regulated Uses” to include “Exclusive Areas” as “designated by the [parks] commissioner for exclusive use.” In addition to children’s playground areas, these exclusive uses also include “Senior Citizen Areas” whereby the commissioner can set aside certain areas of any park “for citizens aged sixty-five (65) and older, for their quiet enjoyment and safety.” Violations of these park rules constitute a misdemeanor punishable by not more than 90 days imprisonment and/or by a fine of not more than $1,000. In particular, enforcement of the exclusive playground rule has generated some adverse media publicity for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks). In one instance, seven men were cited for playing chess in a playground park. In another, a woman was ticketed for eating a doughnut in a park playground. In retrospect, in the interest of good public relations, it probably would have been better for the police officers involved to exercise discretion and simply warn these adults, as opposed to citing them for violating a park rule that many view as criminalizing rather innocent behavior.

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Reasonable Restriction If challenged, the issue is whether this type of ordinance will pass constitutional muster. While the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment guarantees the right to enter certain public places, including city parks, this right is not absolute. There is no constitutional right to use public parks under all conditions and at all times. Instead, the individual’s constitutional right to use parks made available to the general public is subject to reasonable time, place and manner restrictions. Further, these restrictions must be narrowly tailored to advance a compelling governmental interest. Accordingly, from a constitutional law perspective, the issue is whether the creation of such exclusive-use areas for playgrounds is a reasonable time, place and manner restriction based upon a rational governmental objective. Since the exclusion of unaccompanied adults does not involve a suspect class (i.e., a classification based on race, creed, color or natural origin), the courts will generally uphold such a rule given a reasonable connection between the regulation and a legitimate governmental objective. In constitutional law, this standard of judicial review for governmental actions is referred to as the rational-basis test. In so doing, judicial review will apply a more deferential rational-basis test, which generally presumes constitutionality and does not second-guess the judgment and policies of lawmakers. In Hollywood, Florida, the stated objective of the ordinance is to “maximize play area equipment available for children and minors for whom the city’s play equipment and play areas are specifically designed.” Accordingly, if and when challenged, a court

would more than likely uphold the constitutionality of an ordinance banning adults unaccompanied by children from park playgrounds. In other words, while reasonable minds may

differ, most would agree that there may be a rational connection between the ban on certain adults and maintaining an age-appropriate environment in public playgrounds for children.

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Parks & Recreation

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In so doing, however, constitutional due process would require proper notice of the prohibited conduct. Thus, the placement and clarity of the playground signage message to the reasonable adult observer is a significant factor. Moreover, due process would also provide a procedure to appeal a violation of the ordinance. Further, an ordinance that bans adults unaccompanied by a child from entering certain playgrounds may be viewed as a reasonable time, place and manner restriction when viewed within the context of myriad other park facilities routinely set aside for various exclusive uses (e.g., Little League ballfields, picnic areas and dog parks, etc.) wherein some adults are excluded and not others in certain places and at certain times. However, when an otherwise constitutional restriction is applied in a discriminatory manner, there may be some constitutional due process problems associated with selective enforcement of this type of ordinance. Such legal problems arise when these types of park rules effectively target the homeless or other “undesirables,” effectively criminalizing the innocent behavior of “some adult who just does not look right.” In other words, selective enforcement of an otherwise constitutional ordinance may impose an unconstitutional “status” crime on certain individuals based on their appearance, not their conduct. That being said, in the absence of free legal services and representation, such individuals are unlikely to bring a constitutional challenge when cited for violating the ordinance. Disorderly Exercise? The case of Galbreath v. City of Oklahoma City, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 10824 (10th Cir 6/11/2014) describes one such situation involving “some adult who just does not look right” to some adults supervising children in a nearby playground. This case illustrates the notice requirement of constitutional due process. In this particular instance, plaintiff Allen Galbreath was arrested for disorderly conduct while performing his morning ballet exercises in an Oklahoma City park. Galbreath is a “former dancer with the Oklahoma Ballet.” Because of a debilitating hip condition, Galbreath regularly performed ballet exercises as a form of “physical therapy” at Goodholm Park in Oklahoma City to improve his ambulatory function. In June 2010, Galbreath went to Goodholm Park to perform his morning physical therapy exercises. He wore “[o]versized gray pants, a fitted gray T-shirt...a red bandanna,” and “high-heel shoe[s].” He also carried a walking cane roughly 3 feet in length and a large red handbag. Upon arriving at the park, Galbreath began singing and performing dance moves using his cane. Shortly thereafter, Galbreath fielded a call from a friend and began laughing

loudly. A woman called 911 to report she was at the park with her grandchildren and concerned about a “man in high heels with a big stick and a purse.” Officer Kevin Parton of the Oklahoma City Police Department responded to the 911 call. After arriving, he found Galbreath wearing high heels and carrying a cane. When the officer asked Galbreath what he was doing at the park, Galbreath explained that he was doing his “morning exercises” and demonstrated a short choreographed ballet sequence using his walking cane. According to Galbreath, Officer Parton “grabbed” Mr. Galbreath’s arm, twisted it up “above [his] head to where it hurt” and escorted him to the police car. Officer Parton searched Galbreath’s red bag and found an air pistol. After handcuffing Galbreath as a “precautionary measure” and running a warrant check, Officer Parton learned that Galbreath had no outstanding arrest warrants or any criminal background. Officer Parton recounted that, save for two tennis players, the other people in the park had gathered by the playground equipment and were no longer involved in “open play.” He presumed they were afraid of Galbreath. Nothing in the arrest report, however, suggested Officer Parton spoke with any of these individuals to confirm whether they were in fact alarmed. Officer Parton arrested Galbreath for “disorderly conduct” under Oklahoma City Municipal Code § 30-81(b), which defines the offense as “caus[ing] public alarm without justification.” Although the city initially charged Galbreath under the ordinance, it later dismissed the charge. In his civil rights claim against the city, Galbreath alleged “Officer Parton arrested him without probable cause” and “the city’s disorderly conduct ordinance was unconstitutionally vague in violation of the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment.” The federal district court granted summary judgment in the city’s favor. In rejecting Galbreath’s due process vagueness claim, the district court determined Galbreath had sufficient notice that his behavior could have fallen within the ordinance’s description of prohibited conduct. Galbreath appealed. As noted by the federal appeals court, to satisfy due process, “a penal statute must define the criminal offense with sufficient definiteness that ordinary people can understand what conduct is prohibited and in a manner that does not encourage arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.” As cited by the court, the city’s ordinance provides: “A person is guilty of disorderly conduct, a Class ‘a’ offense, when such person...causes public alarm without justification” (City of Oklahoma City, Ordinance No. 22210, § 30-81(b) (adopted May 6, 2003)).

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According to the court, the ordinance did not define “public alarm” or “without justification.” Further, the court found no Oklahoma case construing these terms. The court would,

therefore, apply the ordinary dictionary meaning of these terms. On appeal, Galbreath argued the language in the disorderly conduct ordinance was

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36 Parks & Recreation

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“unconstitutionally vague as applied to his activity in the park because it failed to give adequate notice to a person of ordinary intelligence that his conduct was unlawful.” The federal appeals court agreed. In the opinion of the court, “nothing in the plain language of the ordinance suggests that singing and performing choreographed ballet moves in the park with a 3-foot cane while wearing high heels would cause ‘public alarm.’” Moreover, the court found “the ordinance’s plain language failed to give Galbreath notice that any public alarm caused by these morning exercises would be ‘without justification:’” Galbreath testified he was singing and doing ballet exercises in high-heel shoes as a form of physical therapy to relieve pain from a hip disorder. He exercised with the assistance of a roughly 3-foot-long cane. He twirled his cane for a few seconds in a choreographed dance move when Officer Parton confronted him. At that time, Galbreath had been at the park about five minutes. Accordingly, the federal appeals court found “a reasonable jury could conclude he lacked fair notice that his conduct in the park could lead to criminal sanctions under the city’s disorderly conduct ordinance.” The federal appeals, therefore, reversed the summary judgment of the district court in favor of the city and remanded (i.e., sent back) this case for further proceedings. On remand, a jury would determine whether a reasonable person in Galbreath’s position would have had “fair notice that the particular conduct which he engaged in was punishable.” [Editor’s note: This federal appeals court decision reverses the opinion of the lower court described in the February 2013 Law Review column titled “Park Arrest for Flamboyant Ballet Exercise,” www.parksandrecre-

ation.org/2013/February/Park-Arrest-for-Flamboyant-Ballet-Exercise.] In the playground ordinances described above, signage is used to provide the required notice. That being said, depending upon the placement and number of signs, along with the design and delineation of a particular playground space, it might not be apparent to ordinary people, including men playing chess and/or a woman eating a doughnut on a park bench, that they have actually entered a prohibited playground area. Parks Liberty Interest Similarly, in the case of Catron v. City of St. Petersburg, 658 F.3d 1260; 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 19746 (11th Cir. 9/28/2011), the city’s “trespass” ordinance may have been too

vague and overbroad, providing enforcement officials with too much discretion in determining who gets to enter and remain in a public park. In this particular instance, a number of homeless individuals claimed the ordinance was unconstitutional because it selectively excluded them from the city parks. The trespass ordinance at issue authorized certain city employees, including police officers, to issue a “trespass warning,” which warns persons on public property to depart from that property and not to return. In pertinent part, the trespass ordinance gave authority to issue a trespass warning as follows: City employees or officials, or their designees, having control over a facility, building or outdoor area, including municipal parks, may issue a trespass

warning to “any individual who violates any city ordinance, rule or regulation, or state law or lawful directive of a city employee or official for the public property where the violation occurred. After a person had received a trespass warning, if the person is found on the pertinent public property “in violation of a trespass warning,” that individual could be “arrested for trespassing.” Section 20-30 required trespass warnings — as exclusions — to be for a limited time. For first-time violations, the trespass-warning period could not exceed one year; for all other violations, the trespass-warning period could not exceed two years (Section 20-30(c)). A copy of the trespass warning — in writing — issued pursuant to the trespass ordinance had to be provided to the warning recipient, but no formal

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Parks & Recreation

L AW R E V I E W

procedures had been set out by which the recipient of a trespass warning could challenge the basis of the warning or the terms of the warning. The trespass warning form attached to the St. Petersburg Police Department’s instructional order on trespassing read, in pertinent part: “You are hereby notified that your presence is no longer welcome on the [municipal] property/premises described below, unless such prohibition is rescinded in writing by the city official having control over the premises.” Plaintiffs argued that the trespass ordinance was unconstitutional and in violation of the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment. As described by the federal appeals court, the Due Process Clause requires “that a deprivation of life, liberty or property be preceded by notice and opportunity for hearing appropriate to the nature of the case.” Moreover, the court noted that “[t]he government must provide the required notice and opportunity for a hearing at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner, although the notice and hearing may be postponed until after the deprivation has occurred.” Citing U.S. Supreme Court precedent, the federal appeals court acknowledged “Plaintiffs have a constitutionally protected liberty interest to be in parks or on other city lands of their choosing that are open to the public generally” (City of Chicago v. Morales, 527 U.S. 41, 119 S.Ct. 1849, 1858, 144 L. Ed. 2d 67 (1999)). An individual’s decision to remain in a public place of his choice is as much a part of his liberty as the freedom of movement inside frontiers that are “a part of our heritage,” or the right to move to whatsoever place one’s own inclination may direct. 38 Parks & Recreation

In this particular instance, plaintiffs alleged that the city prohibited them from being in city parks in general and Williams Park in particular. In the opinion of the appeals court, plaintiffs had sufficiently alleged that “the city has deprived them of liberty interests” in the following two ways: • Enforcing the trespass ordinance to prohibit them from having access to a specific park (Williams Park) as ordinarily used by the public; and • Carrying out a policy of enforcing the ordinance to prohibit their use of all parks in the city open to the public generally. The appeals court found these allegations were sufficient to establish a procedural due process claim for deprivation of a constitutionally protected right, i.e., the right to enter and remain in city parks. That being said, the court acknowledged that “[t]his right, to use a city park or parks, of course, is not absolute.” On the contrary, the court found “St. Petersburg residents do not have a constitutional right to use public parks under all conditions and at all times.” Instead, the court simply acknowledged “a resident of St. Petersburg has some federal right to use St. Petersburg parks under the ordinary conditions in which these parks are made available to the general public.” In so doing, the court also recognized the city had a substantial interest “in discouraging unlawful activity and in maintaining a safe and orderly environment on its property.” However, in this particular instance, the appeals court found it was too “easy for the city — through a variety of agents — to issue a trespass warning.” Moreover, “no procedure is provided for the recipient of a trespass warning to challenge the warning or for the warning to be rescinded.”

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Section 20-30 provides a lot of discretion to many different city agents to issue trespass warnings for a wide range of acts. Given that these warnings operate like some kind of injunction, this situation creates a substantial risk of erroneous deprivation of liberty. In addition, a wide range of acts could constitute a violation of “any city ordinance, rule or regulation, or state law or lawful directive of a city employee or official” and might result in a trespass warning: public indecency, littering and even disobeying the lawful directions (for example, do not run around the pool) of a lifeguard would seemingly all be included in that description. Most importantly, the appeals court found “Section 20-30 provides no guidance to city officials (or their designees) or police officers in exercising their discretion to determine whether a person has actually committed a violation that permits issuance of a trespass warning.” In the opinion of the court, “this lack of specificity suggests that whenever an authorized city employee thinks a violation has occurred, he may issue a trespass warning.” Accordingly, as currently written, the appeals court found the trespass ordinance did not provide plaintiffs with sufficient procedural due process because there was “no way to contest the trespass warning or at least the scope of the warning.” Depending upon the particular circumstances, the playground ordinances described above may similarly be subject to a variety of due process challenges, particularly when targeted at social “undesirables.” Stay tuned. James C. Kozlowski, J.D., Ph.D., is an attorney and associate professor in the School of Recreation, Health and Tourism at George Mason University (jkozlows@gmu. edu). Webpage with link to Law Review articles archive (1982 to present): http:// mason.gmu.edu/~jkozlows.

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FFUUTTUURREE LLEEAADDEERRSS

Young Recreation Professionals as Experience Creators By Joshua Magleby, Starlee Jacobs, Mary Dunn and Noemi Morales

ur world is constantly advancing, from technology to opportunities and on to basic everyday language. Recreation is following this trend, reflected by recreation providers moving from the concept of merely performing a function for constituents to providing an identity for them. As young professionals, we are excited because we see a need for our skills, ingenuity and innovation to assist with this transition toward a more intentional form of recreation. Our education at Brigham Young University has uniquely trained us to transform programs into more meaningful experiences. For our purposes, an experience is defined as a structured, emotional interaction between participants and providers. The idea of transforming a simple program to an experience is explained in the Experience Economy Model developed by B. Joseph Pine and James H. Gilmore. This model, which is a continuum of the development of creating meaningful experiences, is important because it outlines the steps of how to

40 Parks & Recreation

move a recreation program through the continuum. The continuum explains the progression of a commodity to a good to a service to an experience that then creates an identity for an individual or a community. One example we have found of this in our own professional experience is the development of the Provo City Christmas Market. Provo City began by recognizing the holidays, bought Christmas

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lights and created a parade to correspond with the concluding ceremony of turning on the lights decorating downtown. The Christmas market has evolved into a community identifying event that involves co-creating with local vendors, intentionally themed music, food and fireworks. All of these aspects create a collaborative identity for people who attend. The Christmas Market was initially a commodity, or a raw, undeveloped idea. In the event’s conception, the commodity is the city recognizing the holiday. The good, or the tangible item, is represented as the city providing Christmas lights. The element of service is represented by the event’s progression to a ceremony of turning the lights on for the community. The

experience is then the staged event that leads up to the turning on of the lights downtown. The results of this experience help community members develop a sense of identity and loyalty to Provo. It is the customized nature or personalization of this event that creates loyalty to this program, and all other events put on by Provo City. As young trained professionals, we have seen the growth of this event and the effect it has had on the city, and are able to replicate it in other programs. It is this effect that makes us passionate about the experience that we will create in the future. We are excited to be in this field because creating these experiences is the execution of our education. We give ourselves the title of experience engineers. We are in the business

of improving quality of life — this is the fulfilling factor of this career choice. The reason why we use the Experience Economy Model is because experiences are not only changing, but the impact they create matters. Events define a community and its people. Not only does an event provide recreation, it is also part of who the members of a community are. All cities have the ability to create these experiences and establish this same sense of purpose and unity. We want to be on the front lines of experience creation. The excitement of this field comes from innovation and ingenuity. We recognize the irreplaceable value of experiences over commodities, and that the profession of providing experiences needs its own attention and

skill set, which we are excited to provide. We believe experiences are not just designed to be structured, they are designed to be lived to enhance the quality of life. Joshua Magleby is an undergraduate studying Recreation Management at Brigham Young University and a Marketing and Operations Intern at the Utah Youth Soccer Association (jamagleby@gmail.com). Starlee Jacobs is an undergraduate studying Recreation Management at Brigham Young University and a Special Events Intern Leader at Utah’s Provo Parks and Recreation (starleemarie@hotmail.com). Mary Dunn is an Events Leader at Utah’s Provo Parks and Recreation (dunnme421@gmail.com). Noemi Morales is an undergraduate studying Recreation Management at Brigham Young University and a Recreation Leader at Utah’s Provo Parks and Recreation (g.noemi. morales@gmail.com).

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Parks & Recreation

Every Kid, Every Park. Nothing Less. By Richard J. Dolesh

n February 19, 2015, at a ceremony in Chicago, President Barack Obama announced an ambitious plan to encourage every fourth-grade child in the nation and their families to visit a park during 2016. He said entrance fees for the students and their families to national parks and other federal public lands would be waived for a full year. Additionally, he spoke of $20 million that would be provided to the National Park Foundation if Congress approves his budget proposal, used to fund transportation costs for up to 1 million underserved kids in classes or groups to visit a park during this period, as well as other resources that would be available in the coming year such as downloadable educational program resources and activities for kids and families. NRPA strongly endorses the president’s Every Kid in a Park initiative. NRPA CEO Barbara Tulipane said, “We applaud the president’s action and welcome his support in getting kids and their families to parks. NRPA’s members are already connecting millions of kids to nature and the outdoors every year. The president’s initiative provides us an opportunity to show the nation that all parks in

42 Parks & Recreation

our country are ready to welcome children of every age and every background with opportunities to explore, get healthy and connect with nature.” U.S. presidents since Teddy Roosevelt have taken pride in our nation’s parks and public lands, but President Obama’s remarks about the designation of three new national monuments and the Every Kid in a Park campaign were an exceptionally powerful testament

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about the importance of parks to the development of children. He framed the action of visiting parks as being not just about the enjoyment of natural and scenic beauty, but as a life experience that is essential to the health and growth of children as individuals and as citizens. Some who heard his remarks said it was the most compelling speech about the value of parks that they have ever heard a sitting president make. Some highlights from the president’s remarks: “I’m here because next year is the 100th birthday of the National Park Service. For a century, rangers, and interpreters, and volunteers and visitors have kept alive what the writer Wallace Stegner once called ‘the best idea we ever had’ — our belief that the country’s most special places should belong not just to the rich, not just to the pow-

erful, but belong to everybody — not just now, but for all time. “Conservation is a truly American idea. The naturalists and industrialists and politicians who dreamt up our system of public lands and waters did so in the hope that, by keeping these places, these special places in trust — places of incomparable beauty, places where our history was written — then future generations would value those places the same way as we did. It would teach us about ourselves, and keep us grounded and keep us connected to what it means to be American. And it’s one of our responsibilities, as Americans, to protect this inheritance and to strengthen it for the future. “And that’s why, starting this fall, we’re going to help a new generation of Americans experience our God-given grandeur by giving every fourth-grader in America what we’re calling an “Every Kid in a Park” pass — a pass good for free admission to all public lands, for you and your family, for an entire year. We want every fourth-grader to have the experience of getting out and discovering America. We want them to see the outside of a classroom too; see all the places that make America great. Put down the smartphone for a second. Put away the video games. Breathe in some fresh air and see this incredible bounty that’s been given to us.” NRPA thanks you, Mr. President. You eloquently and passionately expressed the belief we hold in our hearts about the value of parks, and you correctly placed the importance where it should be — on kids. But why didn’t you go all the way? Why should this initiative be just be for fourth-graders and their families? Let’s make it possible for every kid in America to visit a park.

Every kid in America deserves a chance to visit a park, especially those in underserved communities who otherwise would not have the opportunity. You are proposing to fund transportation for 1 million kids from underserved communities and that is truly commendable, but what about the rest of the kids who will not have the chance to visit a national park next year? Every kid in our nation and their families can celebrate the rich heritage of parks in America by visiting a nearby community park, regional park or state park. Our birthright and our heritage of parks is not limited to just our national parks, national monuments and national historic places. It extends to every park and every American can celebrate it. National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis has frequently commented that the centennial of the National Park Service is a time for kids and parents to enjoy all parks. “The National Park Service centennial goal is to connect with the next generation of park visitors, supporters and advocates,” he said. “The Every Kid in a Park initiative is a way to introduce young people to their national parks and other public lands and establish the love for these special places.” NRPA has embarked on a number of national initiatives that are

already making this vision a reality. In partnership with the National Wildlife Federation, the 10 Million Kids Outdoors initiative has already counted 5 million kids participating in nature-based activities. Through our Commit to Health program, NRPA has partnered with almost 500 park and recreation agencies that have pledged to support the Healthy Eating, Physical Activity standards for kids in afterschool programs at parks and recreation centers. NRPA gives support to many national special events including National Kids to Parks Day with the National Park Foundation, National Public Lands Day, and many other events and activities designed to get kids and their families out to parks everywhere. We firmly believe that every kid in America can enjoy a park, and every kid should be able to do so. Tulipane has called for every park and recreation agency in the country to embrace this notion, saying, “I challenge you to be the first to discuss the Every Kid in a Park initiative with your community and offer yourselves as the solution.” It’s simple: Every kid, every park. Nothing less will suffice. Richard J. Dolesh is NRPA’s Vice President of Conservation and Parks (rdolesh@nrpa.org).

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Parks & Recreation

ADVOCACY

HEALTH AND WELLNESS

Solving Summer Hunger By Lucy Melcher

ummer can be the hungriest time of year for many kids from low-income families. This is a solvable problem, however; park and recreation professionals are uniquely positioned to help end hunger for children in the summertime and have been key partners in helping to do so around the country.

A recent study by the Southern Education Foundation found that, for the first time in the 50 years the organization has kept track, a majority of America’s public school kids qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. Almost 15 million kids live in poverty, and nearly half of them are living below half the poverty line. These kids are offered the nutritional lifeline of free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch during the school year. But, when schools close for the summer months, these meals disappear. This means summer weeks filled with the stress of hunger. Hunger leads to headaches, stomachaches 44 Parks & Recreation

and behavior problems. Children struggling with hunger in the summer also struggle with lethargy and are at a higher risk of obesity. That’s just the short-term effect. Hunger experienced in the summer also has consequences that last long after temperatures cool and days get shorter. It can have serious consequences for academic achievement. According to Yolanda Stanislaus, principal of Francis Scott Key Middle School in Silver Spring, Maryland, “You can see a real learning gap at the start of the school year between the students who had enough to eat and those who struggled. The

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ones who haven’t been getting consistent meals are more stressed out. They take longer to ramp up and get into the swing of the school year. They’ve forgotten more from the year before. It makes a real difference in their progress.” Summer hunger also has a serious impact on a child’s future health, leading to expensive problems like diabetes, stunted brain development and heart issues. Darius Robinson, head football coach at a high school in North Carolina, says food is a critical element to building strong bodies, something he’s seen firsthand with his team. “There are some real financial challenges for the families in our town — a lot of my players didn’t have the resources to have a meal every day. Before our summer meals program started, many of my players were really struggling during

practice. These guys had the potential but didn’t have the energy levels to play well. When I asked if they’d eaten today, they would say no. Now I send my kids up to grab a meal, they get replenished and get that protein they need in their bodies. It’s been a huge asset.” The good news: There are programs in place that can feed hungry children when school is out of session. The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) was created in 1968 to connect kids to food sources during the summer. It’s funded by the United States Department of Agriculture, administered by state agencies and run by organizations like park and recreation services, libraries, schools, camps and churches. Despite all of the benefits, however, this program is severely underutilized. Today, only about 15 percent of kids who may need these meals — one in seven —are getting them. Awareness is a major issue; many families simply don’t know that this program exists in their communities. Sometimes there simply aren’t enough sites to meet the needs of hungry kids. Transportation challenges, severe weather (including extreme heat, wildfires and storms) and safety issues can keep many kids from getting the food they need. Even in the face of these potential barriers, park and recreation services around the country are stepping up to feed kids in the summertime. When agencies act as feeding sites for their communities, kids are able to get the critical nutrition they need. At the same time, offering free, nutritious meals provides an incentive for many kids to participate in summer programs, keeping their minds and bodies active when they’re not in school. Parks and community centers make ideal meal sites because they already encourage children to gather together for activities like sports or art classes.

Regulations in the federal meals program state that kids must consume their meals together, at the site where they are served. This means transportation can be an insurmountable issue for many kids in accessing meals; they don’t drive, their parents are working and school buses stop running when school is out of session. Working with programmers at area park and recreation agencies to connect the children enrolled in their summer activities to summer feeding programs can help to break through this barrier. Take New Orleans as an example. Before the devastation from Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans had a relatively high number of kids accessing summer food programs because they were offered through summer school programs. After Katrina, schools were split up, buildings and rec centers were destroyed and most of the old sites just weren’t around or offering summer programs. As a result, summer meal participation rates plummeted. Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign discovered that, instead, many kids were involved in youth programs and camps offered around the city. Most of these programs, however, weren’t participating in the federal summer meals program. The No Kid Hungry campaign and New Orleans Parks and Pathways, along with the United Way Summer Collaborative and the Partnership for Youth Development, worked separately and together to identify safe, vetted, successful youth programs to serve as summer meal sites. As a result, 57 new sites began offering meals and served more than 71,000 additional meals the following year. City of Henderson Parks and Recreation in Henderson, Nevada, is another shining example of what can happen when park and recreation agencies team up with state organizations and local nonprofits to ensure

kids are getting the food they need. Henderson’s service operated as an open site, serving meals to kids who needed them at all of their locations including two rec centers — one with a pool — and three elementary schools. On average, they were able to ensure that 400 children each day were getting necessary nutrition. Making sure families know about free meals is another key piece to the puzzle. Providence Parks and Recreation (PPR) in Providence, Rhode Island, is just one of the many groups working hard to spread the word about summer meals to kids in its community. Last year, PPR teamed up with other organizations like the Providence Children’s Museum, the mayor’s office and others to promote “Providence Play Corps,” a program offering free meals and fun, safe activities in community parks. Their dynamic media campaign, flyers and outreach worked; the team successfully helped feed hungry kids while also helping them play and explore the state’s great parks. In 2015, the No Kid Hungry campaign is working at the national level to improve current policies, building more flexibility into the summer meals program and helping it to run more effectively and efficiently in our cities, as well as in our rural communities. Connecting needy children to nutritious food does more than give them a full stomach for a few hours — getting enough to eat sets these kids on a path to reach their full potential. These are our future teachers, scientists and park rangers, if only given the chance. Park and recreation agencies have an important and essential role to play in ending childhood hunger in America. To learn more, visit www.nokidhungry.org. Lucy Melcher is the Associate Director of Advocacy for Share our Strength (lmelcher@ strength.org).

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Parks & Recreation

Parks Forward for All By Robert García and Ariel Collins

he independent Parks Forward Commission in California is calling for transformational change to diversify access to and support for state parks. State parks are not located near where most people live. State parks do not meet the needs of diverse people. Many parks departments do not have demographic information about their users. Incremental change, more money alone, and old ways of doing business will not solve these problems. In 1928, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., prepared a guide for California state parks that became a model for other states. Now, the Parks Forward report is a best-practice example. The commission’s work also dovetails with NRPA’s Three Pillars: Conservation, Health and Wellness, and Social Equity. The California Situation California has the largest and most varied natural and cultural holdings of any state park system. State parks include 3,600 employees, 279 parks, 1.6 million acres and 339 miles of coastline, as well as beaches, lakes, rivers, hiking and biking trails, campgrounds, picnic areas — and Native-American sites. As demographics change, parks need to change to meet the needs of the people. California’s Latino population is projected to grow from 38 percent in 2010 to 45 percent in 2040. “Millennials,” born between 1980 and 2000, constituted 29 percent of California’s population in 2010 and

46 Parks & Recreation

This map, prepared by The City Project, highlights park-poor, income-poor communities of color in California, as well as where state parks are located. Virtually no state parks are located in such communities.

represent the largest generation in history. An even higher percentage of millennials, 46 percent, were Latinos in 2010, while 51 percent of 12-yearolds were Latinos. Californians increasingly live in cities. In 2010, 61 percent of the state’s residents were clustered in three urban areas; by 2050, that number is projected to grow to 76 percent. For Commissioner and University of Southern California Professor Manuel Pastor, change is about

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modernizing parks. “We need a park system that meets our ambitions,” he says. “To do that, it must be modernized in three ways. First, we need to modernize the operations, bureaucracy and information about who’s using parks. Second, we need to modernize the demographics of who uses and works in parks. When we look at who’s voting for park bond measures, it’s the new California. The [park] visitorship should look like California.” Pastor concludes, “Finally, we need

to modernize how state parks works with partners. Nothing gets done by one institution alone — we need to work with business, public-private partnerships, other park systems and the community.” Increasing Access Parks are not located near where most people live. Generally, parkpoor, income-poor areas are disproportionately populated by people of color, while park-rich areas are far from population centers, according to the report, which cited The City Project’s work. State parks are far from the people, as in the map shown on page 46. Improving access for underserved communities and urban areas requires parks that meet their needs. This means active recreation like soccer, larger picnic areas for multigenerational family gatherings, special events, multilingual historic and cultural resources, and accessible lodging, according to the commission. Transportation and school programs are the most important tools to get people from inner cities to state parks, according to Michael Mantell, president of Resources Legacy Fund. The commission cites Transit to Trails as a proven program. Transit to Trails provides park-poor, income-poor communities with opportunities to learn about water, land, wildlife and cultural history, and engage in healthy physical activity. Transit to Trails gets people to parks, prepares young people to be tomorrow’s stewards of our natural heritage, and helps reduce congestion, improve air quality and reduce polluted water run-off. President Barack Obama agrees. The President’s Every Kid in a Park initiative gives all fourth-graders and their families free admission to national parks and transportation grants

to schools with the greatest need for students to visit parks, monuments and bodies of water. Next Steps The commission’s park vision for 2025 calls for every urban Californian to live within a safe, half-mile walk to a park. According to Mantell, “State parks cannot do it alone. We need to break down barriers between agencies. People don’t care if they’re in a state, local, regional or national park…Park agencies need to collaborate to fulfill the desires of the citizenry.” Resources Legacy Fund coordinated the Parks Forward initiative with $5 million in funding from various foundations. The commission emphasizes that parks contribute to a healthier society. Low-income communities of color lacking parks and recreation are particularly at risk for illnesses such as obesity and heart disease. Climate changes everything. The commission calls for reforestation and other projects to alleviate climate change. The commission should have gone further to explicitly address civil rights and environmental justice tools to alleviate park and health disparities. In contrast, the National Park Service (NPS) study for the San Gabriel Mountains and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers draft study to green the L.A. River recognize: • There are disparities in access to green space based on race and ethnicity; • This contributes to health disparities; and • Environmental justice laws and principles require agencies to address these concerns. The community faces the challenge of implementing the commission’s

recommendations justice for all.

with

equal

On the Rebound Today, state parks are back. Support for the report and community victories are signs. Community agitation created Los Angeles State Historic Park, Rio de Los Angeles State Park and the greening of the L.A. River, and Baldwin Hills Park in the historic heart of African-American L.A. The community saved the Native American site of Panhe and San Onofre State Beach by stopping a proposed toll road. The Parks Forward Commission, established by the governor under statute, released its final report after 18 months of town hall hearings, focus groups and research. According to Pastor, “The report is stamped with the name of the commission, but really, the recommendations reflect the important role outside groups and persistent pressure play in shaping the outcomes. Maybe the report comes up short in some ways, but the commission moved in the direction of what people kept pushing. The outside game is really important. It creates space for insiders to say outsiders are asking for this. It’s very important for the community to participate and the philanthropic world to fund outside participation. The report is really the wisdom of the community.” The wisdom of the community is diversifying access to and support for parks for all. Robert García is the Founding Director and Counsel of The City Project and an Assistant Professor, Community Faculty, at the Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science (rgarcia@cityprojectca.org). Ariel Collins is a Policy Analyst and Juanita Tate Social Justice Fellow at The City Project (acollins@ thecityprojectca.org).

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Parks & Recreation

The

Drones Are

Coming By Richard J. Dolesh

irtually anyone who has flown a quadcopter or other modern drone will say that they are a blast to fly. Drones combine the cool factor of impressive technology, the excitement of unmanned flight and the thrill of exploration, all in one amazingly simple and easy-to-operate package. Whether you fly alone, with friends or with your kids, flying drones is just plain fun. But drones aren’t only about fun. They will have an impact on virtually every aspect of our lives from agriculture to energy, scientific research, conservation, public safety and more. Drones have been labeled “disruptive technology,” and held up as avatars of the mythical “billion-fold improvements” that have taken place in computing, imaging, aeronautics, medicine and other fields. Drones will come to shape our lives every bit as much as cellphones, tablet computers and other game-changing technology. Futurists are abuzz with speculation that you will soon have your Amazon packages or Papa John’s pizzas delivered to your door by drones. Mainstream media outlets breathlessly report breaking-news stories about unauthorized or potentially dangerous drones, such as the recent story of

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an errant drone piloted by a possibly inebriated operator in Washington, D.C., who, while reportedly trying to impress a female friend at 3 a.m., flew his friend’s quadcopter from an apartment balcony a few blocks from the White House and crashed it on the White House grounds, causing major heartburn for the Secret Service. Industry and media statistics on how many drones have been sold to the public differ slightly, but the sales totals almost defy belief. Hobby and commercial drones are reported to be selling at the rate of 15,000 or 16,000 per month, or almost 200,000 per year. That’s a lot of people who will be looking to get outdoors and fly their new drones. And where will these people want to fly their drones? Why, in the wide open spaces designed for outdoor recreation, of course — parks!

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Illustration by Kim Lewis

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Parks & Recreation

DRONES

There is no doubt drones are coming, and they are likely to have a profound effect on parks and recreation. The public and commercial use of drones will present substantial challenges to park managers very soon and agencies will do well to be prepared for the coming wave. The Allure of Drones It is not difficult to understand why drones are becoming so popular. Flying a drone is a cool thing to do. The technology is amazing, the flying is exciting, and if there was ever a gadget that appealed to people’s imagination, drones would have to be near the top of the list. Drones and quadcopters are also relatively inexpensive and easy to operate. But just as they are fun to fly, they are more than just cool toys. They represent a quantum leap in how technology can be used not just for personal enjoyment and enrichment, but also to expand human knowledge, aid research, fight environmental threats, save lives

and much more. We haven’t even plumbed the depths of what drones might be able to do, but we are starting to see those scenarios take shape. There may be challenges ahead related to public flying of drones in parks, but there are also tantalizing opportunities for park agencies to utilize drone technology to fulfill important conservation, natural resource management and public-safety responsibilities. These include search-and-rescue operations, wildfire control, managing threatened natural areas, mapping the spread of invasive species, monitoring remote park locations and others. Drones may be able to provide agencies substantial time and cost savings for a wide variety of tasks. There is no doubt that drones are already stimulating interest among park planners, GIS specialists, park managers, rangers and even recreation program staff. Some agencies are already making plans for how they might use drones. From a recreational perspective, one of the most popular uses of hob-

Jim Kellner

Professor Kellner uses the true color and infrared images to estimate forest canopy cover.

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Brown University Professor Jim Kellner snapped this stunning aerial shot of the La Selva area forest in Costa Rica using an inexpensive quadcopter he built at a DC Area Drone User Group workshop.

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by drones is for photography. New drones can carry high-resolution cameras with onboard image stabilization and other advances. “It’s all new,” says Eric Cheng, director of aerial imagery for DJI, one of the largest manufacturers of hobby and commercial drones in the world. In a recent interview, he said the ability of drones to facilitate extraordinary new ways to photograph objects and landscapes has provoked intense curiosity and public interest. “The view from right overhead is unique. Nobody has ever seen such photographs before, and you are taking them. It’s exhilarating.” Legitimate Fears So what’s not to like about drones? Well, crashes, lost drones, operator errors, mechanical failures, privacy invasions and other undesirable consequences of inept or irresponsible drone flying, just to name a few reasons. Such outcomes are becoming an increasing concern of those responsible for public safety, not to mention the ever-present threat of a drone being used in a terrorist plot. There is already a compendium of hair-raising stories of near-misses or collisions with drones including reports of drones flying too close to aircraft or in other highly inappropriate locations. Reports of drones flying within 50 feet of commercial aircraft at New York City airports make some believe that a collision with an airliner is not a matter of if, but when. Parks have not been exempt from problems created by irresponsibly piloted drones, including a number of high-profile incidents at iconic national parks such as Zion and Grand Canyon. A widely reported incident occurred at Mount Rushmore National Park when a hobby drone was launched from a parking lot, hovered

New technology and software is giving drones incredible ability to capture high-definition images, record data and fly precisely.

Robert Reeder

over a crowd of 1,500 people gathered for an evening program at the monument, and then flew over and around the four sculpted heads before being flown back to the parking lot. Other public complaints about inappropriate or unauthorized use of drones have been received by the National Park Service (NPS), including harassment of wildlife, noise at iconic scenic viewing points and drone crashes in parks. Jeffrey Olson, public affairs officer for NPS, says that the prohibition on unmanned aircraft in national parks issued by Director Jon Jarvis in a policy memo last June was “basically a timeout.” The ban on new drone flying was prompted by public complaints concerning incidents similar to what happened at Mount Rushmore. NPS management policies call for careful consideration of any “new form of recreation,” which drone flying clearly is, and the impact of this activity has not been evaluated. The administrative action will trigger a review of existing and proposed policies and will lead to a Notice of Proposed Regulation, a process that is likely to take about 18 months, according to Olson. Incidents from rogue operators or inexperienced pilots are not the only concern. Privacy advocates, industrial and national security experts, and law enforcement officials are very concerned about the potential use of drones in terrorist plots or other criminal activity. Drones are starting to be a concern at virtually every large-scale public event that someone might want to observe or photograph, such as a drone that buzzed Chicago Park District’s Lollapalooza Festival last year. The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) even went so far as to declare the 2015 Super Bowl a “No Drone Zone,” and issued an advisory to enjoy the game, but “leave your drone at home.” Concerns about drones range from the relatively minor annoyance of

crashes in open areas to the very deep concern regarding bad behavior by pilots whose ignorance or dangerous operation of drones can literally endanger people’s lives. Many drone enthusiasts are concerned about rogue operators giving all operators a black eye. “The rogues are outliers,” according to Jon Resnick, policy and marketing representative for DJI. Christopher Vo, president of the DC Area Drone User Group (www.dcdrone. org), says, “There are a lot of people who are interested in flying safely and who just want to find places to fly.” Nonetheless, there are still many concerns about drones from a variety of quarters, especially park agencies that many expect to be on the front lines of managing public flying of hobby drones. Vo agrees that crashes and uncontrolled descents are an issue. “Everyone who gets their first drone and takes it out to fly will crash — that’s almost a guarantee,” he says. “But it is not necessarily a problem, just a reality. The solution is user education about where it is safe to fly and to not fly near buildings or over private property.” Technology improvements, says Vo, such as inexpensive onboard

infrared sensors and downward-facing cameras will help measure changes in speed and assist automatic hold, takeoff and landing. “It is also why the industry is trying to make drones lighter, stronger and safer,” he says. Vo points out that how a drone is flown is a factor in how safe it is. There are two principal methods of piloting drones, First-Person-View (FPV) and Line-of-Sight flying. In FPV flight, the operator flies the aircraft through the lens of an onboard camera. Some think this is a largely unsafe way to fly, and that hobby drones should be only be flown by line-of-sight with a spotter present at all times the drone is in operation. Rules Not Well Understood; Guidance Lacking With the large numbers of hobby drones being purchased daily and intense interest in commercial use growing, it is perplexing that there is so little understanding of exactly what the federal rules are for operating drones. The FAA regulates all U.S. airspace and there are strict rules for any type of aircraft flying above 500 feet. The rules governing unmanned aircraft systems,

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Parks & Recreation

DRONES

however, have been criticized for being seriously out of date. Commercially flown drones present a different set of issues than hobby drones. Guidance for the operation of both commercial and hobby drones has been long-awaited and significantly overdue. At present, virtually all commercial use of drones is currently prohibited without a very difficult-to-obtain Certificate of Authorization (COA), but few rules govern hobby drones. Since sophisticated and versatile hobby drones can be purchased easily and without licensing requirements to operate them, not many people know what is actually allowed and what is prohibited by law. Just before publication of this edition of Parks & Recreation magazine, the details of a Notice of Proposed Regulation by the FAA for commercial drone use were inadvertently posted online, and the FAA was essentially forced to release the entire proposal over a holiday weekend. To the commercial drone user’s relief, the proposed regulations are being viewed as reasonable. They

would not require operators to have a pilot’s license as some had feared, and the training and costs to obtain a required FAA operator’s certificate would not be prohibitive. Other proposed restrictions include a 500-foot ceiling, operation by line-of-sight only, and no flying above any people except those involved with the drone flight, such as a spotter. So, damp your expectations — no drone pizza deliveries to your door for now. The 60-day public comment period has now closed. The review and rule-making is expected to take up to two years. Cheng believes the FAA will need to issue some interim guidance for commercial users before the proposed rule becomes final, however, because there is such interest from potential commercial users for innovation and applications. The recent FAA announcement indicated that guidance on hobby drones will be issued in the near future. The Academy of Model Aeronautics has advocated for more education and user training of drone operators and has supported the idea that hobby drone

One of the most exciting applications of drone flying is aerial photography. On-board image stabilization and high-resolution cameras have dramatically improved aerial photography from drones.

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operators be required to obtain an operator’s certificate or become a part of an organized model aircraft club. If FAA-proposed rules do require hobby drone operators to be part of an organized club as some expect, there is likely to be an uptick in the membership of local model airplane clubs and drone user groups accompanied by an increasing demand for more public spaces in which to fly drones. But solutions may not be simple. It is true that many park and recreation agencies have a long history of providing model aircraft clubs space to fly radio-controlled planes, but virtually none are prepared for drone users. In addition, some park managers who currently provide parkland for radio-control clubs believe that flying fixed-wing RC planes and quadcopters on the same fields is not workable or desirable. This may mean that there will be new demands for drone-flying areas and that park agencies will need to expand the search for suitable spaces for this purpose. Policies for Public Flying in Parks Unformulated While the popularity of drones is growing exponentially, the awareness of park and recreation agency personnel who will need to manage them is not. In response to a query on NRPA Connect, a number of park administrators said their agencies either had no policies on drones or that they were unaware of any if they did. One conclusion was clear from conversations with park agencies across the country: Those park agency personnel who have not anticipated the boom in public drone flying will be caught unprepared both on a policy level and a management level. An important lesson is emerging — if your agency hasn’t started thinking about how to manage drones, it’s time to start thinking about it now.

Those agencies that react with blanket prohibitions on drone flying will find them difficult to enforce and they will do a disservice to people who are just looking for a place to safely recreate. Decades of successful experience providing space for model airplane fliers have shown that park agencies can and do accommodate this kind of outdoor recreation compatibly with other activities. Vo says, “Most of our users are law-abiding and only want to fly. But a lot of us who want to fly safely and responsibly simply don’t have any places to fly. A lot of park agencies turn us down because they just don’t want to deal with us.” The good news for drone users like Vo is that some agencies are expressing willingness to consider how they could accommodate the drone-flying public. Many Agencies Anticipate Using Drones Themselves Even if some agencies are unprepared for public drone use, quite a few are thinking about how they might use drones for a variety of management, monitoring, mapping and public safety applications. The requirements for obtaining a COA from the FAA to use unmanned aircraft systems for governmental or research purposes are quite rigorous, but Cleveland Metroparks (CMP) was willing go the distance, said Brian Zimmerman, executive director of CMP. “When we saw the potential, we never wavered,” he said. They have obtained a COA for a research project to monitor the Rising Valley wetlands complex, the largest freshwater wetlands in their park system. Stephen Mather, geographic information systems supervisor, says that to map and study the wetlands is extremely time-consuming and difficult to accomplish. By employing a small fixed-wing drone, they will be able

Christopher Vo, left, and Ted Markson fly quadcopters on the intramural fields at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

to do 3D mapping of surface topography and plant communities as well as track the spread of invasive species, monitor stormwater events, and create other datasets in real time to better manage and protect this valuable wetland. “We will also use the drone on a forest restoration project, and we hope to use it to do an ongoing assessment of shoreline infrastructure along Lake Erie,” Mather says. “With resolution accurate to within an inch, we can create 3D maps of new construction and monitor its condition over time.” The Future of Drones in Parks Cheng of DJI says, “We are in the earliest stages of drone technology and it is literally improving daily.” According to Cheng, there will be reliable, redundant return-home programming; mandatory no-fly software to prevent flying in federally designated no-fly zones; more autonomy and self-aware behavior; “follow-me” technology; and much more safety-related decision-making capability. “There is no reason that a drone should ever fly into a tree or building, and every drone will have sufficient power to return home.” What’s on the horizon for drones in parks? Well, consider that drone fliers are already envisioning drone racing just like the old air races of the 1950s. Fly-ins, drone-building workshops

and educational programs for drone users are already in the minds of forward-looking parks personnel. And the potential applications of commercial, hobby and agency-operated drones are mind-expanding. Hummingbird and nano-drones could aid in citizen science projects and enhance STEM learning opportunities for teens and adults. And what kid (under adult supervision of course) wouldn’t want to get connected to nature and the outdoors using a drone to observe and discover our natural world? When asked if he could ever envision a future in which drone use in national parks could be common, Olson says, “Yes, probably, but the question will be where such use would be approved.” So, what would the ideal future look like for users? Vo says, “Ideally, there would be park sites set aside for model aviation and open to users to fly their aircraft. There would be a way for users to communicate with park managers about what they were permitted to do and what they wanted to do. There would be a way for them to query the park managers about conditions and to be able to schedule times to fly. And there would be times and places where we could be able to educate others.” Possible? We’ll see. Richard J. Dolesh is NRPA’s Vice President of Conservation and Parks (rdolesh@nrpa.org).

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Parks & Recreation

NRPA Update Did You Miss Out? By Travis Smith, Ph.D.

f you haven’t completed a PRORAGIS™ survey in the past few years, you didn’t get a Parks and Recreation Community Standards Report in the mail. Maybe you’re curious about what you missed?

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These reports show PRORAGIS agencies how they compare to the Community Parks and Recreation Standards, which are generated from operating information we’ve gathered from more than 1,000 agencies across the country in the

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past five years. This new approach to defining standards for park and recreation services gives us insight into how the middle 50 percent of agencies in the country are managing their parks and serving their communities. Drawing on practical application to shape the new Standards allows comparison to what’s actually working for other agencies. However — and we can’t stress this enough — looking at the Standards ranges as you assess your current performance and future goals is only one part of the process! We compiled the data and provide two comparisons: each PRORAGIS agency against all other agencies, and each PRORAGIS agency with those of similar population density. Importantly, these reports weren’t just written for a park and recreation audience; they also provide data that allows an agency to place the report directly into the hands of an elected official as you tell them why they’re doing a great job or why you really need to acquire that funding to catch up to other agencies. This initial report provides median jurisdiction population for a variety of facilities, and comparisons for five key management ratios: • Operating expenditures per acre; • Operating expenditures per capita; • Acres per 1,000 population; • Revenue per capita; and • Revenue as a percentage of operating expenditures.

Revenue per Capita

Revenues (also known as “annual direct revenues”) include all of the monies generated directly from parks and recreation classes, programs, memberships, concessions, permits, rentals, and other non-tax sources. Revenues do not include funding from taxes, grants, foundations, bonds, assessments, or other indirect sources.

$35.00 $ Revenue per Resident

$30.00 $25.00 $20.00 $15.00 $10.00 $5.00 $0.00

Lower Quartile Median Upper Quartile

Your Agency

All Agencies

Population Density per Sq Mile 1,501 To 2,500

Your Agency

All Agencies

Population Density per Sq Mile 1,501 To 2,500

$32.63

$6.05 $19.22 $44.23

$10.97 $24.87 $46.68

Revenue as a % of Operating Expenditures (Cost Recovery)

Two metrics that can be used to track revenues, and/or compare revenue generation to other agencies, are “revenue per capita” and “revenue as a percentage of total operating expenditures.” The first metric, revenue per capita, is calculated by dividing the total revenues generated by the agency by the population of the jurisdiction served by the agency. The second metric, revenue as a percentage of total operating expenditures (also known as “cost recovery”), is calculated by dividing the total revenues generated by the agency by the total operating expenditures of the agency. In addition to using these metrics for revenue tracking and benchmarking, they can also be used to establish cost recovery policies and goals. There are no industry standards for cost recovery; for example, some communities have established different cost recovery p y p g , while others policies for senior,, adult,, and youth programs, have established overall cost recovery goals as a percentage of operating expenses. PRORAGIS can help agencies to determine reasonable and realistic cost recovery goals based on data from other agencies.

These reports show PRORAGIS agencies how they compare to the Community Parks and Recreation Standards.

35.0%

25.0%

How much are

20.0%

Median Jurisdiction Population per Facility you making?

15.0% 10.0% 5.0% 0.0%

Lower Quartile Median Upper Quartile

Your Agency

All Agencies

Population Density per Sq Mile 1,501 To 2,500

Your Agency

All Agencies

Population Density per Sq Mile 1,501 To 2,500

12.9%

15.5% 29.6% 48.9%

15.7% 27.0% 47.6%

4 | 2014 COMMUNITY STANDARDS REPORT

In future versions of the Parks and Recreation Community Standards Report, we’ll add to this list. But here’s the good news: If you missed out on this version, you don’t have to wait until next year to see how you compare. These graphical comparisons are now part of PRORAGIS. All you have to do is gather your data, visit www.nrpa.org/proragis and complete your 2015 PRORAGIS survey. Once you’re done, you’ll be able to see how you compare every time you log in — and the information will continuously update as we gather more data. Travis Smith, Ph.D., is NRPA’s Vice President of Research (tsmith@nrpa.org).

Your Agency

Facilities

Recreation/Community Center Fitness Center Playground Tot Lots Tennis court (indoor) Tennis court (outdoor) Basketball court (outdoor) Swimming pools (indoor) All Swimming pools Competition pools Non-Competition pools Swimming pools (outdoor) All Swimming pools Competition pools Non-Competition pools Senior center Ice skating rink (indoor) Ice skating rink (outdoor) Rectangular fields All Rectangular fields Football Soccer, Lacrosse, Field Hockey (Regulation Size) Soccer, Lacrosse, Field Hockey (Small-Sided Fields) Diamond Fields All Diamond Fields Baseball with 90 ft base paths Baseball with 50-65 ft base paths and mound Softball (youth) Softball (adult) Indoor or outdoor stadium(s)/arena(s) Campsites RV sites Campstores Boat ramp(s) Boat/canoe rentals Slip rentals Fuel station Gym Driving Range Dog Park Conference Center Nature/Interpretive Center Performing and/or Visual Arts/Community Center Community gardens Golf Courses (population per 9 holes)

20,261 21,781 3,275

All Agencies

Population Density per Sq Mile 1,501 To 2,500

58,082 2,894 4,881

24,804 42,742 3,899 14,000 16,188 4,413 7,526

34,284 46,233 2,929 14,200 6,444 3,692 6,000

174,247 217,808 871,233

43,872 60,645 55,000

42,620 79,740 48,204

124,462 435,617 174,247 217,808 435,617

33,660 43,267 38,404 50,000 31,564 14,445

37,202 42,432 35,532 47,545 32,427 14,390

4,538 9,075 9,900 108,904

3,929 16,375 8,474 8,553

3,696 17,476 7,802 8,487

3,403 72,603 7,141 7,710 96,804 435,617 145,206

3,333 21,483 7,579 9,806 12,144 81,405 10,512 2,399 75,961 44,510 75,187 1,361 154,305 26,958 64,846 53,915 57,929 120,133 70,000 27,000 26,288

2,917 20,002 7,182 6,500 12,000 57,477 14,193 2,640 ISD 32,500 65,000 ISD ISD 29,034 53,466 45,390 63,128 58,000 48,282 20,732 20,864

217,808 435,617

21,250 435,617 435,617 217,808 290,411 217,808 96,804 145,206

How many people are your you facilities serving?

% Recovery

30.0%

2014 COMMUNITY STANDARDS REPORT | 5

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Parks & Recreation

NRPA Update

Destodgifying Parks and Recreation NRPA’s marketing and communications team heads to Texas to talk creative marketing By Roxanne Sutton

ark and recreation agencies face a fierce field of competition. From private sports leagues and high-end gyms to for-profit adventure parks and more, parks and recreation need to find creative ways to promote their unique value proposition. A major hurdle for many agencies, though, is their marketing resources. Unlike health club franchises or for-profit organizations, park and recreation agencies often don’t have dedicated marketing funds or staff. Through a few informal surveys and conversations, we have found that many park and recreation professionals in charge of their agency’s marketing efforts have no formal marketing background and are often thrown into the position. While this can be a challenge, it doesn’t mean that agencies can’t learn marketing techniques to keep them in competition with for-profit organizations. A great way of keeping up with the competition is through professional development and training. Grand Prairie Parks, Arts and Recreation and Arlington Parks and Recreation Department in Texas saw this need and created the Brand+Aid Conference — a marketing and social media training program geared specifically toward park and recreation professionals. NRPA’s marketing and communications team was invited to speak at the January 2015 Brand+Aid conference in Arlington, Texas, so Lauren Hoffmann, NRPA’s director of marketing and communications, and I headed south to talk about one vital marketing concept — destodgifying. Parks and recreation is fun and exciting, so the marketing of parks and recreation should be, too. Simply stated,

56 Parks & Recreation

“destodgifying” means to take boring marketing pieces and make them exciting and interesting using simple techniques. At Brand+Aid, our team discussed ways to destodigify using four tools — voice, humor, dynamic print and real people. While we can’t fit an hour-long lecture into a magazine article, we do have a few tips to help boost your own marketing: Voice. Knowing your agency’s voice helps create a consistent brand. A fun way to determine your voice is to think of a celebrity that would make a good spokesperson for you and then list that person’s characteristics. You may need to add additional characteristics or take some away. Once you’ve determined your modified celebrity voice, work to make your social media posts, blogs and any written content sound like that person. Humor. You don’t have to be funny all the time, but incorporating humor into your marketing pieces can make you seem more approachable and relatable. Social media is a great place to incorporate humorous content since people already expect to see it there. Don’t think you’re very funny? Find someone in your office who is and talk to them for inspiration. Dynamic Print. Program guides contain a lot of text and information, but you can catch the public’s eye through captivating visuals.

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Simply stated, “destodgifying” means to take boring marketing pieces and make them exciting and interesting using simple techniques. Don’t have a stock photography budget? Good! Run a photo contest to get real pictures of people in your community that you can use to make your program guide more visually appealing while engaging your park and facility users. Real People. Using pictures and stories of real people in your marketing pieces makes them more relatable to your audience. How do you get them? Just ask! People are often willing to share a story or testimonial that you can use to help promote your programs. If you need a little boost, though, try incentivizing testimonials through a contest or drawing. NRPA’s marketing and communications team regularly shares marketing tips through the Open Space blog (www.nrpa.org/blog). You can also learn more about marketing and communications for parks and recreation at NRPA’s Annual Conference (www.nrpa.org/conference2015). Roxanne Sutton is NRPA’s Senior Marketing and Communications Specialist (rsutton@ nrpa.org).

Let NRPA Connect You to Your Peers!

etworking is an important benefit to NRPA members — with more than 48,000 park and recreation professionals making up the association’s membership, there are multitudes of people who understand your professional concerns and want to share ideas with you. We offer networking through the NRPA Annual Conference, volunteer opportunities, the Open Space blog and many other venues, but one you should not overlook is the association’s exclusive online tool called NRPA Connect (www.nrpaconnect.org). NRPA Connect is the premier professional networking platform for park and recreation professionals. On this site, members can associate with other park and recreation professionals nationwide through the Open Forum, Networks, volunteer groups and the member directory. It’s fast and easy to get started. If you’re already an NRPA member, you are automatically subscribed to the Open Forum using the same username and password you use to access www.nrpa.org. Once you’re logged in, you have full control over your profile. Set your privacy preferences so you decide what other members see, edit your profile under the “Edit Contact Information” section and populate your profile easily by transferring information straight from your LinkedIn account. All set up? Engaging with your peers has never been so convenient! Some of the many ways to participate include joining a topical Network, sharing on the Knowledge Center, or posting and idea or inquiry on the Open Forum. The Knowledge Center is a wonderful resource where members can view and share documents, such as master plans, volunteer management best practices, guidelines for establishing fees and more with agencies all over the country. Whether you post a problem you are facing in your career and collaborate with peers to come up with a creative

solution or share a success you recently experienced at your job, you can easily gain knowledge, support and inspiration by utilizing the tools available to you as a member. Recently, one member posted about a problem with trying to develop an employee incentive plan. Within hours, she received several replies with ideas of past programs that had worked for other professionals. Many of the ideas were budget-friendly, easy to manage and were proven to boost morale. Having access to experts and innovative minds in your field is invaluable; it allows you to gain a new perspective, expand your professional network and excel in your career. NRPA Connect has recently been upgraded, which is great news for members. The new and improved version is now 100 percent responsive on all devices, from your smartphone to your tablet to your desktop. Now you have the ability to connect at ease and stay up on the latest trends anytime, anywhere. Why not take advantage of this NRPA member benefit today? Visit www.nrpaconnect.org/home to connect today. Not a NRPA member? Go to www.nrpa.org/join to take advantage of this and other benefits. Contact Hayley MacDonell at hmacdonell@nrpa.org or 703.858.2148 with questions. Hayley MacDonell is NRPA’s Membership Programs Manager (hmacdonell@nrpa.org).

Test Your Park and Recreation Knowledge The following question is a sample Certified Park and Recreation Professional (CPRP) examination question. The purpose of an emergency action plan is to: A. Identify potential threats to the community B. Make any needed security improvements C. Establish evacuation meeting places for each public building D. Provide a resource of emergency telephone numbers and guidelines for reacting to various emergencies Calling all beginning to midlevel professionals! The Certified Park and Recreation Professional (CPRP) is the national standard for all park and recreation professionals who want to be at the forefront of their profession. For more information on the CPRP certification program and the answer to the above question, please visit www.nrpa.org/cprp.

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NRPA Update

Member Spotlight: Shelly Strasser, CPRP

f ever you need a guide to park and recreation opportunities in the West Allis/West Milwaukee area of Wisconsin, look no further than Shelly Strasser. The recreation and community services program director for the West Allis-West Milwaukee School District grew up in the neighborhood she now oversees and began her park and recreation career as a locker room attendant for the West Allis-West Milwaukee Recreation and Community Services Department’s aquatics programs. She stuck with the department through high school and continued to work as a youth sport official, after-school program supervisor, summer playground instructor and supervisor, and early childhood instructor through college. It should come as no surprise that her educational track at the University of Wisconsin followed a similar trajectory. We caught up with this passionate professional to learn more about the partnership between West Allis-West Milwaukee’s schools and parks, and how that arrangement affects her community. Parks & Recreation magazine: West Allis-West Milwaukee Recreation Department has a joint-use arrangement with the local school district — can you elaborate on that? Shelly Strasser: We are a department that functions within the school district under the auspices and guidance of the school superintendent and board of education. This started in 1934 when the superintendent at the time recognized and acknowledged the importance of organized recreation in the community and asked the school board to create a recreation department. Currently, we offer more than 1,100 different program offerings throughout the year for ages nine months to our senior residents. Additionally, our department is responsible for and oversees the scheduling of all school facilities and district properties for all activities that occur beyond the regular school day. Our department is also responsible for the maintenance and preparation of all outdoor athletic facilities. The majority of our programs take place within school buildings and on or in school district property, but we also utilize two city parks for programming.

58 Parks & Recreation

P&R: Do you feel this arrangement is beneficial? Strasser: This is definitely beneficial for our agency and our community. Our department is the only public source of recreation programs. We do not have any municipal-based recreation programs or recreational services, with the exception of the West Allis Senior Center and the parks. There are six neighborhood parks and four mini-parks in West Allis that are owned by the city of West Allis. Our department partners with the city to provide the majority of recreational programming that takes place in the parks and the program staffing for supervision and implementation of the activities and events. A school district-based recreation department allows for full access to all school district facilities without any related rental or subsidized usage fees. This provides us the opportunity to hold programs in optimal spaces and keep programming costs at an affordable rate. Another benefit is that we have direct marketing access by being able to distribute promotional materials through our schools.

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The most significant impact, though, is the relationships we are able to build with students, parents and school staff. P&R: What advice do you have for other park and rec professionals? Strasser: I would challenge them to never let go of the passion, commitment, dedication to serve, energy and excitement that drew them to the profession in the first place. I would recommend they take advantage of all the learning and professional growth opportunities that exist out there for our profession and to lean on other professionals and the national and state associations for inspiration and support. I would encourage them to respect the traditions of their communities but to also embrace the possibilities of what the future brings and to stay relevant, to be leaders beyond their department in their communities and to listen and look for every opportunity they can to make their departments something that their community and its members cannot live without. — Samantha Bartram, Associate Editor of Parks & Recreation magazine

Staff Spotlight: James Politte

RPA’s headquarters is full of people who are dedicated to conservation and public lands, and James Politte is one of the staff ’s most passionate champions for nature. By day, he works as the webmaster for NRPA’s websites and online resources, and in his free time, he serves as president of a friends group for a 725-acre nature preserve in Loudoun County, Virginia. We caught up with Politte to learn more about his career motivations, his volunteer endeavors and his pervading love for natural spaces. Parks & Recreation magazine: Tell us a little about your day-to-day job. James Politte: I work with pretty much all of the departments. Within the organization, I’m not only working on public-facing websites, I also manage the intranet. Another part of my job is the analysis side. I work closely with marketing if they want to track campaigns to help show the return on investment of their efforts. IT generally does things behind the scenes to make things run as smoothly as possible for the user and for staff, and we’re always looking at continuous improvement in the service we provide and the ease of use of technology. We also try to bake in some time for creative thought and are constantly scanning other technology resources and other associations to make sure we’re keeping up with the latest trends. P&R: Tell us how your volunteer work at Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve complements what you do at NRPA. Politte: Banshee Reeks is a real gem in Loudoun County that a lot of people around here don’t know about. It’s got a little bit of everything, from a variety of different butterflies to wild turkey. It has more than 20 miles of trails, and frontage along Goose Creek. In every season, you’ll find something there to spark your interest — bluebells in spring, and native wildflowers and grasses in the wildflower meadow.

Friends of Banshee Reeks is a small volunteer organization. We’re trying to grow it and increase awareness. I think that work meshes well with what we’re doing at NRPA with our pillars in Conservation and Health and Wellness — it offers opportunities for being active, enjoying the outdoors, land management practices and preserving habitat. A lot of people feel you have to travel far to find beauty, but a lot of times it’s in your backyard. P&R: Speaking of backyards, I’ve heard that yours is practically a nature preserve in and of itself. Care to share some details? Politte: I believe in planting natives wherever possible, and I see my property [in Sterling, Virginia] as an oasis for myself personally and for the wildlife in the area. There’s a band of woods behind my house with a stream. It’s not much, but there’s a fox I hear at night and an owl, plus bats fly over, and occasionally a deer (or five) will visit. One of the reasons I bought where I did was because of the environment. I plant things I know will bring in the bees and the butterflies, and I have three or four types of milkweed that I grow. I grow various salvias that the ruby-throated hummingbirds enjoy, and I maintain a bluebird nest box (occasionally subleased by wrens). I have a suet feeder with a tail prop so you can get larger woodpeckers, and I’ve

had hairy woodpeckers and red-bellied woodpeckers. My goal is to get a pileated woodpecker to visit, but they’re very shy. The bird I’ve been most excited about recently is the yellow-rumped warbler, which has come back a couple of times. My biggest consternation has been a mockingbird that has been chasing off other birds and claiming my feeders for its territory. P&R: Anything else you’d like to share? Politte: I feel the work that park and rec professionals do is really underappreciated and very important to communities and families. It’s unfortunate that there aren’t a lot of things you can do for little or no money, but for getting outside and recreating when you have the space to do so, especially with growing populations, it’s vital to retain some of these green spaces. I have gone to a lot of national parks, but I have felt that there’s more of an opportunity for solitude and reflection at state and local parks — sometimes when you’re just going for a walk in the park or sitting on a bench and listening, amazing things can happen. My grandparents had a farm in Missouri that had lakes, and we’d go fishing and do fun stuff outdoors. We don’t have that farm anymore, but parks have helped fill that void. – Danielle Taylor, Executive Editor of Parks & Recreation magazine

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NRPA Update NRPA is dedicated to providing learning opportunities to advance the development of best practices and resources that make parks and recreation indispensable elements of American communities. Find out more at www.nrpa.org/education.

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NRPA Conferences and Schools are forums where the park and recreation community comes together to exchange ideas and information. Register now for these upcoming events. All NRPA Schools are held at Oglebay Resort in Wheeling, West Virginia, unless otherwise indicated.

and

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SCHOOLS AND CONFERENCES

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What’s better than advancing your career and ensuring children have fun and safe places to play? How about getting your training right at your home or office right when you want it? The online Certified Playground Safety Inspector (CPSI) Prep Course Bundle includes five modules to prepare you for the CPSI certification exam including the CPSI practice test. For a limited time, we’re sending a printed CPSI Field Guide to those who purchase the online CPSI Prep Course Bundle. The CPSI Field Guide has the public playground safety standards and guidelines you need to know to help keep playgrounds safe. To take advantage of this offer, visit the webpage below and choose “CPSI Online Course Promotion.” Hurry! This offer ends March 31.

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Operations Switch Switches to Simplify Maintenance Installing modern electrical switchgear is a greener, commonsense fit for budget- and time-strapped recreation facilities By Karla Trost

aintaining the electrical distribution system across one of America’s largest protected landscapes is no picnic. Heavily forested, this area — an outdoor tourist destination roughly the size of Rhode Island — is unforgiving for workers tasked with maintaining the many electrical switchboxes, lines, vaults and poles that traverse the area. There are no direct routes to many of the sites where the electrical equipment is located, and limited cellphone reception complicates normal processes. Frequently for outdoor attractions of this size, an electric utility supplies power to the property, typically at a single entry point. After that point, the medium-voltage (5kV-35kV) electrical system belongs to the facility it powers. When a tree limb takes out a power line on the property, or when electrical work is being done on a building complex, the agency’s own workers must reconfigure the power to that section of the electrical network.

Depending on the environment, the medium-voltage electrical equipment may be located at substations, on poles, in ground-level metal enclosures, or in underground vaults accessible via covers. Switching medium voltage is more difficult than operating a light switch, but the concept is the same. The switchgear is specifically designed to handle the electrical arcs that are created when the switch is operated and to keep

Here, Trident-S SafeVu switchgear has been installed in an underground vault, replacing the old oil-coated fuses.

workers safe. In order to manage the arc, medium-voltage switchgear uses some form of insulation, such as air, oil, SF6 gas or a vacuum bottle with solid epoxy insulation. In a natural area, electrical lines often run underground rather than on poles. There are two reasons for this: Underground lines don’t disturb the scenic beauty, and they are not vulnerable to falling tree limbs or other debris that cause outages during storms. To preserve the aesthetics, it is convenient to locate the switchgear underground with the electrical lines. When switchgear is installed underground, it must have a compact design and be immune to flooding. In the case of the aforementioned outdoor attraction, the onsite electrical distribution system included 50 oilinsulated switches. Because of their age and the possibility of leaks, every one of them was supposed to be inspected and receive maintenance on a regular schedule, even though many are in difficult-to-reach areas. In addition, the possibility of the oil leaking in a sensitive area raised environmental concerns. Given the situation, it’s no surprise that caretakers looked for new switchgear technology that might minimize the need for maintenance, decrease impacts to the environment and reduce the time needed to isolate faults and restore power. Management recognized that one way to improve the situation would be to replace the oil switches with soliddielectric vacuum interrupter switches that do not require maintenance and

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Parks & Recreation

Operations have no oil to leak or catch fire. After a near-miss safety incident, the facility’s maintenance department applied for a grant and received funds to help expedite the replacement of the old electrical equipment. New Switches Require No Maintenance Crews have begun to replace the old equipment with G&W Electric’s Trident with SafeVu solid dielectric switches. The switch offers an oilfree design in which the contacts open inside a vacuum bottle protected by solid epoxy insulation. Because the vacuum bottle contacts are not visible to the operator, a disconnect switch is placed in series with the vacuum bottle and provides an integrated visible break. The successful installations have shown the new units to have several advantages. Aside from not requiring regular maintenance, they are safer for the crews. The internal visible break feature makes it possible to see clearly when the contact points are open. There is no need to pull an elbow or use externally mounted linkage systems to provide a visible open. And they’re fully resettable — no more fuses to stock or replace. Another advantage is that the SafeVu solid dielectric switches are microprocessor-controlled. This means that the time/current trip curves and other protective parameters of each switch can be customized to meet the needs of each specific installation site while maintaining a single design for ease in purchasing and operations. When a switch trips open due to a faulted condition, the control records the fault current and cause of the trip. This allows crewmembers to more quickly find, isolate and repair the outage. 64 Parks & Recreation

Crew Reaction The SafeVu switches are reportedly a big hit with maintenance crews and their managers, who love the integrated visible break feature, as well as the additional safety they provide. They also appreciate the environmental friendliness of the solid dielectric design and the fact that the new switches are submersible, so heavy rains or local flooding during the spring snow melt causes no problems. But perhaps most of all, they like that the new oil-free switchgear does not require time-consuming periodic maintenance. Now the small crew can more easily manage its workload, without the need to add personnel. Future Plans The new switches also offer the ability

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for remote operation of the electrical system. This means that switches could be monitored and operated from the main office via a wireless communication system. This would provide time-saving information to the managers and crew by informing them not only of the location of any issues, but also the exact nature of any outages. A manager would have the ability to reroute power remotely around the outage rather than roll a service truck to manually operate the switches. This would return power to most of the property in the shortest amount of time and the crew could be dispatched directly to the outage site for repairs. Karla Trost is the Senior Global Product Manager for G&W Electric (ktrost@gwelec. com).

Protect Your Playgrounds. protect your agency.

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Products Playground Systems GameTime’s IONiX playsystem is an aesthetically pleasing outdoor art form that doubles as an exciting, ground-level play system. Its design is the result of GameTime’s work with leading play scientists, educators and designers, leveraging almost a century of play research. Each IONiX structure mimics natural elements that promote play and enhance children’s strength, balance and coordination. Stunningly colorful translucent panel roofs cast color shadows that move and change to create bold visual statements and inspire a new element of discovery and play. GAMETIME, 800.235.2440, WWW.GAMETIME.COM

Tamp Pole System Beacon Athletics’ new SweetSpot Tamp System combines innovations such as interchangeable tamp heads, articulation of the tamp head and a damping system that alleviates vibration to the operator’s body while insuring a direct hit that delivers effective compaction power to the soil surface. SweetSpot Tamps come in four tamp head sizes: 4”x6”, 6”x6”, 8”x8” and 10”x10”. Tamp heads and tamp handles are sold separately. BEACON ATHLETICS, 800.747.5985, WWW. BEACONATHLETICS.COM

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Dump Truck Bodies DuraClass Yardbird and Super Duty Yardbird provide contractors and municipalities a light-duty body that doesn’t compromise quality or durability. The Yardbird and Super Duty Yardbird feature the patented DuraClass design, with a continuous formedbody sidewall and fully enclosed top rail for superior resistance to moisture and corrosion. The double-wall body side, full-depth rear corner posts and enclosed front corner posts, and the interlaced understructure provide strength and rigidity. Yardbird bodies come standard with quick release upper tailgate pins, 1/4 cabshield with window, and fully welded construction. DURACLASS, 800.255.4345, WWW.DURACLASS.COM

Trash/Recycling Receptacle Pilot Rock/R.J. Thomas Manufacturing’s new trash and recycling receptacles prove collecting trash doesn’t have to be ugly or difficult. The contemporary square steel strap design includes a side door so it’s easy for maintenance crews to remove and empty the liner. All-welded construction makes it able to withstand constant exposure to the elements. Receptacles can be customized with a wide variety of colors and lids and can be matched with several Pilot Rock benches. PILOT ROCK, 800.762.5002, WWW. PILOTROCK.COM

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In Next Month’s

Special Conservation Issue

Interview with Dan Ashe The Birds and the Bees NRPA’s Butterfly Garden Special Section: Aquatics National Standards Report Powered by PRORAGISTM

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Request free information from the manufacturers of the products found in this issue.

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Check the product(s)/company(ies) that you would like information from: AQUATICS American Red Cross......................................39 800.RED.CROSS www.redcross.org/aquaticsrepresentatives AquaClimb......................................................34 800.956.6692 | www.aquaclimb.com Aquatic Recreation Company......................27 877.632.0503 | www.arc4waterplay.com Lincoln Aquatics®...........................................35 800.223.5450 | www.lincolnaquatics.com Vortex International......................................30 877.586.7839 | www.vortex-intl.com Water Odyssey...............................................36 512.392.1155 | www.waterodyssey.com ATHLETICS/SPORTS Beacon Athletics............................................32 800.747.5985 | www.beaconathletics.com Scoremaster...................................................70 888.726.7627 | www.scoremaster.com AUDIO PRODUCTS Basinger AudioSystems...............................67 877.638.5816 | www.portablesound.com CONCESSIONS Gold Medal Products....................................68 800.543.0862 | www.gmpopcorn.com DOG PRODUCTS DOGIPOT.........................................................17 800.364.7681 | www.dogipot.com Livin The Dog Life™.......................................69 800.931.1562 | www.livinthedoglife.com EDUCATION Clemson University.......................................67 864.656.3400 www.clemson.edu/prtm/graduate-program

FOUNTAINS Most Dependable Fountains.......................11 800.552.6331 | www.mostdependable.com Murdock Manufacturing................................5 800.453.7456 | www.murdockmfg.com Willoughby Industries..................................12 800.428.4065 | www.willoughby-ind.com OUTDOOR FITNESS EQUIPMENT Greenfields Outdoor Fitness.........................3 888.315.9037 | www.greenfieldsfitness.com PARK PRODUCTS Ameristar Fence Products............................37 800.321.8724 | www.ameristarfence.com Doty & Sons Concrete Products Inc............67 800.233.3907 | www.byobagsgame.com Kay Park Recreation......................................69 800.553.2476 | www.kaypark.com Paris Equipment Manufacturers Ltd..........13 800.387.6318 | www.peml.com Pilot Rock........................................................33 800.762.5002 | www.pilotrock.com Polly Products................................................70 877.609.2243 | www.pollyproducts.com Tree Stabilizer.................................................70 800.691.1148 | www.treestabilizer.com Victor Stanley™................................................9 800.368.2571 | www.victorstanley.com PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT GameTime®.....................................................C4 800.235.2440 | www.gametime.com Go Ape.............................................................68 415.553.0769 | www.goape.com Landscape Structures®.......................... C3, 69 888.438.6574 | www.playlsi.com

SIGNAGE Berntsen International.................................67 877.686.8565 | www.berntsen.com iZone® Imaging..............................................69 888.464.9663 www.izoneimaging.com/NRPA15 SPORTS LIGHTING Musco® Sports Lighting................................15 800.825.6030 | www.musco.com STRUCTURES/SHELTERS Classic Recreation Systems..........................19 800.697.2195 | www.classicrecreation.com Easi-Set Buildings..........................................68 866.252.8210 | www.easisetbuildings.com Shade Creations by Waterloo......................12 800.537.1193 | www.shadecreations.com Shade Systems Inc...........................................1 800.609.6066 | www.shadesystemsinc.com SURFACING GroundSmart®...............................................25 800.961.0909 www.groundsmartrubbermulch.com Matéflex®........................................................41 800.926.3539 | www.mateflex.com PlayGuard Safety Surfacing...........................7 800.851.4746 | www.playguardsurfacing.com SofSURFACES.................................................26 800.263.2363 | www.sofsurfaces.com TURF MAINTENANCE Bobcat.............................................................23 877.745.7813 | www.bobcat.com/allnew6 John Deere......................................................C2 800.537.8233 | www.johndeere.com/local Superthrive®...................................................32 800.441.8482 | www.superthrive.com TORO®..............................................................21 800.803.8676 | www.toro.com

Mail the completed form to Gina Mullins-Cohen at NRPA, 22377 Belmont Ridge Road, Ashburn, VA 20148-4501 or email to gcohen@nrpa.org.

W W W. N R PA . O R G | M A R C H 2 0 1 5 |

Parks & Recreation

Park Bench

Maple Madness We all know parks are great places to play, exercise and experience nature, and that all these activities are of great physical and mental benefit to us. Less obvious, perhaps, are the many and varied machinations going on within parks and just under our noses — little bugs and fungi breaking down dead plant and animal matter; animals hunting and being hunted; and trees performing myriad unseen tasks like cleaning our air and water, and producing food. And we’re not just talking nuts and fruit, either. Each winter, the vast maple stands at Malabar Farm State Park in Ohio begin trickling out the raw material that produces one of the most sought-after, delicious and difficult-to-obtain substances to be had anywhere — maple syrup. In celebration of this annual sugar rush, the park hosts its four-day Maple Syrup Festival to give park goers an up-close look at how thick, sticky tree sap becomes the tasty topping for our waffles and pancakes. “[Visitors] get to see the raw sap enter into the sugar house and down into the evaporator where the steam is rolling back out of the roof,” says Korre Boyer, park manager at Malabar Farm. “The sap is boiled until it reaches 66 percent sugar content. That is when sap becomes syrup. Each visitor through our sugar house also gets a sample cup of real maple syrup.” The prospect of enjoying a warm shot of fresh maple syrup is certainly enough to entice the 6,500 to 8,000 people who attend the festival each year, not to mention other fun attractions like Indian and pioneer encampment displays, live music and horse-drawn carriage rides to and from Malabar’s sugar camp. Best of all, says Boyer, “everyone leaves with their sugar fix!” — Samantha Bartram, Associate Editor of Parks & Recreation magazine

72 Parks & Recreation

| M A R C H 2 0 1 5 | W W W. N R PA . O R G

HealthBeat is a good fit for fitness 速

HealthBeat provides exercise opportunities to people of all fitness levels and abilities. Bring more users to your park with the HealthBeat速 outdoor fitness system. Reinvented with a contemporary design, patentpending resistance technology and three brand new stations, HealthBeat brings gym-quality equipment to the fresh outdoors. The ability to pair stations together saves space and cost, making HealthBeat a perfect fit for outdoor exercise in the park, next to the ball field, or at a senior living community. Contact your local Landscape Structures playground consultant for more information. Watch HealthBeat in action at www.playlsi/hb

playlsi.com

763.972.5200 888.438.6574

Insta

Partnering to Restore Play and Rebuild Communities

Commercial Play | Custom Play Spaces | Outdoor Fitness 800-235-2440 gametime.com

After a tropical storm devastated Shady Lane Park in Houston, Texas, GameTime worked to help restore play to the community. Partnering with landscape architects, the City of Houston and the National Recreation and Parks Association, we created an imaginative playscape that brought the architect’s vision to life and gave new life to North Houston. At GameTime we’re committed to bringing together the right players and to enriching childhood through play.®

PARKS&RECREATION MARCH 2015 ◆ DRONES IN PARKS