Parks & Recreation October 2017

OCTOBER 2017 W W W. N R PA . O R G

INTERPRETING OUR HISTORY

How Parks and Recreation Can Unite Our Country

SOCIAL EQUITY ISSUE

Organic Parks | Climate Change and Parks & Recreation | Monumental Decision

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contents october 2017 volume 52 | number 10 | www.parksandrecreation.org

FEATURES

30 Climate Change Is Changing the

Face of Outdoor Recreation Extreme drought, persistent and dangerous heat, and severe storms with flooding are affecting much of the country with more frequency and greater severity, and impacting the way we plan, design and manage parks, public lands and recreation facilities.

Rich Dolesh

40 Social Equity Plays Key Role in New

Braunfels’ New Recreation Center Its decades-long emphasis on quality-of-life issues has earned New Braunfels status as a leader in local park and recreation opportunities. In just a few decades, the city has evolved into a booming and diverse community of residents with a variety of needs. And, it is focused on meeting the demands of that growing and diverse population.

Stacey Laird Dicke and Stephen Springs

36 A Monumental Decision There are approximately 1,500 Confederate monuments across the country. How should we go about having discussions about whether or not to remove them, as well as potentially accepting them in other public areas?

Paul Gilbert

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contents october

columns 8 Perspectives

departments 12 Research What Drives Public Officials’ Budget Priorities? 12 Park Pulse: Americans Overwhelmingly Agree the Right to Assemble Peacefully in Public Spaces Is Important 14

44 NRPA Update What It Means to Serve on the NRPA Board of Directors 44 Connect Hot Topics 46 Member Benefit: Background Screening Methodology 46

Starting My Journey as NRPA’s Chair Leon T. Andrews, Jr.

10 Editor’s Letter Inclusion Is the Solution Gina Mullins-Cohen

16 Advocacy Park Champion of the Year: Portland’s Som Subedi Jayni Rasmussen and Chelsea Hodgkins

18 Law Review Content-Based Park Permit Decisions Unconstitutional James C. Kozlowski, J.D., Ph.D.

Member Spotlight: Diane Drake 47 Parks for Inclusion Launches During Annual Conference 48 2017 Agency Performance Survey Now Open 49 Parks & Recreation Crossword 50 Professional Development Calendar 51

52 Operations How to Leverage Geocaching to Promote Park and Recreation Events 52 Essential Framework for Adaptive Aquatics 54

56 Products

24 Future Leaders Using History to Activate a Neighborhood Green Space Carolyn G. Wallace

26 Conservation Organic Parks Serda Ozbenian

28 Health and Wellness Health Equity: Leading Through Programs, Environmental Changes and Policies Karen Soohoo

57 Marketplace 63 Advertiser Index 64 Park Bench Story Stroll Sonia Myrick

ERRATA NOTICE: We regret that the following error occurred in the September 2017 article by Mary Helen Sprecher, titled “Tennis, Everyone.” The name of the contact for the USTA’s adaptive tennis program should have been Yasmine Osborn (yasmine.osborn@usta.com) instead of Jasmine Osborne.

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Page 24

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P E R S P E C T I V E S A M E S S A G E F R O M N R PA’ S L E A D E R S

Starting My Journey as NRPA’s Chair I am honored to serve as this year’s chair for the National Recreation and Park Association. I am a son of our nation’s capital: a third-generation Washingtonian. Every day after school, I would go to my grandmother’s house on Jefferson Street. I have fond memories of growing up on Jefferson Street. It is where I learned to play football at a local park and where I learned to play the violin at the DC Youth Orchestra at Coolidge High School. My favorite park was the Tucker Road Community Center in Prince George’s County, Maryland. It is where I played tennis regularly with my dad and where I went to run and exercise and to play baseball and basketball. I love parks!

I was educated in D.C. schools — St. Ann’s Academy, Gonzaga College High School and Howard University. I had such a tremendous experience at Howard, with professors who helped me find my passion for cities and communities. If I had not gone to Howard, I would not have met my wife, Dr. Kristine Andrews, who went to Georgetown University. Kris and I were married in 2002, and we have three beautiful daughters — Jessica, Julia and Joanna. They have always been my biggest champions! Kris and I are raising our kids in that same house on Jefferson Street.

I look forward to bringing my experiences working in cities and marrying it with my commitment to ensuring every family has access to a quality park.

I have served on the NRPA board since 2010, and I am incredibly excited about where this organization is heading. We are very fortunate to welcome a very impressive group of new board members who will add important value to the board and organization. We are committed to challenging ourselves as board members and as an organization to tackle the issues and opportunities that lie ahead.

One of the issues I look forward to engaging on more with you is how we as an organization respond more effectively to issues of social equity and justice in our country. Recent events following the 2016 presidential election demonstrate the challenges of working toward a more inclusive society. However, I believe there is a great opportunity for park and recreation departments across this country to go beyond expectations that suggest that all we offer is a fun space in which families can play.

We took the bold step of holding a discussion around the issue of Confederate memorials in parks during this year’s conference. This is a hot-button topic, but we need to get past the discomfort and unease associated with these types of discussions if we are to achieve meaningful and authentic inclusivity. I truly believe that what parks and recreation commits to stand for is vital to maximizing this time in our country’s history.

I look forward to the conversations we will have together and the opportunities to work collaboratively to fully maximize how we achieve the goals we have for this great organization and profession.

LEO N T. AN D R E WS, J R .

Chair of the Board of Directors 8

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2377 Belmont Ridge Rd. | Ashburn, VA 20148 2 703.858.0784 | www.nrpa.org

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

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Roslyn Johnson

Chair of the Board of Directors Leon T. Andrews, Jr.

Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission Greenbelt, Maryland

National League of Cities Washington, D.C.

Chair-Elect Jack Kardys Miami-Dade Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department Miami, Florida

Past Chair Stephen Eckelberry Bartlett Park District Bartlett, Illinois

Treasurer Michael Kelly Chicago Park District Chicago, Illinois

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

Michael Kelly Chicago Park District Chicago, Illinois

Karen Bates Kress Park Advocate Emigrant, Montana

Herman Parker City of San Diego, California, Park and Recreation Department San Diego, California

Ian Proud

Secretary Jesús Aguirre

PlayPower Williamsport, Pennsylvania

Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation Seattle, Washington

Molly Stevens

President and CEO Barbara Tulipane, CAE National Recreation and Park Association Ashburn, Virginia

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Michael Abbaté, FASLA City of Portland Parks and Recreation Portland, Oregon

Westcave Outdoor Discovery Center Austin, Texas

Nonet T. Sykes The Annie E. Casey Foundation Baltimore, Maryland

Xavier Urrutia City of San Antonio Parks and Recreation San Antonio, Texas

Dr. Howell Wechsler

Jesús Aguirre

Alliance for a Healthier Generation New York, New York

Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation Seattle, Washington

LIFE TRUSTEES Beverly D. Chrisman

Leon T. Andrews, Jr. National League of Cities Washington, D.C.

Neelay Bhatt PROS Consulting Indianapolis, Indiana

Hayden Brooks

Lexington, South Carolina

Anne S. Close Fort Mill, South Carolina

James H. Evans New York, New York

Rosemary Hall Evans Sugar Hill, New Hampshire

American Realty Corporation Austin, Texas

Earl T. Groves

Kong Chang

Charles E. Hartsoe, Ph.D.

City of Saint Paul Parks and Recreation Saint Paul, Minnesota

Kevin Coyle

Gastonia, North Carolina Richmond, Virginia

Harry G. Haskell Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania

National Wildlife Federation Washington, D.C.

Kathryn A. Porter

Stephen Eckelberry

Perry J. Segura

Bartlett Park District Carol Stream, Illinois

New Iberia, Louisiana

Richard Gulley

Round Hill, Virginia

Balboa Park Conservancy San Diego, California

Eugene A. Young, CPRP

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Mendham, New Jersey

R. Dean Tice

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

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EDITOR’S LET TER

Inclusion Is the Solution Given the current political climate, this month’s issue spotlighting our Social Equity Pillar is not only timely, but it’s apropos. After all, social equity serves a critical purpose: helping park and recreation agencies create a positive influence on the communities that they serve by emphasizing inclusion of all community members.

A prime example is the Commit to Inclusion program, a global campaign founded by the Partnership for Inclusive Health. NRPA has pledged its support for this important initiative, which aims to eradicate the exclusion of people with disabilities from physical activities and other associated areas. What’s more, during our Annual Conference last month, NRPA kicked off its own program called, Parks for Inclusion. The program’s mission is to ensure that all people have access to the benefits of local parks and recreation. This three-year commitment focuses on inclusion for people with physical and cognitive disabilities, immigrant and refugee families and individuals, the LGBTQ community and on racial, ethnic and cultural inclusivity. For more information about the Parks for Inclusion initiative, turn to page 48.

Next, Paul Gilbert, executive director of the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority, tackles the controversy surrounding the Confederate monuments in this month’s cover story, “A Monumental Decision,” on page 36. Gilbert brings greater insight into this sensitive issue by placing it in historical context.

In “Social Equity Plays Key Role in New Braunfels’ New Recreation Center,” on page 40, contributors Stacey Laird Dicke and Stephen Springs discuss how this suburb, located in San Antonio, Texas, has been able to meet the demands of its diverse population through the creation of its 9,000-square-foot Westside Community Center.

Climate change is another hot topic covered in this issue. Beginning on page 30, Richard J. Dolesh, NRPA’s VP of strategic initiatives, explores how climate change is altering outdoor recreation — from the devastating hurricanes to the excessive flooding, brutal drought conditions and extreme heat waves felt throughout the country. No doubt climate change will continue to challenge the way park and rec administrators manage, design and develop their public lands and recreation facilities for years to come.

As you can see, this month’s issue touches on the importance of embracing inclusion and rejecting divisiveness. Social equity’s sole mission is to promote the development of open public spaces that reflect the wants and needs of their diverse community members, so that everyone is included and can enjoy their local parks today and well into the future. I believe we can all learn a great deal from the parks and recreation industry.

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 Sonia Myrick smyrick@nrpa.org ASSOCIATE EDITOR Cort Jones cjones@nrpa.org EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTOR Catrina Belt cbelt@nrpa.org PUBLICATION DESIGN Creative By Design www.creativebydesign.net SENIOR SALES MANAGER EASTERN REGION AND EUROPE Kip Ongstad 703.858.2174 kongstad@nrpa.org SALES MANAGER WESTERN REGION AND ASIA Michelle Dellner 949.248.1057 mdellner@nrpa.org MAGAZINE ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS Keith Anderson Gerald Brown Ernest Burkeen Brendan Daley Anthony-Paul Diaz Ryan Eaker Robert García Kathleen Gibi Sandra Gonzales Tim Herd Brian Johnson Todd Lehman Sam Mendelsohn Maria Nardi Lisa Paradis Gil Peñalosa Vic Richard Dr. Kevin Riley Karla Rivera Paula Sliefert Anne-Marie Spencer Stephen Springs Randy Wiger

Research What Drives Public Officials’ Budget Priorities?

By Kevin Roth, Ph.D.

T

he August issue of Parks & Recreation magazine featured the results of a study conducted by Pennsylvania State University researchers that queried appointed and elected government officials’ views in Pennsylvania about their state’s park and recreation service offerings. The authors (Drs. Andrew Mowen, Austin Barrett and Alan Graefe) reported that Pennsylvania’s local officials agree that park and recreation services provide a “moderately high level” of benefit for their local communities. These benefits take the form of positive youth development, a sense of community, promoting health, economic prosperity, resource conservation and social equity.

Most park and recreation agencies rely heavily on tax dollars to deliver their services to the public, so how public officials view parks and recreation is important. The problem is that local government budgets remain strained following the last recession. Putting additional pressure on park and recreation agencies is the fact that they must compete for these finite dollars with other local government-provided services, such as public safety, education and transportation.

In this competitive environment, many park and recreation agencies are suffering from stagnant or declining budgets.

Having a better understanding of what drives public officials’ budget priorities can help arm park and recreation profes-

12 Parks & Recreation

sionals with the tools needed to get greater and more stable funding. With this in mind, NRPA commissioned Drs. Mowen, Barrett and Greafe to conduct a nationwide study of local government elected and appointed officials. A total of 810 officials, from all 50 states, responded to the survey conducted during spring 2017.

The good news from the survey is that local government officials are heavy park users and firm believers in the many services and benefits that parks and recreation brings to their communities. This includes: • An overwhelming majority of local government officials (95 percent) report that they personally use their local park areas • Virtually all local government officials

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(99 percent) agree that their local communities benefit from local park areas Public officials’ support for parks and recreation is solid across our nation — coming from government officials serving urban, suburban and rural jurisdictions — with strong support from those who identify themselves as either a Democrat or a Republican.

All communities have issues that citizens expect their local governments to address. Public officials rely on their local park and recreation agencies to serve as a critical solution provider for many of their top concerns. Parks and recreation is seen by local officials as providing a valuable contribution to preventing youth crime and enhancing the community’s quality of life.

But, on some other issues, there is a great opportunity for parks and recreation to narrow the gap between what officials expect and what their agency is delivering to the community. Most notably, the issue that is top of mind for local government officials — attracting and retaining businesses — is an area where

parks and recreation is far less likely to be viewed as making a strong, positive contribution.

Public officials’ perception that parks and recreation does not make a big contribution to the community’s economic development efforts means that they place only a moderate level of importance on parks and recreation relative to other typically provided local government services. Specifically, local government officials place parks and recreation only sixth among 10 widely offered local government services. The following rank higher than parks and recreation in terms of importance: 1. Education 2. Police protection 3. Fire protection 4. Hospitals/Health 5. Transportation The lessened level of importance that public officials place on parks and recreation relative to other local government provided services has a significant impact on the level and stability of funding they provide to their local park and recreation agencies.

While a resounding 83 percent of local government officials agree that park and recreation services are worth the amount of tax dollars expended on them each year, only a third of officials claim their local governments place a high or an essential priority on funding these services.

This means many locales see park and recreation funding as being more discretionary than other local government provided services. On the positive side, park and recreation agencies benefit when the local government enjoys a greater budget largess. When presented with a hypothetical increase in the local government’s budget, local government officials indicate they would allocate an average 14.8 percent of these extra revenues to their park and recreation agency. Only transportation, education and police protection would receive a larger percentage of the increased budget dollars.

But, the story is far less sanguine when local governments face a cut in tax revenues. In this scenario, local government officials indicate they would cut the park and recreation budget to the equivalent of 15.2 percent of the overall local government budget cut. This is the largest funding cut of any of the widely provided local government services.

But not all government officials view park and recreation funding as an optional choice. Officials who believe park and recreation services contribute solutions to key community issues are more likely to believe these services are important and are more likely to provide the agencies with greater and more steady funding. The results highlight the need to elevate local officials’ perception of the importance of parks and recreation to the vitality of their town, city, county or region. To make this happen, park and recreation advocates must continue to

communicate how these services are a solution to the issues confronting their communities.

Most notably, the survey highlights the need to close the gap in public officials’ perceptions of how parks and recreation can drive economic development, and more specifically, to attract and retain business. Anecdotally, we know that parks and recreation is one of the reasons businesses and young professionals choose to relocate to communities. When deciding where to locate, business leaders seek out parks, trails and open spaces because they contribute to community livability and quality of life. Identifying opportunities for parks and recreation to participate in a community’s efforts to attract and retain businesses could be an effective way to increase its stature in the eyes of local government officials. But we need harder data to more effectively make this case.

To this end, NRPA has commissioned Dr. Terry Clower at George Mason University both to update the Economic Value of Local Parks study and conduct a new research project that will enumerate how parks and recreation is an economic development tool for the community. Keep an eye out for these resources in 2018.

Kevin Roth, Ph.D., is NRPA’s Vice President of Research (kroth@nrpa.org).

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9/14/17 12:52 PM

NRPA Park Pulse Each month, through a poll of Americans that is focused on park and recreation issues, NRPA Park Pulse will help to tell the park and recreation story. Questions span from the serious to the more lighthearted, and with this month’s poll, we take a closer look at how Americans feel about the right to assemble peacefully in public spaces.

Americans Overwhelmingly Agree the Right to Assemble Peacefully in Public Spaces Is Important

9 in 10 Americans

find it important that their right to assemble peacefully in public spaces be upheld.

No Matter What Age 91%

91%

84%

Millennials

Gen Xers

Baby Boomers

No Matter Where They Are From Northeast

91%

Midwest

West

88%

86% South

88% www.nrpa.org/Park-Pulse This Park Pulse survey was conducted on behalf of NRPA by Wakefield Research among 1,000 nationally representative Americans, ages 18+, between August 17 and 21, 2017.

14 Parks & Recreation

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ADVOCACY

Participants at the WALK with Refugees and Immigrants event include City Commissioner Amanda Fritz (center, behind banner).

Park Champion of the Year: Portland’s Som Subedi Promoting equity and inclusion while ensuring congressional support for parks and recreation

By Jayni Rasmussen and Chelsea Hodgkins

E

ach year, NRPA recognizes Park Champion initiative participants with the Park Champion of the Year Award. The recipient of this award, chosen by the NRPA Public Policy Committee, is recognized at NRPA’s Annual Conference and receives round-trip lodging and airfare for two in their agency to travel to Washington, D.C., to advocate for parks and recreation on Capitol Hill.

Park Champion Som Subedi is welcoming new immigrants and refugees into the Portland community through Parks for New Portlanders (www.portlandoregon.gov/parks/69257). An initiative of Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R), Parks for New Portlanders works with community partners and local leaders to create programs that ensure park and recreational opportunities are welcoming and accessible to communities of color, immigrants and refugees.

On August 20, 2017, thousands of Portlanders, including refugees, immi16 Parks & Recreation

grants, and city and elected leaders, were joined by staff from U.S. Senator Ron Wyden’s office in participating in the WALK with Refugees and Immigrants.

The mile walk in support of a compassionate, generous and welcoming Portland for all who live there was followed by cultural celebrations and performances. Subedi organized the event in partnership with approximately 30 local organizations and Portland’s Sunday Parkways (www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/58929) — a series of free events that promote healthy living, hosted in

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Park Champion and event organizer, Som Subedi, speaks at the WALK event.

public spaces. The WALK celebrated immigrants and refugees, affirmed their rights, and honored organizational leaders and advocates. Subedi also organized

community donations of school supplies for more than 125 children. “[Subedi] has a charisma and compassion for others that is exceptional,” marvels Portland Parks & Recreation Director Mike Abbaté. “Not everyone can come to a new country and then have so many connections with different communities.”

The WALK with Refugees and Immigrants was an event Subedi had already planned, but, a dedicated advocate for parks and recreation, he turned the walk into a Park Champion event by inviting Portland’s congressional representatives.

The Park Champion initiative, NRPA’s grassroots advocacy program, provides members like Subedi with the tools and resources they need to have their voices heard by their elected federal officials.

The Park Champion initiative is an innovative show-and-tell advocacy model that empowers park and recreation agencies to engage their members of Congress with on-site visits and participation in planned events and milestones. Inviting members of Congress to events like the WALK creates meaningful, memorable experiences for elected officials and helps demonstrate the importance of investing in parks and recreation.

“The Park Champion award is one Som richly deserves,” says PP&R Equity & Inclusion Manager Art Hendricks.

“We at Portland Parks & Recreation are grateful that the NRPA has given him the recognition he does not seek, but has so clearly earned.”

Subedi, a former refugee from Bhutan who spent almost 20 years living in a refugee camp in Nepal, understands the isolation and challenges that come with resettling in a new country. As a community advocate, he planned, organized and hosted the now-annual Portland World Cup Soccer Tournament. The cultural tradition of soccer is a universal language, Subedi points out; it unifies and

fosters a sense of community for new refugees and immigrants — no matter their origin. City officials noted the power of the event in giving new community members a sense of belonging and purpose in their new home.

Subedi continued coordinating events that celebrate Portland’s newcomers, which ultimately became Portland’s Parks for New Portlanders program. As a PP&R employee, Subedi continues to work tirelessly to integrate new refugees and immigrants into the broader Portland community. He’s been equally dedicated to showing elected officials the importance of investing in parks and recreation. Since becoming a Park Champion two years ago, he’s hosted Portland’s members of Congress at no less than 10 Park Champion events.

“The Park Champions initiative helps us to understand the needs of our community, build trust with community member, and connect citizens to government services. It helps us bridge the gap between the local and federal level. It is a win-win for all sides,” Subedi adds.

Portland Parks Commissioner, Amanda Fritz, stressed the importance of the Park Champions initiative in bringing together members of Congress, state and local officials and the community. “Like many cities,” she explains, “Portland has competing budget priorities. Attending these events and working with people like Som and his team are testaments to the positive impact of parks and recreational opportunities; they are powerful reminders that led our city to secure funds for parks and recreation amid budget cuts.”

“In this era of economic challenges, it is rare that park and recreation budgets rise

Portlanders from near and far participated in the WALK with Refugees and Immigrants.

to the top of anyone’s budget priorities,” says PP&R Director Abbaté. “The Park Champion initiative allows PP&R officials to engage decision makers in a way that shines a spotlight in communities and gets attention in ways standard lobbying may not.”

Congratulations to the 2017 Park Champion of the Year, Som Subedi!

Are you the next Park Champion of the Year? Host a Park Champion event by August 31, 2018, to be eligible for the 2018 Park Champion of the Year Award. A Park Champion event is any event that shows your members of Congress or their staff your agency’s parks and programs firsthand. Your next park dedication, groundbreaking, program kickoff or special event could be your next Park Champion event, simply by inviting your members of Congress to participate! It’s easy to plan a Park Champion event by using the Park Champion Advocacy Toolkit. To become a Park Champion and access the Toolkit, visit www.nrpa.org/park-champions. For questions or help planning your next Park Champion event, contact Jayni Rasmussen, Advocacy and Outreach Manager, at jrasmussen@nrpa.org.

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

Chelsea Hodgkins is NRPA’s Government Affairs Intern (chodgkins@nrpa.org).

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L AW R E V I E W

Content-Based Park Permit Decisions Unconstitutional

By James C. Kozlowski, J.D., Ph.D.

C

ontroversy surrounding monuments to the Confederacy in public parks and spaces has drawn increased attention in the popular news media. As illustrated by the “City of Charlottesville” and “Forsyth County” decisions described herein, demonstrations and counter-demonstrations can create challenging First Amendment concerns for public park and recreation agencies, particularly when permits are issued for activities likely to draw potentially hostile crowds.

In the case of Kessler v. City of Charlottesville, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 128330 (W. Dist. Va. 8/11/2017), plaintiff Jason Kessler challenged the city’s “eleventh-hour decision to revoke a permit previously issued by the City,” which had granted Kessler “the right to hold a demonstration in Emancipation Park on August 12, 2017.”

Facts of the Case On May 30, 2017, Kessler applied for a permit to conduct a demonstration in Emancipation Park (the Park) in the city of Charlottesville, Virginia. Kessler

18 Parks & Recreation

intended to voice his opposition to the city’s decision to rename the park, which was previously known as Lee Park, and its plans to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee from the park. On June 13, 2017, the city granted Kessler a permit to conduct a demonstration on August 12, 2017.

In the following weeks, the city granted organizations, which oppose Kessler’s message, permits to counter-protest in other public parks a few blocks away from Emancipation Park.

On August 7, 2017, less than a week before the long-planned demonstration

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at the park, the city notified Kessler by letter that his permit to demonstrate in Emancipation Park on August 12 was being revoked. The city further advised that the permit was being modified to require that the demonstration take place at McIntire Park, which is located more than a mile from Emancipation Park.

At the same time, the city took no action to modify or revoke the permits issued to counter-protestors for demonstrations planned within blocks of Emancipation Park. In revoking Kessler’s permit, the city cited “safety concerns” associated with the number of people expected to attend Kessler’s rally. However, the city cited no source for those concerns and provided no explanation for why the concerns only resulted in adverse action being taken on Kessler’s permit.

On August 10, 2017, Kessler peti-

tioned the federal district court to issue a preliminary injunction to enjoin (i.e., prohibit) the city from interfering with the planned demonstration. In so doing, Kessler claimed the city’s decision to revoke the previously granted permit had violated his right to freedom of speech as guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

Content-Based Restrictions As noted by the federal district court, “a municipal government has no power to restrict expression because of its message, its ideas, its subject matter, or its content.” To do so would violate the First Amendment, made applicable to the state and local government through the Fourteenth Amendment. Moreover, the court acknowledged that “content-based restrictions” by the government are presumed to be unconstitutional. As characterized by the federal district court: “Government regulation of speech is content based if a restriction applies to particular speech because of the topic discussed or the idea or message expressed.”

Content-based restrictions are not limited to those that on their face draw distinctions based on the message a speaker conveys. Instead, they include those that cannot be justified without reference to the content of the regulated speech, or that were adopted by the government because of disagreement with the message the speech conveys.

In this instance, the federal district court found Kessler had shown that he was likely to prove at trial that “the decision to revoke his permit was based on the content of his speech.” In the opinion of the court, Kessler’s allegation was supported by the fact “the City solely revoked his permit, but left in place the permits issued to counter-protestors.”

The disparity in treatment between the two groups with opposing views suggests that the defendants’ decision

to revoke Kessler’s permit was based on the content of his speech rather than other neutral factors that would be equally applicable to Kessler and those protesting against him. This conclusion is bolstered by other evidence, including communications on social media indicating that members of City Council oppose Kessler’s political viewpoint.

preliminary injunction hearing “critics of Kessler and his beliefs would likely follow him to McIntire Park if his rally is relocated there.” Further, “given the timing of the city’s decision and the relationship between Kessler’s message and Emancipation Park,” the court found “supporters of Kessler are likely to still appear at the [Emancipation] Park, even if the location of Kessler’s demonstra-

...demonstrations and counter-demonstrations can create challenging First Amendment concerns for public park and recreation agencies...

Having found sufficient evidence to indicate the city’s decision to revoke Kessler’s permit constituted a content-based restriction of speech, the federal district court would apply “strict scrutiny” to this decision. In the doing, to pass constitutional muster, the city would have to prove that “the restriction furthers a compelling interest and is narrowly tailored to achieve that interest.”

Speculative Crowd Concerns According to the city, “the decision to revoke Kessler’s permit was motivated by the number of people likely to attend the demonstration.” The federal district court, however, found the city’s concerns about crowd size at Kessler’s demonstration were “purely speculative.” Based on the record, the court found “no evidence to support the notion that many thousands of individuals are likely to attend the demonstration.”

Assuming the city’s decision was indeed based on “the number of counter-protestors expected to attend Kessler’s demonstration,” in the opinion of the court, “merely moving Kessler’s demonstration to another park will not avoid a clash of ideologies or prevent confrontation between the two groups.” In fact, both sides had acknowledged during the

tion is moved elsewhere.”

Accordingly, the federal district court found “a change in the location of the demonstration would not eliminate the need for members of the city’s law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical services personnel to appear at Emancipation Park.” On the contrary, the court found the change of location for the demonstration “would necessitate having personnel present at two locations in the city.”

The federal district court, therefore, concluded the city’s “eleventh-hour decision” to revoke Kessler’s permit and move his demonstration to another park was not “narrowly tailored to serve compelling state interests.” Instead, the federal district court found “the scant record and the undisputed circumstantial evidence weigh substantially against a finding that the relocation of the event furthers a compelling interest and is narrowly tailored to achieve that interest.”

Having concluded that Kessler had made the requisite showing of a likelihood of success on the merits of his claim against the city, the federal district court also found Kessler would suffer irreparable harm if the city’s decision to revoke his permit was allowed to stand.

As noted by the federal district court: “As

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to irreparable injury, it is well established that the loss of First Amendment freedoms, for even minimal periods of time, unquestionably constitutes irreparable injury.” Similarly, the court found protection of Kessler’s First Amendment rights were in the public interest. As cited by the court: “Injunctions protecting First Amendment freedoms are always in the public interest.”

by members of the Forsyth County Defense League (an independent affiliate of The Nationalist Movement) the Ku Klux Klan and other Cumming residents.

In all, some 400 counter-demonstrators lined the parade route, shouting racial slurs. Eventually, the counter-demonstrators, dramatically outnumbering police officers, forced the parade to a premature

...the federal district court issued an order prohibiting the city “from revoking the permit to conduct a demonstration at Emancipation Park on August 12, 2017.”

The Outcome Having found Kessler had demonstrated the requisite likelihood of success, irreparable harm, and public interest necessary to warrant a preliminary injunction, the federal district court issued an order prohibiting the city “from revoking the permit to conduct a demonstration at Emancipation Park on August 12, 2017.”

Hostile Crowd Permit Fee Similarly, in the landmark case of Forsyth County v. Nationalist Movement, 505 US 123, 112 S. Ct. 2395, 120 L. Ed. 2d 101 (U.S. 6/19/1992), the Supreme Court of the United States considered the constitutionality of a permit fee based on the estimated cost of maintaining public order for events likely to draw hostile crowds. In this instance, the challenged permit ordinance allowed the county administrator to determine what, if any, fee would be imposed for a given activity.

Facts of the Case Hosea Williams, an Atlanta city councilman and civil rights personality, proposed a Forsyth County “March Against Fear and Intimidation” for January 17, 1987.

Approximately 90 civil rights demonstrators attempted to parade in Cumming, the county seat. The marchers were met 20 Parks & Recreation

halt by throwing rocks and beer bottles.

Williams planned a return march the following weekend, which developed into the largest civil rights demonstration in the South since the 1960s. On January 24, approximately 20,000 marchers joined civil rights leaders in a parade and rally.

The 1,000 counter-demonstrators on the parade route were contained by more than 3,000 state and local police and National Guardsmen. Although there was sporadic rock throwing and 60 counterdemonstrators were arrested, the parade was not interrupted. The demonstration cost more than $670,000 for police protection, of which Forsyth County apparently paid a small portion. The state of Georgia reportedly paid $579,000.

Public Order Permit Fee “As a direct result” of these two demonstrations, the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners enacted Ordinance 34 on January 27, 1987, “to provide for the issuance of permits for parades, assemblies, demonstrations, road closings, and other uses of public property and roads by private organizations and groups of private persons for private purposes.”

The board of commissioners justified the ordinance by explaining that “the cost of necessary and reasonable protection

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of persons participating in or observing said parades, assemblies, demonstrations, road closings and other related activities exceeds the usual and normal cost of law enforcement for which those participating should be held accountable and responsible.” The ordinance required the permit applicant to defray these costs by paying a fee, the amount of which was to be fixed “from time to time” by the board.

Ordinance 34 was amended on June 8, 1987, to provide that every permit applicant “shall pay in advance for such permit, for the use of the County, a sum not more than $1,000.00 for each day such parade, procession, or open air public meeting shall take place.” In addition, the county administrator was empowered to “adjust the amount to be paid in order to meet the expense incident to the administration of the Ordinance and to the maintenance of public order in the matter licensed.”

In January 1989, The Nationalist Movement proposed to demonstrate in opposition to the federal holiday commemorating the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. In Forsyth County, the movement sought to “conduct a rally and speeches for one-and-a-half to two hours” on the courthouse steps on a Saturday afternoon. The county imposed a $100 fee.

The fee did not include any calculation for expenses incurred by law enforcement authorities, but was based on 10 hours of the county administrator’s time in issuing the permit. The county administrator testified that the cost of his time was deliberately undervalued and that he did not charge for the clerical support involved in processing the application.

The movement did not pay the fee and did not hold the rally. Instead, the movement filed a lawsuit in federal district court, requesting a temporary restraining order and permanent injunction prohibiting Forsyth County from “interfering with the movement’s plans.”

The federal district court determined that the challenged fee was “based solely upon content-neutral criteria; namely, the actual costs incurred investigating and processing the application.” The federal appeals court reversed the federal district court’s decision. In the opinion of the appeals court: “An ordinance which charges more than a nominal fee for using public forums for public issue speech violates the First Amendment.”

official. Further, any permit scheme controlling the time, place, and manner of speech must not be based on the content of the message, must be narrowly tailored to serve a sig-

nificant governmental interest, and must leave open ample alternatives for communication.

On appeal, the Nationalist Movement claimed the county ordinance was inval-

…with Grills & Firerings

Broad Licensing Discretion The Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari (i.e., a petition to review) to consider “the constitutionality of charging a fee for a speaker in a public forum.” As noted by the court, “in the area of freedom of expression, an overbroad regulation” may be invalidated “based on an appreciation that the very existence of some broadly written laws has the potential to chill the expressive activity of others.” In particular, the court found “an impermissible risk of suppression of ideas” would exist where an ordinance “delegates overly broad discretion to the decision maker.”

In this particular instance, the court noted the Forsyth County ordinance would require a permit and a fee before the county would authorize “public speaking, parades, or assemblies in the archetype of a traditional public forum,” (i.e., public streets and parks). While recognizing a “heavy presumption” against the validity of a prior restraint (i.e., requiring a permit and fee before free speech activities), the Supreme Court acknowledged, “government, in order to regulate competing uses of public forums, may impose a permit requirement on those wishing to hold a march, parade or rally.” As cited by the court, a constitutional permit scheme would have to meet the following requirements: It may not delegate overly broad licensing discretion to a government

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id because it “did not prescribe adequate standards for the administrator to apply when he sets a permit fee.”

According to the court: “A government regulation that allows arbitrary application is inherently inconsistent with a valid time, place, and manner regulation because such discretion has the potential for becoming a means of suppressing a

lice and administrative costs.” Moreover, in any given instance, the county administrator would decide whether “the fee would include any or all of the county’s administrative and security expenses.”

Further, the county acknowledged that the ordinance could authorize the county administrator to charge no fee.

At trial, the county administrator had

...the Supreme Court acknowledged, “government, in order to regulate competing uses of public forums, may impost a permit requirement on those wishing to hold a march, parade or rally.” particular point of view.” To address this risk, the court would require “a law subjecting the exercise of First Amendment freedoms to the prior restraint of a license” to contain “narrow, objective, and definite standards to guide the licensing authority” to ensure First Amendment rights are preserved: If the permit scheme involves appraisal of facts, the exercise of judgment, and the formation of an opinion, by the licensing authority, the danger of censorship and of abridgment of our precious First Amendment freedoms is too great to be permitted.

Reasonable Fee Judgment In pertinent part, the challenged ordinance, as amended, stated the county administrator “shall adjust the amount to be paid in order to meet the expense incident to the administration of the Ordinance and to the maintenance of public order” (emphasis of the court). As interpreted and applied by the county, the ordinance could “apply to any activity on public property — from parades, to street corner speeches, to bike races — and the fee assessed may reflect the county’s po22 Parks & Recreation

testified that he “based the fee on his own judgment of what would be reasonable.” In this instance, the county administrator chose not to include in the permit fee the cost of county clerical support and staff as an “expense incident to the administration.” Further, the county administrator testified that he “chose not to include any charge for expected security expense.”

On two prior occasions, the county administrator had assessed a fee of $100 for a permit for the Nationalist Movement. In this instance, the administrator testified that he assessed the same $100 fee without specifying whether “the Movement was seeking the same use of county property or that it required the same amount of administrative time to process.”

The county administrator further testified that he had “charged bike-race organizers $25 to hold a race on county roads.” In so doing, the county administrator “did not explain why processing a bike-race permit demanded less administrative time than processing a parade permit or why he had chosen to assess $25 in that instance.” Further, the county administrator testified, “in other cases, the county required neither a permit nor

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a fee for activities in other county facilities or on county land.” During oral argument before the Supreme Court, Forsyth County admitted “the administrator had levied a $5 fee on the Girl Scouts for an activity on county property.”

Administrative Discretion Based on Forsyth County’s own description of the construction and implementation of the ordinance, the Supreme Court could not find any “narrowly drawn, reasonable and definite standards, guiding the hand of the Forsyth County administrator.” On the contrary, the Supreme Court found: “The decision how much to charge for police protection or administrative time — or even whether to charge at all — is left to the whim of the administrator.”

There are no articulated standards either in the ordinance or in the county’s established practice.

The administrator is not required to rely on any objective factors. He need not provide any explanation for his decision, and that decision is unreviewable. Nothing in the law or its application prevents the official from encouraging some views and discouraging others through the arbitrary application of fees. The First Amendment prohibits the vesting of such unbridled discretion in a government official.

Measuring Speech Hostility In the opinion of the Supreme Court, the challenged permit ordinance contained “more than the possibility of censorship through uncontrolled discretion.” The Supreme Court found “the ordinance often requires that the fee be based on the content of the speech.”

In order to assess accurately the cost of security for parade participants, the administrator must necessarily examine the content of the message that is

conveyed, estimate the response of others to that content, and judge the number of police necessary to meet that response. The fee assessed will depend on the administrator’s measure of the amount of hostility likely to be created by the speech based on its content. Those wishing to express views unpopular with bottle throwers, for example, may have to pay more for their permit.

While acknowledging “the cost of policing relates to content,” Forsyth County had claimed the challenged ordinance was “content neutral because it is aimed only at a secondary effect — the cost of maintaining public order.” The Supreme Court rejected the notion that “the fee’s justification has nothing to do with content.”

In the opinion of the court, the cost of maintaining public order refers to those costs “associated with the public’s reaction to the speech.” According to the court: “Listeners’ reactions to speech is not a content-neutral basis for regulation.”

Police Protection Payment In this instance, the Supreme Court found Forsyth County “imposed a fee only when it became necessary to provide security for parade participants from angry crowds opposing their message.”

The ordinance itself makes plain that the costs at issue are those needed for “necessary and reasonable protection of persons participating in or observing” the speech. Repayment for police protection is the “most important” purpose underlying the ordinance.... At no point, in any level of proceedings, has petitioner [Forsyth County] intimated that it did not construe the ordinance consistent with its language permitting fees to be charged for the cost of police protection from hostile crowds....

While this undoubtedly is an important government responsibility, it does not justify a content-based permit fee.

In contrast to the Nationalist Movement’s proposed rally, the court noted Forsyth County had not charged a fee for “police protection for the 4th of July parades, although they were substantial parades, which required the closing of streets and drew large crowds.” Accordingly, the Supreme Court reiterated the long-held precedent: “Regulations which permit the government to discriminate on the basis of the content of the message cannot be tolerated under the First Amendment.” Moreover, the Supreme Court acknowledged: “Speech cannot be financially burdened, any more than it can be punished or banned, simply because it might offend a hostile mob.”

Accordingly, the Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the federal appeals court which had found the challenged ordinance violated the First Amendment.

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 in Manassas, Virginia (jkozlows@gmu.edu). Webpage with link to law review articles archive (1982 to present): http://mason.gmu.edu/~jkozlows.

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Students from Highland Elementary School sit in Cliveden’s work yard to learn about the people who lived and worked in this landscape.

Carolyn Wallace

FUTURE LEADERS

Using History to Activate a Neighborhood Green Space

By Carolyn G. Wallace

T

he Germantown neighborhood in Northwest Philadelphia combines a diverse population with historic homes and easy access to lush green space.

Founded in 1683 by 13 families from Crefeld, Germany, Germantown’s manmade and natural environments reflect its diverse history.

In the 18th century, Germantown was dotted with country homes to which the elites escaped the heat and disease in Philadelphia. The 19th century brought modernization, with the first train line in 1832, followed by industrialization and factories for textiles. A bustling commercial corridor during the early 20th century, the neighborhood, today, retains pieces from each period of its past. Occupying an entire city block, Cliveden, like Germantown, has a long and diverse history. Featuring a Georgian summer home completed in 1767 for the wealthy Chew family, the property is also a 5.5-acre green space that was the site of the Revolutionary War Battle of Ger24 Parks & Recreation

mantown in 1777. It remained in the family for more than 200 years until opening as a museum in 1973 as part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Interpreting this landscape to a diverse neighborhood requires changes in thinking, programming and accessibility; Cliveden is using history to engage the public with its physical environment.

Moving Past ‘The Battle’ The traditional interpretation at Cliveden focused heavily on the Chew family, the Battle of Germantown and the fine furnishings owned by the family. Since 1994, research into the Chew family

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papers held at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania revealed nine plantations in Maryland and Delaware and a larger history of slave-holding and servitude.

With this knowledge, and to make the history of the site relevant to an ethnically and economically diverse community, Cliveden embarked on The Emancipating Cliveden Project, funded by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, to tell a more inclusive and authentic story. Focus group feedback during the project shared many insights, including that “Cliveden is a space that, at first glance, seems very closed off from the public.” The project started to address this issue through changes to the guided tour and use of the Carriage House Visitor Center, in addition to the overall programming vision and ways to engage people who just visit the property and its grounds without

Actor James Whitfield portrays a worker who belonged to the Chew family.

Telling New Stories, Inside and Out Cliveden’s tours and programs aim to tell the many stories of the people who lived and worked at Cliveden, and how they used the physical environment from the 1760s to the 1970s. Recent research and architectural archeology in the 1767 kitchen dependency led to a deeper understanding of the work yard that is now included on the guided tour. Directly behind the main house and between two service buildings, the kitchen dependency and the wash house, the work yard served as a space for cooking, laundry, livestock and the everyday work of 18thand 19th-century life. The last owners of Cliveden installed a terrace in this space in the 1960s. Standing in the work yard to discuss the changes to landscape and built environment helps visitors see themselves in the many stories of Cliveden.

Many people experience the grounds during one of the two community festivals — Mt. Airy Day and the Revolutionary Germantown Festival — that include reenactments of the Battle of Germantown. Both events open the gates and property to thousands of visitors, many for the first time. In addition to tours of the museum, activities for children and adults provide opportunities to engage the history in an outdoor space. These activities feature diverse narratives of African-Americans, women and stories from the 20th century. Enjoying these activities in a space where these things happened brings a sense of relevance to the content.

The landscape is also a backdrop for Liberty to Go to See, the award-winning dramatic event that explores the lives of three generations of the Chew family and

Justus Henry

taking a tour. Preserved as a shrine to the founding of America, Cliveden has become a forum for the nation’s need to understand what “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” mean today.

its staff, enslaved and free. The first scene takes place on the front steps of the main house where visitors are asked to imagine Cliveden as it was in the 18th century with Benjamin Chew (1722–1810): He does not see what we see now. He sees a rich and prosperous country estate. A real gentleman’s residence. Far away from the summer filth and disease of Philadelphia.

Actors walk through the wooded grounds, illustrating the work done by enslaved workers on the estate and provoking audiences to consider the difficult history of the site from their first encounter of the landscape. During the final scene, the narrator, James Smith, a freed African coachman and production narrator, walks off toward the tree-lined rear of the property, alluding to his death. In both the introduction and conclusion, the landscape sets the stage for the production.

A Welcoming Environment The wider interpretation makes the community feel welcome. Since 2010, more people use the grounds as a park where they walk their dogs, play with children and picnic. The number of people engaging with the site increased from 10,000 in 2007 to 24,000 last year. Meanwhile, new partnerships with community institutions help neighbors engage with the physical environment. Project Learn School, a private K-8 institution located one block

from Cliveden, activates the space as students use the front yard as a playground and the kindergarten classes use the space every Wednesday morning as part of their curriculum. Local Boy Scout Troop 358 completed Eagle Scout projects to help repaint the exterior fence, clean out the kitchen dependency and clean up the perimeter landscape. The variety of uses takes Cliveden beyond the sacred battlefield to an open community space.

Future Goals The current programming only scratches the surface for ways to use history to activate Cliveden’s 5.5 acres. Feedback from program evaluations and focus groups helps structure research as Cliveden continues to contemplate new ways to share the history of the site. Self-guided tours and exterior signage, both inside the property and on the fence, will create opportunities for visitors to explore the property on their own, using site maps that share a broader view of the former battlefield landscape. Cliveden plans to undertake a cultural landscape study to inform further interpretation and preservation of the site. Activating the green space helps more people see themselves in the diverse history of the place.

Carolyn G. Wallace is the Education Director for Cliveden of the National Trust (cwallace@ cliveden.org).

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Organic Parks The challenge of managing and maintaining well-manicured landscapes

By Serda Ozbenian, MS

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alancing the need to effectively manage weeds and pests in parks, the mandate to protect and conserve valuable natural resources and the demand for well-manicured recreational areas can be a big challenge for land managers.

The negative environmental and human health impacts of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides have been widely documented and some park agencies are seeking and testing new landscape management methods to strike a balance that would satisfy park users and managers.

Some park agencies have committed to going pesticide-free, herbicide-free or organic, while others have taken a piecemeal approach and are devising site-specific management strategies.

Mixed Results In Durango, Colorado, for example, in response to strong pressure from residents, the Durango Parks and Recreation Department and Durango City Council adopted the Organically Managed Lands Program, agreeing to

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initiate a three-year pilot program to switch half-a-dozen parks in Durango to organic — meaning they would only manage them using organic fertilization and herbicides — absolutely no synthetic chemicals. The trial period ended last spring with mixed results.

According to Scott McClain, parks manager for the city of Durango, undesirable turf increased from 5 percent to 50 percent in the three-year period.

The organic methods produced results that were less desirable, required

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more maintenance and were more expensive, particularly for sports fields.

He noted that expectations were very high in the community and there was little tolerance for weeds, leading to a high-maintenance management plan.

The city is now looking at ways to modify the program so plant materials get the nutrients they need to establish healthy turf with the use of fewer chemicals to keep weeds at bay. The issue is a highly contentious one for the community and emotions run high. It leads one to wonder: Are organic parks unattainable?

Well, it’s not all black or white.

There are many examples of parks implementing more responsible and environmentally sensitive approaches to managing turf that are effective and economical.

Managing Expectations Ryan Anderson, program and communications manager for Midwest Pesticide Action Center (MPAC), explains: “Some parks have been using pesticides for so long that the soil has become dependent, so going cold turkey is not the best option. We recommend coming up with a plan over three to five years and weaning the soil off the dependency, while building organic matter.” For the past eight years, the Chicago Park District has partnered with MPAC and committed to limit the use of pesticides in its parks.

Close to 90 percent of Chicago parks now practice natural lawn care and avoid spraying weed control chemicals. MPAC aims to reduce the use of harmful synthetic pesticides in parks by promoting safer, natural alternatives as part of its “A Natural Park Is a Healthy Park” campaign. The agency does this by empowering citizen action groups with information and working with them and the city to improve policies. Anderson also noted that it’s very important to manage community expectations when it comes to costs, and it can be helpful to start with a demonstration field.

Also partnering with MPAC is the city of Boulder Parks and Recreation. It primarily uses Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices while trying to balance the needs of athletic field users who desire a weed-free turf. Boulder Parks and Recreation has not been using herbicides on managed turf for almost 15 years. It acknowledges that resource constraints are a big obstacle to managing parks organically — specifically staffing levels, IPM is an environmentally sensitive and proactive approach to controlling pests and disease focused on the longterm prevention and suppression of pests with the least harmful pest control methods. IPM allows for the judicious use of pesticides as a last resort.

equipment needs, funding for materials and testing. Boulder has also worked to increase community awareness and acceptance of weeds, such as dandelions in parks, noting that dandelions are a sign of a healthy place where synthetic chemicals have been eliminated.

“The transition was tough at first, there were some complaints from neighbors early on,” says John Cogdill, park turf and irrigation manager for Boulder Parks and Recreation. “It definitely requires more work, aeration, and is more time consuming. You have to be consistent. Results won’t show up in a month or two; it takes some time. But giving the community a safe field is more important and outweighs the problem of having to control some dandelions in the spring,” he adds. According to Cogdill, 99.5 percent of the community agrees with him.

Montgomery Parks in Montgomery County, Maryland, also practices IPM methods to control weeds and other pests while minimizing the use of pesticides. It acknowledges that reducing pesticide use requires many critical resources, such as sustainable design, quality equipment and materials, and staff trained in alternative practices and proper monitoring for pest problems. In 2016, Montgomery Parks began a pesticide-free parks pilot program to eliminate the use of pesticides in 11 parks and gather valuable information about the impact and best practices associated with maintaining parks without pesticides.

A growing number of communities are not in favor of the use and overuse of synthetic chemicals on public lands and are counting on park and recreation agencies to take the necessary actions to ensure healthy community spaces. Earlier this year, NRPA conducted a member survey on sustainability practices that included a question about responsible natural land management. Of the nearly 400 park and recreation agencies that participated in the survey, 76 percent indicated controlling invasive plants with less toxic means, 67 percent indicated following sustainable turf management practices and 66 percent indicated following IPM practices.

Park and recreation agencies have a responsibility to train their staff in environmentally sensitive approaches to managing landscapes, while improving and preserving the health of the soil and living organisms within the soil, using native plants and improving water quality. And, of course, it’s also important to manage expectations and educate communities on proper natural landscape management and involve them in the process.

For agencies interested in reducing their own pesticide use, consult MPAC’s Municipal Pesticide Reduction Toolkit — http:// midwestpesticideaction.org/wp-content/ uploads/2014/04/Final-Toolkit-4-21-2014NY.pdf.

Serda Ozbenian, MS, is NRPA’s Conservation Program Manager (sozbenian@nrpa.org).

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HEALTH AND WELLNESS

Health Equity: Leading Through Programs, Environmental Changes and Policies

By Karen Soohoo

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RPA was awarded a seven-year grant by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to establish a RWJF Award for Health Equity. Now in its second year, this award program recognizes individuals who have led communitywide policy, environmental and program changes to reduce health disparities through parks and recreation. The award advances RWJF’s vision for building a culture of health, ensuring the equal opportunity to live in healthy environments by raising awareness of the need and solutions for systems changes to achieve health equity.

NRPA is proud to announce that the winner of the 2017 RWJF Award for Health Equity is Patti Solano, superintendent of community services at the City of Riverside Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Department (PRCSD). With nearly 15 years of service in parks, recreation and community services, Solano is committed to ensuring people of all ages and cultures can easily achieve healthy lifestyles. “I am thrilled to be recognized for the work my team and I have been doing to make Riverside a healthier com-

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munity, especially impacting the lives of so many residents who may not typically be exposed to such programs and resources,” Solano says. Under her leadership, PRCSD has worked with many partners to make systemwide changes that support physical, emotional and spiritual health and well-being of all — particularly those most underserved — through programs, environmental changes and policies.

Health Programs and Events Through her work, Solano has champi-

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These elementary school students participate in an afterschool program, made possible by Patti Solano, recipient of the 2017 RWJF Award for Health Equity.

oned many health initiatives with the support of private, public and nonprofit partners. One of the strongest partnerships is with Kaiser Permanente. In 2013, Solano led PRCSD to become a Kaiser Permanente Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) Zone. The HEAL Zone is a collaborative effort targeting the Eastside neighborhood of Riverside to get residents to increase the consumption of healthy foods, decrease calorie consumption and increase physical activity. The HEAL initiative also extends into the PRCSD’s Kids-In-Action afterschool program. Promoting healthier lifestyles to children was accomplished through this program with HEAL Zone healthy eating and fitness classes. PRCSD also works with Kaiser Permanente’s Operation Splash to provide free swim lessons to 38,000 low-income participants.

Another major program that Solano

spearheaded is PRSCD’s implementation of the Office of the Mayor and the California State Department of Public Health’s Nutrition Education Obesity Prevention Branch (NEOPB) funding initiative. PRCSD is one of several sub-grantees, including the community development department and both Riverside and Alvord Unified School Districts, whose staff works with low-income and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) individuals to accomplish many objectives related to NEOPB provisions, such as providing health education to increase the consumption of healthy fruits and vegetables and to reduce obesity rates.

In addition to these large initiatives, Solano also started the Walk With Ease Program, an NRPA grant-funded walking program for older adults, especially those with arthritis; started an annual Senior Fitness Fair; works with the Riverside Community Health Foundation to bring fun nutrition and fitness programs to low-income neighborhood residents; and runs the Riverside free Summer Food program, which served more than 53,000 meals in 2016.

To celebrate the many health programs Riverside offers, Solano oversees the annual ‘Spring to Health’ community outreach event, which motivates all Riverside residents to incorporate better nutrition and fitness into their lives by bringing resources, strategies and nutrition education to one location. Through this community-supported event, more than 40 vendors supply services and donations, such as free health screenings and bikes.

With free programs and events like NEOPB’s ‘Spring to Health’ and HEAL Zone’s Senior Fitness Fair, Solano has made a palpable impact on the community by bringing together residents and organizations to work toward a healthier future.

Environmental Changes Solano’s commitment to creating system

wide changes with the support of parks shines through the story of the Children’s Health Education Enrichment Resource (CHEER) building. According to Rachel McLure, city of Riverside senior management analyst, when an office space adjacent to the Cesar Chavez Community Center became unoccupied, Solano envisioned a “campus with support services for all sections of the community.” With the help of parks maintenance staff and local teens, the building was renovated to house many programs, including HEAL Zone and NEOPB, as well as an afterschool program, a “Time for Tots” program, and a family resource center with the Riverside Unified School District.

None of this would have been possible without Solano’s push to use this space.

While the CHEER building is her biggest environmental change, Solano has overseen other environmental changes in Riverside that have increased availability of health resources for those who are underserved. Through the Community Settlement Association Bermuda Garden, HEAL Zone staff engaged local high school students in nutrition education and created greater access to fresh produce. In addition, Solano expanded free resources for residents to be active through the installation of outdoor fitness stations in two city parks.

Adopting Policy Finally, to ensure that these environmental changes and programs are continued and supported in the long run, Solano has advocated for policies at the city, county and state level. Using Solano’s “Healthier Food and Beverage Guidelines” policy and citywide implementation plan, the city council adopted a new policy in 2015 that resulted in significant improvements in the nutritional quality of food and beverages served in the city.

Riverside has also embedded these programs into staffing and operational costs,

Local high school students who participate in the Riverside Youth Opportunity Center engage in art projects, like the one at top, and community gardening, above.

and has secured private financial and inkind support for the long-term commitment to health equity.

Solano’s advocacy continued at the state level where, with her guidance, HEAL Zone staff chaperoned five youth council members to meet with legislators to discuss improvement of drinking water access during the school day. By promoting the civic engagement of youth, as well as local and state health equity policies, Solano has made long-term impacts to ensure that all people can lead healthy lives.

Solano was recognized at the 2017 NRPA Annual Conference and will be recognized at the annual RWJF Awards for Health Equity: Recognition and Learning Convening, where the work of the RWJF Awards for Health Equity winners from nine national membership organizations, including NRPA, will be honored. NRPA congratulates Solano and the city of Riverside PRCSD for making measurable and sustainable differences in the health and well-being of people of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds in their community.

Karen Soohoo was NRPA’s Health and Wellness Summer Intern (kgs3ez@virginia.edu).

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Climate Is Changing the Face of Outdoor Recreation

By Richard J. Dolesh

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Change S

cientific certainty is growing that our climate is changing rapidly. As our planet warms and greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, load the atmosphere, warmer temperatures are occurring across much of the country, and for that matter, across much of the planet. The last decade notched the highest annual temperatures in U.S. record-keeping, and the last three years were the hottest annual temperatures ever recorded. Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, while not directly caused by climate change, were likely made much worse by climate change conditions. Paradoxically, multiyear extreme drought grips some areas of the country, a weather pattern that can also be partially attributed to a changing climate.

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Extreme drought, persistent and dangerous heat, and severe storms with flooding are affecting certain parts of the country with more frequency and greater severity. Storms classified with a probability of once-in-a-hundred years or once-in-five-hundred years are happening every two or three years in some parts of the country. While there is much debate about the causes of atmospheric warming, what matters to us is not so much the cause, but how it affects what we do and what it means for the future.

Climate change raises vital questions for park and recreation administrators, the industries that supply the field, and the public that recreates outdoors. The answers are especially important for an outdoor recreation industry whose economic impact in America is now valued at $887 billion annually, per the 2017 Outdoor Industry Association’s report on the outdoor recreation economy and the millions of jobs depending on this industry. Climate change has begun to change the way we plan, design and manage parks, public lands and recreation facilities. It will continue to have profound effects on parks and recreation for the foreseeable future.

making weather events like hurricanes, extreme rainstorms, sea-level rise, heat waves and severe drought worse. Such conditions directly affect how people recreate, limiting options or making it unhealthful to engage in outdoor activities.

It is possible that some activities, such as certain types of water and snow-based recreation, may disappear entirely in certain regions of the country.

Impacts Widespread for Commercial and Public Recreation Virtually every type of outdoor recreation is affected by climate change from snow-skiing to desert hiking. For backcountry recreation, climate change is having a more indirect, but no less potent effect. Certain types of outdoor recreation, such as whitewater rafting, kayaking and other water-dependent activities, are already facing a high likelihood of disruption. For much of the year water levels may be too low to kayak, raft or canoe, or alternatively, the places to do so might have been damaged by storms and flooding.

Some may question that the evidence is still inconclusive that climate change is already affecting outdoor recreation

Climate change has begun to change the way we plan, design and manage parks, public lands and recreation facilities.

And make no mistake, the ways that the public recreates outdoors are already undergoing dramatic changes. Recreation options in many urban areas have become much more limited in the face of extreme heat waves and urban heat island effects. Physical exercise and high output activities such as fitness walking, trail running and cycling when the temperature is 100 degrees or higher are not as enjoyable or safe as in moderate temperatures. A changing climate is likely 32 Parks & Recreation

broadly, but Adam Cramer, executive director of the Outdoor Alliance, an advocacy coalition of human-powered recreation organizations, makes an important point about how climate change is inexorably affecting the way we recreate outdoors. “It is important to understand that it is not a linear progression of changes.

What we are seeing now is that there is more variability and less reliability in the seasons and in the weather. Disrupted weather patterns are definitely becoming

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more common than what used to be the norm of predictable weather.”

Snow sports are some of the recreation activities most affected by climate change. Snow seasons are shrinking and commercial operators are seeing many more lost days in peak seasons because of highly unpredictable weather and shorter shoulder seasons as well. The economic impact of a low snow year may total $1 billion to $2 billion annually, according to James Rogers, senior director of sustainability for The North Face, the international outdoor clothing and gear manufacturer.

Industry leaders almost universally say that climate change is not only affecting the ways people recreate, but also how they do business. Rogers says that meeting the challenges presented by climate change is very important to who they are as a company. “We believe climate change affects everyone who recreates outdoors, especially those who want to challenge themselves, and that’s who we serve with our products,” he says.

Climate change has caused The North Face to evaluate its product lines and how it might produce products and gear that are suitable for much greater temperature ranges and quickly changing weather conditions. “We have changed our corporate practices as well. We are much more aware of our carbon footprint, and we are taking significant actions to reduce it.”

Many manufacturers are taking a much more active role in advocacy for public lands as well. Patagonia, The North Face and Keen Footwear, to name a few, have spoken out through social media and national campaigns to protect public lands and demand action for conservation at the national level.

Corporations did not used to engage in such direct advocacy roles in the past, but spurred by the negative impacts of climate change and the adversarial policies of the Trump administration, out-

Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department

Heat and hydration warnings in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve at the start of the highly popular trail to Piestewa Peak caution hikers of danger if they are unprepared for the 100-degree-plus conditions.

door recreation companies are becoming much more vocal in advocacy.

Amy Roberts, CEO of the influential Outdoor Industry Association, says, “Outdoor recreation must not become partisan. We must find a way to talk to decision makers and elected officials in a way that communicates our concerns.”

Roberts says that from a business perspective, the more variable the weather is and the more severe the storms and extreme weather events are, the more impact climate change will have on the recreation industry.” She says that one result of a changing climate is that more companies are taking a much more active role in advocacy. “Many companies have been doing so individually. But, I think it will become industrywide very soon.

Companies are more willing to talk to their consumers about what matters to them and, in turn, are using their corporate messaging and marketing skills to advance conservation goals.”

With regard to industry trends, Roberts says, “Climate change has made it imperative for certain recreation providers to adapt quickly and winter sports

resorts are the first to do so. Music festivals, summer events, all season occupancy — these are some of the best ways that the industry is innovatively adapting to climate change.”

Local Parks and Recreation Increasingly Affected At the local and regional level, public parks and recreation are being affected as much if not more than commercial recreation. For example, increasingly unpredictable weather in the Denver region now plays havoc with the agency’s maintenance schedules, preventing the agency from making its facilities and fields ready for seasonal use. “Denver was the poster child for four seasons of recreation,” says Allegra “Happy” Haynes, the director of Denver Parks and Recreation.

“We traditionally defined our recreation year into four three-month seasons, and the weather cooperated beautifully. Well, that is no longer the case — it just doesn’t happen that way anymore.”

“What can you do when you have 100 days of Indian summer in the late fall and early winter followed by wet winters

and late springs? Our fields are simply not ready to use by spring,” says Haynes.

“We have a great demand for our athletic fields to be ready for our spring soccer league. The sport is growing enormously in popularity and that’s great, but we cannot allow these leagues to irrevocably damage fields for the whole year if we open them too early,” Haynes says.

Michael Kalvort, director of parks and recreation in Virginia Beach, Virginia, says, “Sea-level rise and recurrent flooding has been affecting our entire city and our park and recreation system. Last year, on one day we got 15 inches of rain overnight. The ground was saturated from previous rains and it could just not take it anymore. We had communities that suffered real hardship.”

“I take climate change very seriously and very personally,” Kalvort says. “Last year, I was flooded out of my home by Hurricane Matthew. We still have people recovering from that storm in October 2016. But as bad as the damages were, they had one beneficial effect — they helped our city to take the changes that are occurring seriously. The challenge for us is to educate

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the public about the effects and our elected officials as well that significant new funding will be necessary to shore up our park infrastructure.”

In Los Angeles, Mike Shull, the director of recreation and parks says, “For us, the issue is the extreme heat.” Such heat that affects adults and children alike is made worse by a lack of shade in parks.

“I can build the nicest playground in the United States,” he says, “and if there is no shade, nobody will come and use it.” Shull says his department is already changing the way it serves the public. He enumerates the ways that are adapting to conditions: “It’s lighting the fields in the evening so the public can use them when there is less heat. It’s doing more programs later in the day when the heat is not so extreme, and it’s not planting a tree unless we can guarantee it will be

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watered for a year, and it’s not building a new playground that is not shaded.”

Climate change is likely hastening the conversion of grass athletic fields to synthetic turf, a practice that has generated significant public concern because of safety implications and the perceived dangers of crumb rubber in synthetic turf. Shull says that in Los Angeles, they have been converting many grass fields to synthetic turf. “Essentially, we have 365 days of public use potential per year. People want to use our parks literally every day of the year, and do. When our grass fields turn to dust and packed dirt, that’s not good for anyone. Converting to turf because of heat and drought has made a huge difference in being able to promote youth physical activity. Every field we install is like building a new park with new fields that can be played on every day.”

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A Changing Climate Affects Health and Social Equity In the past month, Hurricane Harvey dumped an astonishing 50 inches of rain on southeast Texas. Hurricane Irma pounded the entire state of Florida and inflicted damage on South Carolina and Georgia, leaving more than 8 million people without power at one point.

Meanwhile, in the Northwest, wildfires that are relentlessly burning vast areas of public lands swept deep into Yosemite National Park to threaten a 2,700-yearold grove of great Sequoias. Smoke and fine particulate soot is blanketing thousands of square miles from Oregon to Colorado with yet unknown public health impacts.

Outdoor recreation in parts of the country has become hazardous to one’s health because of having to breathe in

smoke and particulate matter. If you are poor or have limited ability to change your outdoor recreation patterns, the very physical activities you do to improve your health and well-being may be harming you. Shull points out that people of limited means who work two jobs or have long work hours cannot really change the time they have for recreation with friends, family and children. There is strong evidence to show that impacts of air pollution and heat on children and the elderly are even more damaging than adults. Thus, whatever the impacts are — smog, heat, stress — poorer people who cannot change when and where they recreate must endure much greater negative health impacts.

“In everything we do, shade has become the top priority and the greatest request from the public,” says Xavier Urrutia, director of parks and recreation in San Antonio, Texas. “A few years ago when we started installing fitness equipment in parks, we purposely put them in open areas. People said that the equipment became so hot they couldn’t even touch it — it burned them.” Even after trying to maximize shade from trees in their parks and installing integrated shade structures over play and exercise equipment, they continue to get requests to provide shade for facilities such as skate parks that never required it before.

“We just passed a $187 million bond program,” Urrutia adds, “and all people requested was shade, shade, shade!”

While most of the impacts from climate change are negative, some changes may promote certain types of outdoor recreation. Sports and physical activities that thrive in moderate and even hot weather are increasing in localities where snow and wet winter weather conditions are receding. The public is adapting, and the recreation industry is taking advantage of climate change conditions that enable longer seasons for hiking, cycling and other all season recreation pursuits. Many urban met

ropolitan areas are enlarging trail systems at an unprecedented rate not just to expand commuter options but also to serve a growing public demand for allyear, all-weather trails.

Adapting to Meet the Challenges of a Climate Changing Future Park and recreation agencies are already trying to significantly increase the amount of shade in parks..

Urrutia notes that San Antonio is trying innovative approaches, such as large sun screens to block the western sun exposure through the afternoon hours. This demand for more shade, parks directors unquestionably concur, is rapidly driving up the capital expense of outdoor facilities and, in some cases, causing other amenities to be cut to provide shade structures.

...what matters to us is not so much the cause, but how it affects what we do and what it means for the future.

To meet future needs, Urrutia says that some of the greatest challenges will be from a design perspective. Design professionals will have to increasingly factor the users’ perspective of the park experience. “I see beautiful parks today, but sometimes wonder if certain features will actually serve the public well.”

Gordon Robertson, Denver Parks and Recreation’s chief of planning, design and construction, says, “We are very focused on how we will adapt to climate change. Our new game plan will be focused on resiliency. We realize that we must prepare for the future, and we intend to integrate our plan with citywide efforts that are being made by public works and our planning agency. Our

park system plans are very much about how we grow and develop as a city.” The city and county will put special effort into planning their tree canopy, he says.

They will concentrate on green stormwater management where more severe weather may affect the city.

“In 2013, we had a hundred-year storm event,” says Doug Woods, the parks chief in Denver. “The impacts were eye-opening. We realized then that we had to look at new ways of doing things. Since then, we have had a growing recognition that this will be a shared responsibility in the future. Public works is looking at parks for relieving some of the pressure for better stormwater control and management.

This has called for a new level of cooperation among city agencies in how we manage and maintain parks.”

Kalvort says that the city of Virginia Beach has been intensively investigating how to deal with sea-level rise for the last two years and projecting outward five, 10 and 20 years. An important role of the park and recreation department is to help communicate to the public what the city will need to look like to be resilient. He adds, “We are working with our planning department to look at building more detention ponds in our parks and employing other green infrastructure approaches that will increase capacity for treating stormwater. We are looking at the idea of floodable parks that can serve as open play areas during dry times, but can capture and retain stormwater in floods.”

“I believe that climate change truly is affecting our park and recreation system,” says Shull about Los Angeles’ parks. “If it hasn’t affected yours yet, I believe it will come to affect every park and recreation system across the country sooner rather than later.”

Next in the series: “How Climate Change Is Affecting Nature and Wildlife in Our Parks” Richard J. Dolesh is NRPA’s Vice President of Strategic Initiatives (rdolesh@nrpa.org).

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What to Do with Confederate Monuments?

By Paul Gilbert

UMENTAL Decision T

here are approximately 1,500 Confederate monuments and statues on battlefields, town greens, in parks and in front of courthouses. While most are in the South, surprisingly, many are also in the North and Midwest, and a number of them are in areas managed by park and recreation agencies. There has been a push in many areas to remove these monuments from the center of civic life.

So, some thought is necessary about the pros and cons of removing these monuments from some areas and potentially accepting them in other public areas.

Sorting through those issues takes some insight into the current issue and the last 150 years of American history, particularly in the South.

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MONUMENTS

Where We Are Today Charlottesville, Virginia, August 12, 2017, one dead and 19 injured when a neo-Nazi used a car as a weapon against counterprotesters of a rally of the Ku Klux Klan, Nazis and other alt-right hate groups. The hate groups had organized their rally to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee that had

been installed in 1924 in a public park, which, until June of this year, had been known as Lee Park but is now called Emancipation Park.

Two years ago, nine innocent people were gunned down in a church in Charleston, South Carolina, by a hatefilled young man and, as a result, that state removed the Confederate Battle

Lost Cause:

Facing military defeat in the Civil War and economic and political collapse after the war, many Southern whites were looking for explanations and meaning to make sense of their condition. The answer came in revisionist history that is known as the “Lost Cause.”

In the Articles of Confederation that the Southern states passed to break with the Union, they give as their primary reason that the Fugitive Slave Act, a federal law, was not being enforced by many Northern states. So, they were in favor of a federal law that supported the slave economy, and opposed to a number of Northern states that were not enforcing this federal law.

Counter to this reality, the “Lost Cause” recast the purpose of the war and the reason for the South’s defeat. This narrative became very popular in books and movies, and influenced many generations to have a warped view of the causes and outcomes of the Civil War. Many elements of this still linger with us today. The elements included: • Slavery was not the primary cause of the war, but rather it was a campaign for states’ rights.

• Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and some other Confederate Generals were held up as representing Southern nobility, virtue and values.

• Military defeats were explained by overwhelming numbers of the Union Army and subordinates to Lee who did not follow his orders correctly.

• Slavery was cast as a benign institution and masters as benevolent.

This mythology took root in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The most popular movie of its time was “Birth of a Nation” which debuts in 1915. This movie glorified members of the Ku Klux Klan as noble heroes. Gone with the Wind was a best-selling book in 1936, and a hit movie in 1939, and it exemplifies many of the elements of this movement.

The most painful part of the Lost Cause is that it gave political cover for the worst and most violent period of segregation. During this time, states’ rights became code for oppressive Jim Crow laws and lynching.

Most of the Confederate monuments we see today were a part of this political/ cultural movement to promote white supremacy.

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Flag that had been a part of the state flag for decades, since that gunman used this flag as a symbol of white supremacy.

These two events, along with the rise of the alt-right, have made many people question the role of Confederate symbols and monuments in civic life today.

These symbols were used extensively by racist forces in the early part of the 20th century, and they are being used again today by hate groups.

What Are These Monuments About?

To understand these monuments, we need to look 50–70 years after the Civil War. In the first 20 years following the conflict, groups of veterans from both sides funded monuments. This first wave was mostly placed on battlefields, and, rather than images of individuals, they were mostly stones and obelisks inscribed with the units that fought in a battle. Much of this time was the period called “Reconstruction.” Former slaves were experiencing a hopeful time with voting rights, land, literacy and other benefits from the newly formed Freedmen’s Bureaus. This period ended by the mid-to-late 1870s, and these progressive efforts were quickly reversed.

Most of the monuments that we are debating today were erected in the period from 1890 to 1930, and many of them were designed to glorify what became known as the “Lost Cause” — a period of revisionist history. This movement attempted to erase or obscure the fact that the South had broken away from the Union, primarily to continue slavery. This false narrative fit the efforts in the South during the early 20th century, when a system of local and state laws was put in place that enforced segregation and suppressed voting rights and educational opportunities for African-Americans. During much of the 20th century, “states’ rights” was code for allowing local segregation efforts, called Jim Crow laws, to continue.

The appearance of a statue of a solemn Confederate soldier, rifle in hand, in front of most courthouses in the South during this time, was more of a political statement than a battle monument. Imagine the not-so-subtle message that was being sent to a person of color walking into a local courthouse under the gaze of a larger-than-life statue of a Confederate soldier perched in front of the courthouse steps. It is interesting to note that during the first couple of decades of the 20th century, women had not yet been given the right to vote, and poll taxes and literacy tests suppressed both African-American and poor voters of any race. In this light, it is hard to look at local and state government decisions of that time, including the placement of monuments, as being democratic.

What Should Happen to These Monuments?

Each community should make its own carefully considered decision about these monuments, informed by an understanding of when and why they were created. The Civil War was as important as the Revolutionary War in creating the nation we are today, and those monuments that mark the battlefields are important to keep.

The monuments created during and supporting the Lost Cause and Jim Crow era are more troubling. That time, too, is part of our collective history, but one that we need to acknowledge for both its propaganda and cruelty. The fact that there are groups today who are promoting racial hatred and intolerance using these monuments and symbols makes one wonder how far we have really come? Dealing honestly with these symbols is one way to address the injustices of the past.

One approach is to remove the monuments, and numerous communities and institutions have begun to do this.

This approach raises questions about

where such moved monuments should go. Many have been calling for them to be moved to cemeteries, museums and/ or battlefields. I would urge caution on this approach since each of those alternative sites would need to determine if the monument in question had appropriate context to be placed at the new location. With the high volume of statues that exist today, maybe they do not all need to be saved?

Another approach might be to interpret the Jim Crow/Lost Cause era statue for what it is. Alfred L. Brophy, a historian from the University of Alabama, recently said, “When you remove a monument, it facilitates forgetting that there were once people in charge who celebrated the Confederacy and supported the ideas of white supremacy associated with it. In my calculus, that is more dangerous than maintaining many of these monuments.” An interpretive panel or plaque added to monuments illuminating the time and political environment of its placement would address Professor Brophy’s concern about forgetting the unpleasant history.

To those who worry about a loss of attention to Civil War history, the American Historical Association (AHA) recently said, “To remove a monument, or to change the name of a school or street, is not to erase history, but rather to alter or call attention to a previous interpretation of history.” Every generation interprets history through the lens of its time.

The park and recreation professionals are trusted community leaders with management over public spaces and expertise at interpretation. We can work with historians and community leaders to help find the right path for our communities to deal with the Confederate monument(s) in our community. We should study and interpret the Civil War and be honest about the Jim Crow era for what it was.

Paul Gilbert is Executive Director of the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority (pgilbert@nvrpa.org).

Vilifying or Glorifying Historical Figures

In today’s politically charged environment, some see Confederate or Union soldiers as heroes or villains. This divide makes it difficult to deal with the issue of statues in their image. I think it is healthier to see these historical individuals, the ones who fought in the war, as humans, like you or me. They were people of their time, influenced by the societies they grew up in.

Patriotism to states is something present-day individuals can fully understand about the mid-19th century. Before the Civil War, people would say, “the United States are”: only after the war did the United States become a singular, where we would say, “the United States is.”

Like people of any time in history, most individuals of this time probably rationalized their actions. This perspective does not change the evils of slavery, or the fact that the Confederacy was primarily about preserving the slave economy.

What it does do is allow us to look at the individuals who fought in the Civil War as people, with all the inconsistent logics and good and bad decision making that makes us all human. When we can see them as messy, flawed humans, and not as heroes or villains, we can think in a clearer way about the statues in their image, and the politics and time in which those statues were erected.

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Social Equity

Plays Key Role in New Braunfels’ New Recreation Center

By Stacey Laird Dicke and Stephen Springs

N

ew Braunfels, established by a German prince and military officer in the 1840s, might not receive the same amount of attention as larger cities in Texas, but there’s a reason it’s among the top 10 fastest-growing communities in the United States.

This San Antonio suburb of 75,000 residents is home to museums, wineries and other attractions that bring many visitors to the area. But, its decades-long emphasis on quality-of-life issues has also earned New Braunfels status as a leader in local parks and recreation opportunities. In just a few decades, the city has evolved from a small town with both well-known and hidden-gem regional attractions, to a booming and diverse community with residents, ranging from young families to retirees, who have rapidly changing needs. And, the city is focused on meeting the demands of that growing and diverse population. The challenge, as always, is doing so without losing the historic charm and identity that gives New Braunfels its irresistible character.

The city’s park and recreation department welcomes people of all ages, skill levels and abilities through a variety of 40 Parks & Recreation

services and programs. As many park and recreation professionals know, an emphasis on such positive activities can result

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in better academic performance, lower teen-pregnancy rates, reduced juvenile crime and improved mental health.

An example of New Braunfels’ efforts to serve a broad user base is the 9,000-square-foot Westside Community Center, which the city acquired and, in 2011, opened in a previously underserved and economically disadvantaged neighborhood. A former church, the facility features a gymnasium, classrooms, a kitchen and a branch of the public library, and it hosts several year-round park and recreation and library programs. Fundraising also is under way for development of an accessible playground in the city, with assistance from the St. Charles, Mis-

Airborne Aerial Photography

New sidewalks connect Landa Park, the 51acre crown jewel in the New Braunfels city park system, to the new recreation center.

souri-based Unlimited Play, a nonprofit leader in all-inclusive play facilities.

Over the years, parks officials have also renovated several older parks, while finding ways to preserve their history and spotlight the city’s heritage. One example of this is the annual living history event, Soul Searching, Night Ramblings in the Comal Cemetery. Established in 1868, the Comal Cemetery is the burial ground for some of New Braunfels’ founders and notable citizens. The annual sell-out tour is Architectural renderings (above and center) offer interior and exterior views of the new Westside Community Center. The floor plan, at right, shows its layout.

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teams also played club volleyball or was a member of other select teams, which gave them huge advantages over girls who don’t participate on such teams.

With the new facility, young athletes who don’t make school teams can join the city’s recreation leagues and enjoy new opportunities to play. Plans also are in the works to offer scholarships to kids whose families are unable to afford facility membership or program fees. The facility will also boast an 8,000-square-foot fitness area that will serve all ages and allow the city, for the first time, to provide senior-focused fitness programming.

Built in the 1900s, the Landa Park Aquatic Center features this natural pool, fed by Comal Springs, which is one of the oldest, most historic pools in Texas.

a unique, educational event that, through volunteer actor portrayals of these early residents, passes down the city’s history.

This focus on New Braunfels’ changing population base helped spearhead the successful passage of an $86 million bond package in 2013 that included $20 million for parks projects. Administrators viewed passage of the referendum as a vote of confidence in the New Braunfels Parks and Recreation Department. The agency’s decades-long efforts to build a level of trust with the community will now result in the largest construction project the city has ever undertaken: a new community recreation center that will shine a spotlight on one of NRPA’s three pillars — Social Equity.

Social equity plays a significant and effective role in the way association members can positively impact the communities they serve. And this New Braunfels facility, slated to open in summer 2018, will stand as a shining example of social equity at work. NRPA believes that “universal access to public parks and recreation [is] a right, not just a privilege.”

Serving an Entire City The $23.5 million center seeks to impact all constituents in the city — even those previously not fully served by the park and recreation department. To ensure its benefits 42 Parks & Recreation

reach the entire community, city leaders held public meetings and interviewed representatives from numerous stakeholder groups (including the local YMCA, school district, senior center and other entities) to help determine what should be included in the new facility.

The goal is to make the 74,000-squarefoot facility a model — in terms of amenities, scale and scope — for other South Texas cities to follow.

The center, designed by Dallas-based Brinkley Sargent Wiginton (BSW) Architects, will provide health and wellness programming, as well as year-round swimming and learn-to-swim opportunities. With two major rivers and a reputation for some of the best tubing in the country, swimming is a vital life skill for residents of this community. In addition, two full-size gymnasiums will provide more youth sports options, another key amenity as more select and elite teams develop in the area.

Unfortunately, not all youths in New Braunfels are skilled enough or can afford to participate on those select and elite teams, which already has created divisions in neighborhoods and schools.

For example, more than 150 girls recently tried out for 50 spots on volleyball teams at one local middle school.

Almost every player chosen for those

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Make It Bigger!

Following the presentation to the public of the new recreation facility’s initial design, city officials found themselves in the unlikely, but enviable, position of figuring out how to make the facility even larger, rather than determining how to scale it back (as so often happens in a hot construction market). Plans originally called for a 50,000- to 60,000-square-foot facility with one indoor recreation pool.

But, forward-thinking city council members proposed the addition of a second eight-lane, 25-yard competition pool.

New Braunfels Independent School District officials understood the valuable proposition of adding the second pool, which would provide more space for the high school swim team to practice and compete. As a result, the school district contributed $2.2 million in return for use of the competition pool for the New Braunfels High School Unicorn swim team for the next 20 years. The high school team will be able to host dual and triple meets on location, as well, with bleacher seating for up to 240 spectators.

The New Braunfels Industrial Development Corporation, an economic development taxing entity that is a huge supporter of local quality-of-life initiatives, also contributed $5.8 million to the project — helping fund not only the competition pool but also a second

gymnasium, and reinforcing the city’s longstanding commitment to community sports, recreation and wellness. The facility broke ground in October 2016 and, along with two gyms and a twopool natatorium, will boast an elevated walking track, multiple workout spaces and classrooms, two birthday party rooms (one of them another late addition) and several other amenities.

For recreation professionals seeking to provide social equity, one of the biggest challenges in their work is establishing financial self-sufficiency. To that end, the city and BSW engaged St. Louis-based Counsilman-Hunsaker early in the planning and design process to develop a dynamic business model that would provide membership fee/cost recovery options.

The team analyzed community needs, capital costs and operational expenses through a public process involving many stakeholders. Design options, along with their consequential operational models, were subsequently developed and reviewed until a project scope with a clear cost-recovery goal was agreed upon. After significant discussion, the New Braunfels City Council approved a fee schedule that projected a cost recovery of 85 percent.

Then, about midway through the design phase, city officials revisited the topic to incorporate the new additions cited above. As the project ultimately grew in scope and funding, the operational model was updated and now boasts a projected cost recovery of 90 percent — higher than most other public recreation facilities of comparable size and programming.

Social Equity at Work The new facility will be located on Landa Street, a major thoroughfare in the community, not far from a new city hall building. It will act as a redevelopment catalyst for city-owned land, left mostly vacant for years after a Handy Andy Supermarket and strip mall burned down. The addition of the recreation center is expected to increase traffic in the area, making nearby

commercial property more valuable and attractive to developers.

With assistance from the Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, new sidewalks have been constructed along Landa Street that connect the Walnut Avenue pedestrian trail to the site of the new recreation facility and to Landa Park and beyond. Landa Park, at 51 acres, is the crown jewel in the city’s park system and incorporates the William and Dolores Schumann Arboretum and Panther Canyon Nature Trail.

By converting this section of New Braunfels into a recreation gateway, officials are sending a message to all city residents that everybody not only deserves such opportunities but also needs them to achieve a more balanced lifestyle.

It’s tough to argue that New Braunfels didn’t need a recreation reboot. Although the city operates a thriving outdoor aquatic complex with an Olympic-size

competition pool, spring-fed recreation pool and zero-depth-entry children’s pool, the existing recreation center needs some updating to better serve residents. It is housed inside a former warehouse that was built in the late 19th century, and its shortcomings include the lack of a regulation-size gymnasium and no access to the upstairs for people with disabilities — thus limiting not only programming options but also who can participate in those programs.

With this new facility, all of that is about to change and it is expected to spur redevelopment in the area, helping New Braunfels to maintain its position as a fast-evolving, action-oriented and socially responsible community.

Stacey Laird Dicke is the Parks and Recreation Director for the City of New Braunfels (sdicke@ nbtexas.org). Stephen Springs, AIA, is a Senior Principal at Brinkley Sargent Wiginton Architects (ssprings@bsw-architects.com).

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NRPA Update What It Means to Serve on the NRPA Board of Directors

By Richard J. Dolesh

S

even new members were elected to the NRPA Board of Directors during the 2017 Annual Conference in New Orleans. The new board members are as follows: • Michael Abbaté, Director of Parks and Recreation, City of Portland, Oregon • Hayden Brooks, Chairman, American Realty Corporation, Austin, Texas • Kong Chang, Community Recreation Specialist, Department of Parks and Recreation, City of St. Paul, Minnesota • Carolyn McKnight, Superintendent, Recreation Commission of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana • Ian Proud, Manager of Market Research and Inclusive Play, PlayPower, Huntersville, North Carolina • Nonet Sykes, Director of Race Equity and Inclusion, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, Baltimore, Maryland • Xavier Urrutia, Director of Parks and Recreation, City of San Antonio, Texas The new members start their term of office with several commitments — attending three board meetings each year, an annual board retreat, fundraising on behalf of the association, serving as national advocates for parks and recreation, and promoting the mission of NRPA locally, regionally and nationally. Becoming a director on NRPA’s board is no small commitment.

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In addition to the governance and leadership responsibilities named above, the board of directors also works with NRPA staff in establishing and implementing the strategic priorities of the association. As described on NRPA’s website, “The strategic plan serves as the foundation for integrating annual budgeting, resource allocation and staff performance planning/management processes for the association, but is also a unifying guide for the field to demonstrate the impact agencies can have on their communities.”

NRPA’s strategic plan, a three-year plan that started in FY2017 and runs through FY2019, is tied to performance

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metrics and to the approval of the annual budget. The board of directors is already engaged in planning for the next strategic plan cycle, FY2020–FY2022.

As intended by NRPA’s founders, the leadership of the association is to be annually renewed by new members who come on the board to replace those whose terms are ending. New directors bring fresh thinking and new ideas along with their commitment to serve on NRPA’s board, typically for a three-year term. I had a chance to catch up with several of the new board members to ask why they accepted nomination to the board and what they hoped to accomplish in the coming year. Their answers give a good perspective on the interests and priorities they bring to their service as new board members.

Carolyn McKnight, director of parks and recreation for the Recreation Commission of East Baton Rouge, Louisiana (BREC), says, “I was invited to serve, and I accepted the challenge.

I don’t have all the answers for what is needed for NRPA to advance, but I look forward to learning what each board member brings to the table to advocate for parks and recreation. I appreciate that NRPA has evolved and now has a clear vision and is laser-focused on measuring impacts and outcomes. It is my belief that if park and recreation professionals do

what they have been called to do, and yes, it is a calling, then the entire living infrastructure of communities is better, stronger and more resilient.”

McKnight as well as other new board members note that NRPA’s three pillars have really helped produce a unifying voice for all of parks and recreation.

Xavier Urrurtia, director of parks and recreation in San Antonio, Texas, says, “I accepted the nomination to the board of directors of NRPA because of what NRPA stands for. When I think of the work we do on the local level around conservation, health and wellness, and social equity, I see how important it is to have a partner at the national level that shares the same values and understanding of how parks impact people and communities.”

Mike Abbaté, director of parks and recreation in Portland, Oregon, says, “We need to build awareness, support and advocacy for parks among the public. When the public recognizes the value of parks, they will be more likely to support funding and expansion of services.”

New board member Nonet Sykes, director of race equity and inclusion for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, says she came on the board to help NRPA become a stronger organization. “I want to give my knowledge and expertise to a field that I feel passionate about,” she says. “I want to help people of color to find value in parks and recreation and for NRPA to think more strategically about the issues relating to race, social equity and inclusion.”

What issues are the new directors focused on and what would they like to see the board act on? Social equity, racial tension, fiscal sustainability, climate change, resiliency, and seeing park and recreation agencies taking a greater role in solving community problems are at the top of their list.

NRPA welcomes all the board members, listed below, and looks forward to their contributions: EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Chair of the Board of Directors Leon T. Andrews, Jr. National League of Cities Washington, D.C. Chair-Elect Jack Kardys Miami-Dade Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department Miami, Florida

Kevin Coyle National Wildlife Federation Washington, D.C. Stephen Eckelberry Bartlett Park District Carol Stream, Illinois Richard Gulley Balboa Park Conservancy San Diego, California

Past Chair Stephen Eckelberry Bartlett Park District Bartlett, Illinois

Roslyn Johnson Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission Greenbelt, Maryland

Treasurer Michael Kelly Chicago Park District Chicago, Illinois

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

Secretary Jesús Aguirre Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation Seattle, Washington

Michael Kelly Chicago Park District Chicago, Illinois

President and CEO Barbara Tulipane, CAE National Recreation and Park Association Ashburn, Virginia BOARD OF DIRECTORS Michael Abbaté, FASLA City of Portland Parks and Recreation Portland, Oregon Jesús Aguirre Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation Seattle, Washington Leon T. Andrews, Jr. National League of Cities Washington, D.C. Neelay Bhatt PROS Consulting Indianapolis, Indiana

Karen Bates Kress Park Advocate Emigrant, Montana Herman Parker City of San Diego, California, Park and Recreation Department San Diego, California Ian Proud PlayPower Williamsport, Pennsylvania Molly Stevens Westcave Outdoor Discovery Center Austin, Texas Nonet T. Sykes The Annie E. Casey Foundation Baltimore, Maryland

Hayden Brooks American Realty Corporation Austin, Texas

Xavier Urrutia City of San Antonio Parks and Recreation San Antonio, Texas

Kong Chang City of Saint Paul Parks and Recreation Saint Paul, Minnesota

Dr. Howell Wechsler Alliance for a Healthier Generation New York, New York

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NRPA Update

Background Screening Methodology Hot Topics What platform allows you to post your park and recreation-related questions to close to 60,000 colleagues in your field and/or get their professional advice?

NRPA Connect — it’s the only networking platform that provides you with direct access to park and recreation professionals. Below are some of the hottest topics this month:

1

Naming of Parks — Are you Interested in what kind of policies and procedures other agencies have established around the naming of parks? Some of your fellow park and recreation agencies have already taken on this challenge.

Check out this post for more information.

2

Moving Toward Digital Activity Guide Production — What agencies have tried this and have they been successful? Should agencies move to only electronic Activity Guides? Feel free to add your thoughts to this post today.

3

Developing Subdivision Parkland Requirements/Standards — This post has generated a lot of discussion, including book recommendations, sample policies, similar challenges and a more indepth conversation on the development of standards.

4

Skate Park Supervision — If you are considering whether you should have supervision provided at your skate park, this may be the post for you. Check out some of the legalities involved, insurance need discussions, etc.

Visit www.nrpaconnect.org to join the conversation today!

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Is your methodology leading the way or a best practice in attracting risk?

I

n the United States, there are 3,144 counties that contain 5,400 courts.

Unfortunately, there is no standardization to how data is reported or what is required for criminal records, which are relied on for important employment and volunteer placement decisions. The lack of standardization and unique searchable identifiers make it easy to miss criminal records when doing some background screens. For example, social security numbers are not stored or available for searching criminal data.

Best Practices While requirements vary by state, here are a few things to keep in mind to prevent risk: How healthy is your data? Most information received by states is through county records. Ideally, the information would be correct and complete; however, in many cases the records are either missing data or inaccurate. You’ll need to assess what screening methods you are using to get the best data from every state relevant to your applicants.

Are you unknowingly blindsiding your applicants? If required to take an FBI fingerprint background check, most applicants never receive a copy of their report, and, if disqualified for a position, they most often do not know why. Background check companies (also known as Consumer Reporting Agencies) can provide a letter to the candidate on behalf of the organization about what appeared on their background check that may disqualified them from the role.

What is your background check costing you? Budgets are already lean, and not all background checks are the same. Selecting background checks on the lowest cost

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can lead to a low-quality screen. The best approach is to ask, “Are we getting the best quality screen for a fair price?”

What is the turnaround time? While the majority of quality background checks are completed in less than 72 hours, most delays experienced are related to jurisdictions being searched. For example, a court runner is physically going to a court house. While this is a highly effective process, it can lead to longer turnaround times because of court access hours, staff or technology available.

It’s important for you to know of any jurisdictions you may be accessing regularly that could drive common delays.

Are you getting the full story? Inaccuracies in reports can’t provide the detail you need when making a hiring decision or preventing a dangerous person from becoming a volunteer. When records are missing or pertinent information from a record is missing, such as final dispositions, it becomes challenging to make effective hiring decisions. Making sure you’re getting the best data possible from as many sources as possible ensures you’re getting the full story.

For more information on how your agency can develop the best background screening methodology visit (www.bib.com).

Legal Information Is Not Legal Advice This information about the law is designed to help users learn about legal requirements. But legal information is not the same as legal advice. Although we go to great lengths to make sure our information is accurate and useful, we recommend you consult a lawyer if you want professional assurance that our information, and your interpretation of it, is appropriate to your situation.

Member Spotlight: Diane Drake

By Cort Jones

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t really is true that everyone deserves a park. However, the reality is that not everyone lives in an area that has quality, safe parks or recreation programs. As the assistant director of evaluation and partnership development for the Recreation and Park Commission for East Baton Rouge (BREC), in the East Baton Rouge Parish in Louisiana, one of Diane Drake’s many responsibilities is to seek financial resources through grants and partnerships to provide quality recreation opportunities for underserved residents.

Parks & Recreation magazine recently caught up with Drake to learn more about her role in making sure everyone has access to quality recreation.

Parks & Recreation: What is something your organization is doing that is near and dear to your heart?

Diane Drake: A program that we’re proud of is ‘BREC on the Geaux,’ which is a mobile program that we take to schools, churches and other areas in the community. We provide physical activities for the kids and the adults, and we serve thousands of citizens of this and surrounding parishes. What’s so great is that we go into places where people don’t have access to parks or quality playgrounds. It’s exciting to see these people be able to get out there and participate in quality programs, rather than being out on unsafe playgrounds.

It’s such a unique program, and over the past five years, it’s still the top request in our division.

P&R: Why do you think that it’s so essential to provide access to quality recreation programs for members of these underserve communities?

Drake: BREC was established to provide quality, affordable programs to all members of the parish. Most of the communities we do outreach in are areas where there is a lot of crime, where parents work late hours, and these kids are not exposed to the programs that are

offered in the stronger economic communities. We’re bringing these opportunities to people that may not normally get them. With programs like BREC on the Geaux, we can serve kids in the community even while their parents are at work, and it gives them quality program opportunities in a safe environment. We know that this is needed

We provide physical activities for the kids and the adults, and we serve thousands of citizens of this and surrounding parishes. because the kids are out there waiting for us whenever we come around. They always keep coming back, so we know it’s necessary for them. We take kids out of the environment that they’re so accustomed to and expose them to other areas. We take them on field trips to the aquarium, the IMAX theatre, museums — things they may not usually do.

P&R: What’s the most rewarding thing about your role and all the great things your organization is doing?

Drake: It’s to be able to look back

and see some of the projects we’ve done and to see the participants and where they have gone with their lives.

Some of them are going off to college, many of them even come back just to say, “Thank you for helping me get through.” That’s the most rewarding for me because we’ve done something to give them a positive outlook instead of the negative outlook that they may have had. It just makes me feel good, especially if I go in the grocery store and someone recognizes me and says, “You’re the BREC on the Geaux lady!” It feels great to know I’m doing something positive. People are always asking, “When are you coming by again?” It’s really rewarding to see the impact of these programs and to see them continuing. It tells us we’re doing something right when the kids don’t want to go home because they love our programs so much. Parents tell us that on a school day they have to wake their kids up, but on a day that they’re participating in one of our programs, the kids are waiting on their parents to wake up!

—Cort Jones, Associate Editor for Parks & Recreation magazine

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NRPA Update

Parks for Inclusion Launches During Annual Conference

By Maureen Acquino

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RPA is excited to pledge its commitment to a global campaign, called Commit to Inclusion, designed by the Partnership for Inclusive Health.

The Commit to Inclusion initiative seeks “to end the exclusion of people with disability from physical activity and all associated areas.” NRPA’s program, which we are calling Parks for Inclusion, launched last month during the annual conference in New Orleans with the goal of ensuring all people have access to the benefits of local parks and recreation.

The statistics alone were enough to drive our formal pledge: • Half of all adults with disability get no aerobic physical activity.

• Obesity rates for adults with disability are 58 percent higher than those without disability, and 38 percent higher for children with disability than those without.

• Adults with disability are three times more likely to have a serious chronic disease.

• Physical activity is four times lower for children and youth with disability than their peers without disability.

During our three-year commitment, we plan to prioritize inclusion in several ways, from our current programs, to education or helping to create best practices across the industry. We’re launching our initiative with a focus on inclusion for those with physical and cognitive disabilities, immigrant and refugee families and individuals, the LGBTQ community and for racial, ethnic and cultural inclusivity.

Current NRPA programs can easily encompass inclusion efforts. For example, in the case of Meet Me at the Park: Play Space grants, NRPA, in partnership with Disney, is funding projects that improve access to inclusive play spaces for kids and their families. Our work with Safe Routes to Parks will also incorporate elements of Parks for Inclusion, as NRPA encourages 48 Parks & Recreation

...Parks for Inclusion launched...with the goal of ensuring all people have access to the benefits of local parks and recreation. the implementation of environmental and policy changes that provide safe and equitable access to parks for people of all abilities. The Healthy Aging in Parks initiative can help to gather data on the impact of older adult programs, such as the Active Living Every Day (ALED) and Walk With Ease (WWE) arthritis intervention, on individuals with disability caused by chronic diseases, such as arthritis and diabetes. And, NRPA’s Out-of-School Time (OST) programs will utilize resources and technical assistance to members implementing Commit to Health and Wildlife Explorers programs in their OST environments to promote inclusion.

An online library of resources was created on our Parks for Inclusion website, www. nrpa.org/parksforinclusion, to provide park and recreation and allied professionals with tools and information to support inclusive activities in their agencies and facilities.

NRPA will continue to add relevant re-

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sources to the database, including any new resources that are developed specifically for park and recreation professionals.

As Parks for Inclusion continues to grow, we will expand partnerships with like-minded organizations, including nonprofit and government entities, that can provide support in resource development, evaluation, technical assistance and advocacy efforts. We already have an official partnership with Lakeshore Foundation and the National Centers for Health, Physical Activity and Disability (NCHPAD) that’s working to expand disability inclusion across the field of parks and recreation.

Our commitment to inclusion will carry through to our work on Capitol Hill. NRPA will work with national partners on joint advocacy efforts on the Hill to promote and support policies and programs for inclusive and accessible parks and recreation, such as briefings, congressional pledges and other strategies to engage members of Congress on the issue of inclusion.

NRPA encourages all park and recreation agencies to join us in the goal of an inclusive society. In addition to visiting www.nrpa.org/parksforinclusion for ways to get involved, consider connecting with a local network, sharing your message on social media using #parksforinclusion and #inclusionmeans, listening to the stories of others through the NRPA podcast Open Space Radio (www.nrpa.org/blog) and on the Success Story database (www. nrpa.org/success-stories), and pledging your agency’s commitment to the greater Commit to Inclusion campaign (committoinclusion.org).

—Maureen Acquino, NRPA’s Partnerships and Business Development Program Specialist

2017 Agency Performance Survey Now Open

T

he 2017 Agency Performance Survey is now open to accept your NRPA Park Metrics data.

When you add your agency’s data to NRPA Park Metrics, it becomes part of the most robust park and recreation agency performance database for our nation, allowing your agency and its peers to identify best practices and make informed strategic decisions for years to come. While benchmark data cannot, in and of itself, give you all the answers to the issues that may be vexing your agency, it does provide an information base from which you can make educated decisions. Use this data with your leadership, staff, external consultants and key stakeholders as you guide your agency into the future.

If your agency has not filled out an Agency Performance Survey in recent years, you can enter your data in 20 to 30 minutes. Agencies that have entered their data in recent years can update their

2017 NRPA Park Metrics data in just a matter of minutes. The online survey form allows you to “push” prior year’s data into the current year’s form. After

transferring this data, all you need to update are a few figures for the current fiscal year and you are done.

If your agency has not been keeping its Park Metrics profile up-to-date, now is a great time to enter your data with the streamlined Agency Performance Survey. Regardless of your agency’s level of participation with NRPA Park Metrics, I encourage you to view the findings within this year’s 2017 Agency Performance Review.

NEXT LEV EL LEADE RSHIP T RAINING

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This program navigates through the latest in leadership principles, including four courses on Strategic Thinking, Human Capital Management, Operational Leadership, and Diversity and Cultural Awareness. Whether you come from a large or small agency, the NRPA Leadership Certificate will prepare you to handle any decision that comes your way.

www.nrpa.org/Leadership-Development

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Parks & Recreation Crossword 1

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ŠMyles Mellor

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Down Across 1 Exercise goal 1 They keep people hydrated 2 Coffee container 6 Promise 3 Branch offshoots 8 Great recreational game played in Down Across 4 Fashionable many parks 1 Exercise goal They 9 1Origin of a keep river people hydrated 5 Financial backer 6 All-purpose, a keyword for parks today 12 Piece of lawn 2 Coffee container 6 Promise 7 Unwanted garden growth 13 Boundaries 10 Camp bed 15 8Park bench, say 3 Branch offshoots Great recreational game played in many parks 11 Type of soil 16 A while back 14 Eco-conscious 18 9Park’s allure-setting 4 Fashionable Origin of a river 17 Central area of a city, great place for 20 Zoo creature 12Able 5 Financial backer Piece of lawn attractive parks 21 to change and adapt 19 Tree that lines many streets 24 It has swells and currents 13Kind Boundaries All-purpose, a key word for 21 Tightly packed like some forest6areas 25 of tide 22 Commotion 27 Location of the next NRPA conference, 152 words 7 Unwanted garden growth Park bench, say 23 Tidy up litter 24 Possessed 30 indicator 16Direction 10 Camp bed A while back 26 Granola grain 31 Corroded, with away 28 Soggy 33 a veggie burger, say 18Have 11 Type of soil Park's allure-setting 29 Kind of grass 34 Very long time 20RunZoo 32 Golden state, abbreviation 14 Eco-conscious 35 off creature

parks today

21 Able to change and adapt

17 Central area of a city, great place for attractive

25 Kind of tide | OCTOBER

19 Tree that lines many streets

Check the answers to the crossword at www.nrpa.org/crossword. As an added bonus for completing the crossword, you can enter a drawing for a $25 Amazon gift parks card. winner be randomly selected and notified on October 31, 2017.

24The It haswillswells and currents 50 Parks & Recreation

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27 Location of the next NPRA conference, 2

21 Tightly packed like some forest areas

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.

SCHOOLS AND CONFERENCES 2018 ANNUAL CONFERENCE CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS Hot off the heels of the 2017 NRPA Annual Conference the creative juices are flowing and new ideas are in abundance for park and recreation professionals around the country. It is time to harness that energy into an innovative education session proposal for the 2018 NRPA Annual Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. The call for presentations for next year’s conference will be released in November 2017, and we are seeking energetic and engaging facilitators to lead impactful learning experiences focused on NRPA’s Three Pillars: Health and Wellness, Social Equity and Conservation. Start thinking about your proposal now, as we will be soliciting them soon!

January 14-19, 2018

March 11-16, 2018

January 28February 1, 2018

November 4-8, 2018

August 26-31, 2018 (tentative)

www.nrpa.org/education

NOV

6-7 9-10 16-17 16-17 28-29 28-29

Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin Austin, Texas Milpitas, California Margate, Florida Marietta, Georgia Anderson, South Carolina

DEC

5-6 6-7 7-8 21-22

Temecula, California Nashville, Tennessee North Miami, Florida Las Vegas, Nevada

OCT

Fullerton, California Ellensburg, Washington City of Clearwater, Florida Auburn, Alabama Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas Cheney, Washington North Miami, Florida West Palm Beach, Florida Tupelo, Mississippi Hampton, Virginia

3-5 11-13 16-18 17-19 24-26

Homewood, Illinois Jersey City, New Jersey College Station, Texas Statesville, North Carolina Phoenix, Arizona

1-3 1-3 6-8 7-9 14-16 15-17 28-30

North Salt Lake, Utah Lexington, South Carolina Columbus, Indiana Riverside, California Kansas City, Missouri Winter Park, Florida Everett, Washington

DEC

2-3 3-4 5-6 12-13 12-13 13-15 19-20 19-20 19-20 25-26

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CPSI PROGRAM

AFO PROGRAM

OCT

All NRPA Schools are held at Oglebay Resort in Wheeling, West Virginia, unless otherwise noted.

4-6

Enola, Pennsylvania

www.nrpa.org/CPSI

www.nrpa.org/AFO

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Operations How to Leverage Geocaching to Promote Park and Recreation Events

By Amy Frank

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f you’re looking for creative ways to engage your community, encourage exploration of your local parks, trails and other natural resources, and give your citizens the chance to be modern day, hometown treasure hunters, then it’s time to learn about this powerful trend in tech and engagement called geocaching. This recreational, technology-enabled hobby is helping curious treasure seekers to keep the spirit of exploration alive, and what better place to explore than your own home town?

What Is Geocaching?

Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure-hunting activity that uses global positioning system (GPS)-enabled devices to allow participants to navigate a set of coordinates to attempt to find a specific object, or “geocache,” that has been hidden in the designated location by game-makers.

The “geocache” is the treasure and the prize, but it is not the reason for playing the game. Geocachers are all about the hunt, as it gives outdoor enthusiasts a chance to explore the world, visit new places and explore off-the-beaten-path locations, all

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while testing their knowledge and skills.

For many geocaching games, when the geocache is found, it’s taken by the successful player and another geocache is left in its place in the same location. In this way, the game can be played in perpetuity.

The Origin of the Geocache Hunt According to geoacaching.com, The first geocaching activity occurred in 2000, the year GPS technology improved significantly. On May 2, 2000, at approximately 12 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, the great blue switch was flipped,

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and 24 satellites around the world were given new instructions that improved GPS technology exponentially. This resulted in an instant upgrade to tens of thousands of GPS receivers around the world and meant that anyone with a GPS-enabled device could precisely pinpoint his or her location, or the location of a specific item. Internet newsgroups bubbled over with ideas for how the new technology could be used. The very next day, computer consultant Dave Ulmer decided to test the accuracy of GPS technology. He hid a navigational target in the woods near Beavercreek, Oregon, posted the location to an internet GPS user group and challenged group members to find the item, calling his challenge, the “Great American GPS Stash Hunt.” Thus, geocaching was born.

Geocaching Opportunities for Local Government Parks and Rec Even for an activity that already has a strong niche community of its own, the opportunity to tap into the excitement of this trend has powerful implications for local government park and recreation departments. Communities across the nation are constantly looking for creative ways to encourage new and longtime residents to get out and explore their local resources. Finding creative and engaging ways to encourage exploration of parks, trails and other local resources is an ongoing challenge, especially as more and more young people are spending time on their mobile devices, and less time outside. Recent data shows that the average teenager spends more time on digital media every day than many

Americans spend sleeping each night.

Geocaching helps to bridge the divide between local outdoor activity and technology use in a meaningful and engaging way. It promotes ecotourism and serves as a lure to motivate digitally minded citizens of all ages to experience their community and connect with fellow citizen tech-lovers.

Most importantly, it shows them that there is a beautiful world of easily accessible local resources just beyond their doorstep.

plan to align your event with Earth Day. For these types of events, participants are encouraged to clean up litter that they find in parks and trails along the way while searching for the geocache. Consider focusing on litter cleanup, trail building, revegetation or the removal of invasive species. Not only do such events promote the treasure-hunting spirit, but they also stimulate community activism, nature preservation and foster a shared sense of community pride.

How to Execute a Geocaching Activity in Your Community If you’re ready to build your own communitywide geocaching treasure hunt, follow the tips below to help you get started and to execute a successful activity.

Choose Your Geocache Whatever you decide to hide as your geocache, make it relevant to your community and/or your treasure hunt theme. It also needs to be small enough to be securely hidden outdoors and be weather resistant. There are four types of geocaches used most frequently by the geocaching community: • Traditional Geocaches — Typically, they consist of a watertight container with a logbook inside. People who have found the cache log their online community username.

• Multi-Caches — These activities involve searching for at least two locations, where the first location reveals a physical clue to the next location, and so forth, until a physical container is found at the final destination.

• Puzzle Caches — An even more challenging activity, these events require players to solve a puzzle or a mystery to find the final geocache. Typically, the geocache is not located at the exact GPS coordinates provided, but within a one- or two-mile radius, and finding it requires solving a puzzle.

• Event Caches — These activities potentially offer the best opportunities for local government park and rec departments to encourage local exploration, as geocaches are hidden that relate to events and festivals.

If you’re thinking of leaving a simple object as your geocache, consider a small

Learn from the Masters Spend some time researching what other online communities of geocachers are doing to find inspiration for your rules, hidden location and geocache. A quick online search of geocaching activities will reveal plenty of communities from which you can draw inspiration.

Devise a Theme As with any communitywide event, you’ll want to brand it, promote it and make it easy for citizens to get involved. Start by deciding on a theme for your treasure hunt, preferably one that ties to your community’s brand, heritage or history.

Or, consider associating your hunt with another local event and aligning the two.

In Pueblo, Colorado, for example, the city has been annually hosting the Great Pueblo Chili Hunt Contest. The treasure hunt is part of its annual Pueblo Chili & Frijoles Festival. The citizen who finds the hidden prize (a rock decorated with branding that aligns with the Pueblo Chili & Frijoles Festival), receives a cash prize, plus four tickets to attend the festival.

You may also want to consider a Cache In, Trash Out (CITO) theme, especially if you

container with a collection of locally significant items, such as a container of rocks and sand from your local beach, tickets to an upcoming event or a winner’s trophy.

You can also consider a box of community-branded merchandise, such as T-shirts, stationery items, photos, postcards and other local promotional items.

Decide Where to Stash Your Cache If your goal is to get citizens out and exploring your natural parks, trails, lakes and other resources, hide your cache in a place that will help promote a key area, a local untapped treasure or new park addition. Consider hiding your cache at the end of a popular and beautiful local trail where successful players can appreciate the beauty of a local vista or waterfall, even if they don’t successfully recover the geocache.

Make sure your cache is securely hidden in a way so that it can’t be accidentally found and removed by someone not playing the game, but not hidden in a place that will be extremely difficult, or unsafe, for participants to find with the right knowledge and coordinates. Also, depending on the goals of your activity, you may want to involve local businesses, such as tourism offices, excursion guides and other public offices.

Set Ground Rules The world’s community of geocachers live by a code of conduct, and a set of ground rules, to ensure equitable access, a respect for property rights, safety, nature preservation, and to encourage ongoing exploration. One such rule is that geocaches must be hidden on public land, so as not to disrupt personal or commercial property. Ensure your game is devised to enable citizens to respect such rules and focus their exploring in your local parks.

Be sure to provide citizens with safety recommendations as well. Encourage all participants to seek the geocache in teams, wear proper hiking or walking gear, bring water and sun protection, a fully charged

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Operations

GPS or GPS-enabled smartphone, and make sure friends and family know where they are headed, and when they anticipate being back home. Work with your legal team for all the other important rules you’ll need to execute a communitywide contest.

Promote via all Available Channels Generate awareness, interest and excitement for your geocache event by promoting it via all available channels. Use your park and recreation software to streamline your marketing efforts, and make it easier for administrative staff members who are managing the event. Start several weeks in advance and provide information and instructions to citizens about how to sign up and participate, and what they stand to win if they are successful. Choose a designated start day for the event, which should be the first day the geocache is hidden and available to find. Throughout the event, post tips, hints, photos and promotional messages on social media and to your civic website.

Encourage participants to use a dedicated hashtag, such as the name of your event, when sharing photos and thoughts to social media.

Ask your local leaders and elected officials to get involved. Ask them to share posts regarding the event, cheer on participants, or even search for the geocache themselves. Such interactions with local leaders will help to promote civic pride and community engagement.

Crowd Source Feedback to Improve the Event in Future Years After the event has ended and you’ve crowned your first local winner, ask participants for feedback. Using direct citizen feedback to refine, improve and enhance the event, will allow you to make your event an activity that citizens of all ages will look forward to year after year.

Amy Frank is Product Owner of CivicRec® (frank@ civicplus.com).

54 Parks & Recreation

Essential Framework for Adaptive Aquatics

By Rebecca Barley, Ivy Hausknecht and Alyse Whiting

A

daptive Aquatics consists of architectural and programmatic modifications to provide services for individuals with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) outlines what these modifications are (www. ada.gov/t2hlt95.htm). It’s up to recreation professionals to implement them in each facility.

ADA Architectural Standards Architectural specifications are outlined in the ADA to remove barriers that limit physical access to all areas of your facility.

Some of these specifications include accessible entrances to the building, handrailing height, door width, pool entrances and lifts. For the complete list, visit www.

ADA.gov. Accessible pool features must be maintained in operable, working condition so people with disabilities have access to the pool whenever the pool is open to the public. For example, a portable pool lift may be stored when the pool is closed, but it must be at poolside and fully operational during all open pool hours.

Pool Temperatures The temperature of the pool can be a factor in the success of your adaptive lessons. In most cases, the ideal pool temperature for teaching people with disabilities is 89 degrees. This temperature helps with circulation, attention spans and comfort. It may be difficult to keep recreation pools at 89 degrees, so even keeping it at 86 degrees can still be beneficial. However, there are a few exceptions; for example, for people who have Multiple Sclerosis (MS), heat can exacerbate their symptoms. An ideal pool temperature for people suffering with MS is 78–83 degrees.

Program Modifications Title II of the ADA details says, “State

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and local governments may not refuse to allow a person with a disability to participate in a service, program, or activity simply because the person has a disability.” Therefore, it is our job to provide modifications to these patrons so they can enjoy our services and activities in the same way as every other community member. Always try to find a modification. Remember, equivalent isn’t everybody getting the same thing: equivalent is everybody getting what they need to be successful.

Reasonable modifications could include: • Allowing a caregiver in for free • Allowing an individual to come in during non-open-swim time if they have sensory sensitivities associated with loud noises, play features or crowds • Allowing a family member or caregiver to assist during a lesson • Allowing a participant to join a younger age group that is more at his or her functional level • Allowing a participant to use non-coast guard-approved floatation devices to increase functional ability in the pool • Providing training to staff on how to assist swimmers with special needs Modifications don’t necessarily have to cost money. Simple modifications can be immensely beneficial.

The ADA also says, “State and local governments must provide programs and

services in an integrated setting, unless separate or different measures are necessary to ensure equal opportunity.” What does this mean for adaptive aquatics? It means that we need to provide inclusive services as well as special recreation.

Inclusion Inclusion is just as it sounds: including people with disabilities in mainstream programs with their peers. This may require you to add a paid staff member or an interpreter in the lesson to ensure success for the participant. Remember, Title II of ADA Law says providers “may not place special charges on individuals with disabilities to cover the costs of measures necessary to ensure nondiscriminatory treatment.” You’ll need to find room in your budget to provide for the extra staffing. Sometimes the modification can be met by providing training to your existing staff on how to work with individuals with disabilities.

Working with parents and caregivers can also be helpful in knowing how to best serve the participant.

Special Recreation When inclusion is not possible or an appropriate fit, providing special recreation programming is an option. These programs are designed specifically for individuals with disabilities and may use different equipment and/or rule changes, and have peers of equal abilities in the activity. At Salt Lake County Parks & Recreation, we have our Otters Swim Club, which is a group-lesson program for children ages 3–18 who have intellectual disabilities. Our Adaptive Swim Club is a swim team for all abilities, including physical, intellectual and developmental disabilities. Adaptive Swim Club is designed to be equivalent to a Masters Swim Team.

Assessments When deciding if

inclusion or a

These children are participating in an Adaptive Swim Club, a swim team for all abilities, including physical, intellectual and developmental.

special recreation program is best for a participant, you can conduct an assessment. An assessment will ideally be conducted by a coordinator or instructor. The instructor should look for three specific areas when determining program placement: swimming level, behavioral concerns and physical needs.

When looking for behavioral concerns, watch for the participant’s ability to follow directions, stay with a group and any aggression and/or trigger behaviors.

Physical characteristics to watch for are communication barriers, visual or hearing impairments and mobility.

Prior to the assessment, create a written questionnaire for parents to fill out to obtain the answers to many of these questions. This questionnaire is useful to create consistency when there may be different instructors working with the participant. An example of the questionnaire can be found at https:// form.jotform.us/72495724220152.

Best Practices Teaching someone with a disability how to swim can be fun and rewarding — you must remember to be patient with

yourself and your student. Participants with disabilities can accomplish the skills you are teaching, but they may require more time to achieve those skills, and it may require you to come up with modified and creative teaching plans. It’s common for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to have a harder time paying attention for a full lesson, especially swimmers with ADHD or similar symptoms. Shorten lessons to fit their attention span or take play breaks often. Use toys and equipment, and make things fun and interesting. Students feed off the energy and attitude of the instructor.

Individuals who have disabilities are part of our communities and can greatly benefit from adaptive aquatic programs.

By following ADA standards and using creative thinking to provide modifications, you will be able to successfully provide services for all members of your community.

Rebecca Barley (rbarley@slco.org) and Ivy Hausknecht (ihausknecht@slco.org) are the Adaptive Aquatic Managers for Salt Lake County Parks & Recreation. Alyse Whiting is the Adaptive Recreation Coordinator for Salt Lake County Parks & Recreation.

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Park Bench

© The Carson City Library

Story Stroll The Carson City Library in Nevada, in partnership with Carson City Parks, Recreation & Open Space, devised a unique way to promote literacy while getting children and their parents outdoors and walking in nature. It was called Story Stroll and was part of the Get Outside the Lines (www.getoutsidethelines.org) worldwide initiative that demonstrates the creativity and innovation happening in libraries.

When Natalie Wood, creative learning manager for the Carson City Library, decided to participate in this initiative, she reached out to Dan Earp, recreation superintendent for Carson City Parks, Recreation & Open Space.

“Originally, the thought was to put the program in one of our developed parks in the middle of town,” says Earp. “But Carson City has a wide network of trails and open space, so we thought it would be a great opportunity to get kids and families to enjoy a nature experience at the same time.”

Carson River Park, with its wide, accessible trail, easy access, ample parking and meandering Carson River, was the site chosen for Story Stroll and the nature-themed bilingual children’s picture book, Colors! ¡Colores! by Jorge Luján and Piet Grobler, was selected to complement the experience.

Pages from the book were laminated, attached to the wooden stakes and placed at 100-foot intervals along the trail. Social media, one of the methods used to inform the community about the program, was also used to encourage them to engage while on their stroll by taking pictures and using the hashtags #getOTL #CCStoryStroll #IWalkForMyLibrary.

“The timing was really quite perfect,” Earp adds, “because, here, the fall colors along the river are already starting to change and the book used is all about colors.”

Wood says that overall, feedback about Story Stroll, which ran from September 10 to September 30, was positive. “A benefit,” she adds, “was that members of the community who went to enjoy the trail, not knowing about the program, had an unexpected fun activity to participate in. One challenge was the weather: a few pages disappeared on their own windy adventure.”

—Sonia Myrick, Executive Editor for Parks & Recreation magazine

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Most Dependable Fountains.................................................................. C2

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(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 Š2017 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: $46 a year in the U.S.; $56 elsewhere. Single copy price: $7. Library rate: $58 a year in the U.S.; $68 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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