April 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 14

Community Center

From the Director's Chair

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RPA member agencies in urban environments face unique challenges. This column aims to get a better sense of how the dynamic park and recreation leaders in these areas are tackling today's
weightiest issues, from climate change to urban revitalization and
funding. This month, we caught up with Herman D. Parker, park and recreation director for the city of San Diego; Keith A. Anderson, director of the
Washington, D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation; and Michael P. Kelly,
general superintendent and CEO of the Chicago Park District to ask the following question: How do you address park deficiencies in your underserved
neighborhoods and what strategies would you recommend other cities adopt?
Below are their insights.

Herman D. Parker
It can be difficult for large, established urban centers to find suitable
parkland and recreational opportunities given that their residential
communities were constructed before current park acreage standards
were in place. San Diego is no different. In our continuing effort to
address park deficiencies in underserved neighborhoods, four strategies greatly assist us: (1) partnering
with our local school districts to
provide joint-use facilities on school
property; (2) properly assessing
every viable parcel of land in the
community, regardless of size and
shape, to be used as parkland; (3)
identifying areas within open-space
lands and regional parks that can be
developed into neighborhood parks;
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and (4) using private land for public
recreational purposes.
Since 1948, the city has enjoyed
a long-standing, good working relationship with our school districts,
which has benefited our underserved
neighborhoods by providing additional park acreage. Currently, the
department maintains approximately
90 joint-use facilities and plans to develop and maintain an additional 30
sites in the next 5-10 years as part of
the Mayor's Play All Day initiative.
These facilities are used by the public, programmed as public parks and
accommodate youth sports, special
events and a variety of other recreational opportunities.
It is important to consider every
viable parcel of land in an underserved community as potential parkland. In densely populated urban
centers we must broaden our thinking and consider acquiring smaller parcels that can serve as pocket
parks that are within a 10-minute
walking distance.
San Diego has more than 41,700
acres of parkland. Of this, 26,400
acres of open-space lands and regional parks have been created to support
the natural environment and provide
regional recreation. During the past
eight years, the city looked at these

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large regional sites, evaluated their
proximity and connectivity to underserved neighborhoods and began
using portions of these sites as neighborhood parks.
Another possibility for park-deficient areas is to utilize privately
owned land with a public recreational easement recorded on the land to
allow public use of the space. San
Diego partnered with the development community and state agencies to design, through community
input, park amenities on privately
owned land that will provide for
public parks.

Keith A. Anderson
The mission of the Washington, D.C.
Department of Parks and Recreation
(DPR) is to enhance the quality of
life and wellness for D.C. residents
and visitors by providing equal access
to affordable and quality recreational
services by organizing programs, activities and events.
DPR continues to improve access to outdoor recreational facilities such as multigenerational playgrounds, spray parks, dog parks,
Wi-Fi in parks, etc. DPR also works
with partner agencies to enhance in-
April 2016 - Parks & Recreation

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