January 2011 - Parks & Recreation - 28

Who, What, Where & how Around the Parks

From September 25-28 2011, the

39th Special
Park Districts Forum

as much on the minds of city or county
officials.

Strategies for Change
The Greek word for " strategy " means,
literally, " way of the general. " So, what
better lens than Sun Tzu's The Art of War
(written by a famous Chinese general
around 500 B.C.), to examine the strategy for creating a new special park district? This classic of strategic planning
asserts that success begins with knowing your situation-and knowing it well.
The following principles from Sun Tzu's
classic are essential for a thorough understanding of your individual agency's
situation.
First, determine the philosophy.
Make every effort to assess and articulate the political culture of your area.
Is there a history of regionalism and a
sense of regional identity, or does the political culture flow from the city or county? Remember that it is harder to create
regionalism than to take advantage of
regional ties that already exist. Evaluate
also whether there are threads of progressive philosophy in your area-of aspiring to provide services in new ways.
Or is there instead a conservative philosophy of resisting change?
Second, consider the climate.
Take into account what is happening economically and politically in your area.
Does proposing a new park district
dovetail with those factors? Also, try to
identify political leaders in your community who might champion this initiative-and discuss whether the creation
of a park district solves a current community concern. For example, is there
a piece of land that local citizens would
agree needs to be protected?
Third, discuss the geography.
Make sure you understand well the geographical area that would comprise the
proposed district. If the proposal would
mean bringing current parkland into
the new district, what would those lands
be-and how would they interconnect,
both physically and in terms of mission?

26 Parks & Recreation

JANUARY 2011

will be hosted by the Northern Virginia
Regional Park Authority.
This annual event is a coming together of
officials from special park districts from throughout
North America to explore parks and learn
best practices from each other.
To be added to the e-mail list of
interested parties, send a message to
Brian Bauer at bbauer@nvrpa.org.

Finally, determine how you are going to
fund the expansion of the land base and
development of facilities.
Fourth, decide the leadership. A
clear governance structure is critical to
success. Decide who will make up your
Board-and whether those members
will be appointed or elected. Determine
how many Board members will represent each jurisdiction and seek agreement on such important questions as
whether the Board will have term limits
or receive compensation. Perhaps most
importantly, plan how your administration will be structured.
Fifth, plan the methods. Draft a
statement of your guiding mission, including in that statement any authorizing legislation that defines the mission.
Address such issues as how operations
will be funded, whether you can get taxing authority, how much you can fund
through enterprise operations, and how
the operations will be set up. Consider, as you go about your planning, the
needs of an independent agency (e.g.,
human resources concerns, legal services, purchasing responsibilities, and
construction management).
Clearly, this is a very political process-and not an easy one. It is interesting to note that a recent survey of special
park districts shows most of these agencies were created between the 1950s
and 1970s. Larry Blackstad, chairman

www.NRPA .ORG

of Three Rivers Park District in Minnesota, observed that this was a period of
regionalism when what he called " metropolitan citizens " were especially committed to improving the quality of life in
their regions.
When the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority was founded in 1959, it
was a group of community pillars who
labored tirelessly to get state authorization. They also worked the local politics
to create an agency that would take a regional approach to the protection of open
space. In looking at the creation of other
special park districts, the names change
but the story is similar.
The anthropologist Margaret Mead
said, " You should never doubt that a
small group of dedicated people can
change the world, and that, indeed, it's
the only thing that ever has. " Mead's
words certainly apply to the creation
of special park districts. If you want to
change your own part of the world by
creating a new park district, you should
understand the five critical factors of Sun
Tzu. If you follow these principles, your
strategy will be sound-and that sound
strategy will position you to find a group
of dedicated supporters committed to
working the political process to create a
new agency.

Paul Gilbert is executive director of the

Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority.

January 2011 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2011 - Parks & Recreation