June 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 43

recreational programs, " Garges says. The citizendriven planning process led to the passage of a
$250 million bond in 2008 for acquiring land and
creating and upgrading parks and recreation facilities (although the borrowing is on hold now because
of the county's fiscal difficulties.)
" Although Charlotte and Mecklenburg had a
good working relationship, and even before consolidation tried to do comprehensive planning in a
way that spread out parks and recreation services
fairly evenly, with consolidation it happens not by
happenstance, but by design. It doesn't depend on
relationships, " says Marvin Billups, Deputy Director
of Parks and Recreation in DeKalb County, Georgia,
who headed Charlotte's park department at the time
of the merger.
Springfield-Greene County has had a similar experience. " Going into the countywide park system
really helped the county and the region start planning in very smart-development type standards, "
Adams says. " We were working under the premise
that it was important to have parks and open green
space throughout the county and to preserve our
beautiful nature resources. "
Adams is a big believer in consolidated systems. To her, the main challenge is " making sure
you understand and know both governments, what
are their procedures, rules, and laws, " which is far
outweighed by the advantages of efficiency and the
ability to do comprehensive planning. " When you
create a city-county system you cannot go wrong, "
she says. " It will pay long term-benefits if you have
a strong park system and it develops a high quality
of life. People will want to live in your city. People
will want to work in your city. People will want to
play in your city. "

Easier Said than Done
Even in some areas with consolidated or regional
park agencies, such as Prince George's and Montgomery counties in Maryland, individual towns
have chosen to maintain their own park and recreation departments. These are typically more affluent
communities that can afford the increased services

residents want. In recent years, Miami-Dade Parks, which covers the
unincorporated parts of the county
(but not the city of Miami), has seen
an increase in the incorporation of
towns seeking to provide a higher level of service and greater responsiveness to the needs of their
communities.
In fact, the issue of local control is one of the largest obstacles
to city-county consolidations, making them " very, very hard to pull
off, " Fry says. Citizens like to approve commissions to study mergers, but then vote down most of the
plans the commissions propose.
Louisville voted against consolidation three times before finally approving a metropolitan-area
government in 2000. In New Jersey, Princeton Township and Borough are conducting a fourth study
of consolidation within several decades, Fry says.
Opposition to city-county consolidation often
comes from the residents and elected officials of
the urban core, who fear that if the balance of power shifts to the county, their services will deteriorate.
But many experts on urban issues counter that concern, noting that a regional approach is necessary
to solve the problems of inner-city poverty, and that
consolidation helps revitalize cities.
" There's a lot of merit in continuing the discussion about consolidation, " Garges says. " There
are excellent examples around the country where
park districts and city-county agencies work and
work well. But will it work everywhere? I think it
really depends on the area and what the people
want. "
✹

Above: In the
planning process for
merging the park
systems of Charlotte,
North Carolina,
with Mecklenburg
County, citizens told
government officials
they wanted more
neighborhood parks,
more regional parks,
more greenways, and
more recreational
programs.

ANNE SCHWARTZ is a writer based in New York City

specializing in environmental topics. She is a frequent
contributor on parks for the Gotham Gazette.

www.NRPA .ORG

JUNE 2010

Parks & Recreation

June 2010 - Parks & Recreation

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