November 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 6

pe rspecti ves

A Message from NRPA's Leaders

Stand and Deliver
It's time for the Administration and Congress to do the right thing.

rankly, I'm disappointed. I thought this Administration and this Congress

would have done more to bring federal funding and resources for parks and
recreation to our cities, counties, and states. But we are nearly two years into
this Administration and two years into a new Congress, and there simply isn't much
to show for their efforts.
Take the Land and Water Conservation Fund,
for example. While legislation for full and dedicated LWCF was moving forward, NRPA secured
an amendment that would have placed into law a
requirement for equal distribution of funds between state and federal sides of the program. This
is a huge issue for us, as currently state side programs receive less than 20 percent of LWCF funds
while federal programs receive over 80 percent
of funds!
Our efforts were blocked, however, when the
Department of Interior asked the sponsor to withdraw his amendment. We want this Administration
to stand by its commitment to see more funding directed to the states and localities who are delivering
on the goals of this Administration: namely, promoting physical activity, reducing childhood obesity,
serving urban populations, and conserving vital
land and waters.
Another example is the stimulus package, a.k.a.
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Nearly $800 billion was approved by Congress in a rush
to get our country back to work by making investments in local economies and jobs. At a critical point
in the deliberations of how the funds could be used,
a few senators unilaterally decided that it was impermissible to use stimulus funds for community parks,

zoos, museums, or other legitimate public works
purposes. No matter that such use of stimulus funds
was entirely defensible and would have truly contributed to creating and maintaining jobs and local
economies-spending stimulus funds for these purposes was called " frivolous. " How can rehabilitating
urban parks and playgrounds to give underserved
kids a safe place to play be called " frivolous? "
And finally, take the issue of funding for urban parks-where is it, and why isn't there any?
Despite a clear recognition in Congress and the
White House that more needs to be done to meet
the needs of our cities and urban communities, especially providing close-to-home parks, trails, and
recreational resources for populations most at risk,
there has been no action for years by either Congress or the Administration to provide direct, reliable federal investments in urban parks.
True, we are in one of the biggest recessions
since the Great Depression, but that is no excuse
when the health and vitality of our nation is at risk.
We have those solutions to solve critical national
problems-and the solutions are right here in our
backyard, in our parks and playgrounds. It is time
for Congress and this Administration to stand up
and do the right thing. We as citizens expect no less
from them and we will not rest till they do.


Barbara Tulipane
CEO
4

Parks & Recreation

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November 2010 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November 2010 - Parks & Recreation