October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 26

ADVOCACY

Opportunities and Threats in Washington
By Stacey Pine and Dave Tyahla

Y

ou may have heard of the term " SWOT " when it comes business planning. It stands for " Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats "
and refers to how you analyze and plan a project or venture. We'll leave
the exercise of finding and identifying any " strengths " and " weaknesses " among
the current political workings of our nation's capital to the scholarly experts. The
focus of this message is to show how the situation in Washington does pose clear
and present " threats " and " opportunities " for parks and recreation.
In early September, Congress returned from its month-long recess
faced with a pressing global policy
issue, namely, the Syrian conflict.
That issue, like many others, caused
great political divide between the two
chambers and the two parties, which
resulted in much debate over whether the U.S. should intervene and use
military force in Syria. As Congress
grappled over what to do abroad, it
also faced two domestic time bombs
that needed to be addressed before the
end of September: bridging the huge

24

Parks & Recreation

partisan divide over federal spending
for the next fiscal year (which begins
October 1st) and raising the nation's
debt limit. A failure to act on either
measure would result in a government shutdown.
At the time of this writing, a government shutdown had not been completely averted, but many Hill staff
were optimistic that we would not see
a shutdown in the near future. Putting
the threat of a shutdown aside, there
is still much work for Congress to do.
Specifically, domestic policy issues,

| O C T O B E R 2 0 1 3 | W W W. N R PA . O R G

such as finalizing the FY 2014 spending bills, immigration, tax reform and
reauthorization of the national agriculture program (known as the Farm Bill),
demand attention and are indicative of
a political climate where Congress has
a lot of work to do, but regularly fails to
gain the consensus necessary to address
the important issues that face our country. While Congress may be in a hurryup-and-do-nothing mode, when it does
act, it does so very expediently - often
passing bills in the 11th hour and with
very limited debate. Additionally, the
legislative process impressed upon us
as children through the School House
Rock " I'm Just a Bill " cartoon seems to
have become the exception rather than
the norm. Now, legislation is generally
brokered and developed at the very top
level of Congressional leadership and
not through the typical process of in-



October 2013 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2013 - Parks & Recreation

October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 1
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 2
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 3
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 4
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 5
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 6
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 7
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 8
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 9
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 10
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 11
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 12
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 13
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 14
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 15
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 16
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 17
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 18
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 19
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 20
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 21
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 22
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 23
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 24
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 25
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 26
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 27
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 28
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 29
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 30
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 31
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 32
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 33
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 34
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 35
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 36
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 37
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 38
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 39
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 40
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 41
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 42
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 43
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 44
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 45
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 46
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 47
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 48
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 49
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 50
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 51
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 52
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 53
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 54
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 55
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 56
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 57
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 58
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 59
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 60
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 61
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 62
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 63
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 64
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 65
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 66
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 67
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 68
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 69
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 70
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 71
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 72
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 73
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 74
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 75
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 76
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 77
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 78
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 79
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 80
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 81
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 82
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 83
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 84
October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 85
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2012
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2012
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2012
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2012
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2012
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2012
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2012
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2012
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2012
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2012
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2012
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2012
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2011
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2011
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2011
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2011
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2011
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2011
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2011
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2011
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2011
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2011
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2011
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2011
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2009
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2009
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com