Parks & Recreation

1927-2010: Remembering Bill Bird

SERVING ZN OCCUPIED JAPAN after World War II, a young soldier named Bill Bird was inspired by the Japanese talent for making use of scarce public land, In fact, his imagination was so fired by the experience thai he changed his career path from engineering ?? landscape architecture, Bird would go on, , after a senes of jobs with small parks departments in Texas, to become the director of Florida's Miami-Dade County Parks and Recreation in 1977, Under his 16-year leadership, Miami-Dade County ...

A Call to Service

NRPA is currently seeking potential candidates for the following leadership positions: * Chair. (citizen, currently serving on the Board of Directors) * Chair-elect (professional, currently serving on the Board of Directors) * Secretary (citizen or professional, currently serving on the Board of Directors) * Treasurer (citizen or professional, currently serving on the Board of Directors) * Citizen Directors (3 elected for 3-year terms, 2 appointed for 1-year term) * Professional Directors (2 ...

A Salute to Parks & Recreation

The agencies üot only accepted the challenge but demonstrated their support and. commitment by providing outstanding programs, "The Army is honored to recognise these civilian agencies for adapting and modifying recreation programs to facilitate greater participation by wounded warriors and their families," .said Janet MacKinnon, ACSIM Recreation Program.

All the Way Home

Coordinating and Linking The critical leadership that park and recreation employees can offer becomes even more important once an action plan is launched. Because park and recreation departments tend to be the most visible agencies in the community," Polehna says, "they are crucial for coordinating activities and unking people together.

America's Backyard Photo Contest

City of Henderson Parks and Recreation Department

The City of Henderson Parks and Recreation Department serves the community with 52 parks; inore than 60 linear miles of trails; seven full-service recreation centers, including a new state-of-the-art facility for adults 50+; 11 pools, including the LEED Platinum certified Heritage Park Aquatic Complex; five skate parks; two sports complexes; 43 tennis courts; Acacia Demonstration Gardens; and the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve, a National Wildlife Federation certified wildlife habitat site.

Founding Principles

Working toward their common goal of advancing all aspects of the park, recreation, and leisure services field excited Dr, Brightbill, whose contagious enthusiasm motivated us, Upon graduation, I joined the nascent NKPA and attended early Congresses where I found that I could learn so much from practitioners, volunteers, and exhibitors, I determined to make parks- and recreation my professional goal. [...] I was fortunate to study therapeutic recreation aï New York University with Edith Ball,...

Free Speech T-Shirt Sales at Park District Zoo

[...] in 2007, the City passed Tacoma, Washington, Municipal Code § 8.27.090 which provided: "No person, except duly authorized concessionaires, and those having a specific permit, shall sell or offer for sale in any park any goods, refreshments, photographs, or other articles," The constitutional challenge brought by Higher Taste, however, was limited to Metro's Resolution 40-05 and the City's ordinance, § 8.27.090, was not included the litigation. According to the court, when the sale of m...

From Sandpit to Manatee Sanctuary

Steve Pohlman, the director of Cape Coral Parks and Recreation, says, "Since funding for new parks depends a lot on impact fees charged to new construction, it is not so easy to fund new projects." Because of the grants the city managed to obtain, the total cost of the Sirenia Vista park was only about $4,000.

Fully Connected

Recipients of the 2010 National Awards included: * National Distinguished Professional Award- William Koegler, Oglebay Park, Wheeling, West Virginia. * NRPA National Humanitarian Award- Chris Clifford of Gloucester Point, Virginia. * Robert W. Crawford Young Professional - Guy Smith, chief of poperations for Milwaukee County Parks. * R.Q.S.E. Award- Jack Kardys, director of the Miami-Dade Park and Recreation Department. * Barb King Environmental Leadership-Evonne Sandas, director of golf for ...

Happy Holidays From the National Recreation and Park Foundation!

The NRPF is a SOICcJ(S) organization supporting research and public awareness of the economic, social and physical value of parks and recreation in creating healthy families and communities for all populations to include educating and reaching the underserved, through grants provided to NRPA (e.g., Environmental Stewardship and Play Summits; Parks Build Community initiative with Marvin Gaye Park) .

High, Rugged, Vast, and Vibrant: Five Parks Conceived to Defy Traditional Boundaries

Scheduled to open in 2012, the park will cover the below-grade Woodall Rodgers Freeway to offer Dallas residents three blocks of urban green space, It will connect the city's Arts District (currently bisected by the freeway) and provide a recreational hub for both Dallas residents and visitors to enjoy. Atlanta's BeltLine In 1909, an architecture graduate student named Ryan Gravel wrote his master's thesis about his dream for the 34 miles of rail encircling the city of Atlanta, The nimbus of...

Holiday Parks, Recreation, and Conservation Facts

$172,000 The approximate cost of setting up a public ice-skating rink in warm, sunny Florida. http://www.ocala.com/article/20101020/ ARTICLES/101029972/1402/ NEWS?p=2&tc=pg 23,000 The number of Christmas trees turned into rnulch at 80 New York City locations by the city's parks department last January.

I Resolve

Editor Any time an organization can take a hard, honest look at itself and resolve to make things better is a good day. To understand the field better, by interacting more with readers and by reading up on the subject matter as much as possible. 2.

Midterm Review

Among the four focus points of the initiative is ' 'increasing physical activity in schools and communities, On April 9, 2010, the White House convened a special meeting to discuss the next steps in implementing the President's Executive Order on Childhood Obesity, where the First Lady said in her opening remarks, We know how difficult it is when parks and playgrounds are competing with video games and social networking sites.

Much Needed Evidence

According to a recent study, for every dollar invested in afterschool programs, taxpayers save an average of $6 in crime costs. Pleasure travel is a business driven by the public sector, and park and recreation agencies are central to that business. [...] in most communities, park and recreation agencies are the engines of tourism.

National Recreation Inclusion Conference

Excellence in Inclusion Awards, honoring people, organizations, and programs who have rendered service to the inclusion process, were presented to Mark Bowland, community services manager for Kansas City, Missouri, Parks and Recreation, and the Park District Risk Management Agency (PDRMA) inWheaton, Illinois, Guided by the principle that recreation is a primary building block for individuals, Mark works diligently to advocate for the people of his community and ensure that recreation is provi...

Nrpa's Best New Member Resource Is Right at Your Fingertips

At present, the following categories are available for browsing: * Accreditation * Codes and Ordinances * Environment & Conservation * Financial Management * Fundraising * Operations & Administration * Planning * Playgrounds * Program Guides * General Programming * Research * Risk Management * Trails * Volunteers The Knowledge Center offers much more, however, than a collection of answers and information.

Playground Equipment Goes Techie

"Throughout 2009, our designers and engineers worked closely with experts in the fields of play and occupational therapy, autism spectrum disorders, adaptive recreation, and accessibility to understand the sensory development of children and develop an entirely new class of Sensory Play products for the playground," said Pat Faust, president of Landscape Structures, This year, five new products were designed to provide rich tactile, proprioceptive, vestibular, visual, and auditory experiences...

Product Roundup

Outdoor Waste Receptacles Manufactured of durable steel with vandal-resistant features, Witt containers complement existing site furnishings in outdoor locations such as stadiums and arenas, parks and recreational facilities, and city streetscapes, The Stadium series features heavy gauge steel with powder coatings in a variety of colors or it can be custom painted. The patented Slip-Hitch system automatically and continuously adjusts the plow to the pavement grade, while mechanical side pane...

Recreation Afloat

Security by Design

The city had already made it a point to obtain user input and, involvement from groups ot various ages for the design so that the users of the new skate park would have a sense of ownership, However, another element was inherent in the design of the skate park from the start - crime prevention. According to Sczuroski, other safety policies park managers should consider are traffic calming measures and landscaping designs that consider the future effects of mature trees on lighting installati...

St. Paul Pool Turning Green

Along with the solar heating system, other environmentally friendly features of the new pool complex will include occupancy sensors for lighting efficiency, low-flow fixtures for water efficiency, skylights and use of natural light, highefficiency mechanical equipment, rain gardens and infiltration basins, native plant species to minimize irrigation needs, on-site chlorine generation for pool sanitation, and variable frequency drives on all pool pumps.

The Grass Is Not Always Greener

Among the major findings of the study were that the average life cycle costs over 20 years of a natural grass field are 15 percent higher than synthetic alternatives, even when factoring in a replacement synthetic turf field during that time, As for environmental impact, turf fields compared similarly to natural grass fields capable of only half the playing tune availability per year. [...] in terms of consumption of raw materials, even the best natural grass alternatives use about twice the...

The New Face of the Nrpa

Board members can no longer just read their packet of materials on the plane on the way to the meeting - we expect them to be engaged for at least part of every week with NRPA issues and policy discussions via the website.\n Thus, today you have a national Board that is representative of all the members of the association without any particular allegiance ?? the membership component groups. A Positive View from the Outside John Fierro is chief executive officer of the Mattie Rhodes Center in...

Thoughts On Park Development

Olmsted and Moses also shared a number of development objectives; providing easy access to any park, endowing it with a discernable, convenient circulation system, ensuring that there were popular attractions for park visitors, and developing facilities that would be sustainable for generations.