Kevin Chavous
A Mayor for every neighborhood
Department of Parks and Recreation
The Department of Recreation and Parks must be a major player in the coordination of
services for our youth and families. Currently, however, we are not realizing the
potential of our 400+ recreational facilitates and on-going programs for youth, adults,
senior citizens and disabled persons and early childhood and summer recreational programs.
Currently, a mere 40 workers maintain 400 facilitates. Programs are mediocre and salaries
and morale low. Not surprisingly, I get complaints about unclean and unsafe facilitates
and staff who often do not work well with youth.
1. Strengthen the mission and administration of the Department of Recreation
Recreation departments in other American cities of similar size and complexity as the
District are taking the lead in supporting healthy neighborhoods. First and foremost, they
present recreation and the idea of lifelong physical activity as both healthy and FUN.
Their offerings are varied and their sports are professionally taught, trained and
coached. The jogger — an independent sportsperson — gets support as does a
basketball or soccer player who must have a team in order to play. The mother of a toddler
finds a good play group, while second grade students are well supervised in an exciting
after-school program.
This may sound visionary, but the reality is that the surrounding counties are already
acting out the vision. We in the District have to listen to what our residents need and
put the right programs in place.
Recreation — sports, group activity, crafts, the arts, senior activity, physical
therapy, summer camps — must be attractive, constructive and FUN. Then they become
that critical touch point at which counselors are finally able talk to children, teens and
adults that need help. We need look no further than our best public recreation centers and
our private centers like the Police Boys and Girls Clubs to see the power recreation and
adult interest and support has in the life of our youth.
Our mission is clear — fun, healthy, creative, constructive recreation programs,
safe well maintained facilities and professional, personally-committed, well-trained
staff.
My administration is committed to implementing the programs that make this mission a
realty.
II. Develop strong partnerships with the neighborhoods surrounding recreational
facilities
My administration will build on Department of Recreation's successes in its work with
communities in the Adopt a Park program. In northwest Washington, Friends of Volta Park
formed to landscape and develop programs for the park. Volta Park's use is up, important
after-school programs are functioning and the group is getting the maintenance they need
from the department. In Columbia Heights, Ruppert's Landscaping adopted the soccer field
and laid a professional sod playing field for the recreation center and Bell High school
and Lincoln Multicultural Middle School students. All across the city, when neighbors
organized and acted on their own vision, important improvements have happened.
III. Establish a high standard for facilities maintenance and personnel
As mayor, I will ensure that the Department of Recreation and Parks:
- Has professional administrators with vision and skilled in working with and facilitating
the initiatives of neighborhoods;
- Coordinates its programs with all DC agencies serving youth and families;
- Develops its mission with its neighborhoods and then locates funding from federal
programs, public/private partnerships as well as allocated funds from the District;
- Recruits and trains staff experienced in effectively working with youth; and
- Develops a maintenance plan to ensure that all DC facilitates are secure and well
maintained
IV. Preserve our parks and parklands
Many of the District's parks and parklands — open green spaces often sited by our
waterways — have been taken over by highways and developments. We are running out of
recreational spaces and places just to experience a little green. Pressures from the
federal government to build yet another memorial such as that to Franklin Delano Roosevelt
result in loss of space. In short, my administration will begin at a point when
preservation of our parkland is critical.
I fought Children's Island because it failed to provide evidence that it offered a
sound economic strategy, but also because the project failed to meet our requirements for
preservation and use of scarce land. I fought the Barney Circle project for similar
reasons.
The District has an environmental justice problem. On the east side of the District,
the Anacostia River is toxic and our parks are sites of frequent dumping. East and West,
our citizens experience the environmental problems of pollution and air quality from
thousands of commuters driving one passenger per car and ignoring Metro transportation
options. My administration will monitor and fight to preserve our scarce parklands and
will oversee clean-up all our rivers. |
