Mount Paran Northside Citizens Association

What’s At Stake? PARKS, PARKS and MORE PARKS!

Oct 22, 2004

By Ceasar C. Mitchell
Atlanta City Council Member, Post-1 At-Large

First article in a three-part series.

As a young boy growing up in Atlanta, parks were central to my existence. Parks were spaces where organized sports provided me with physical activity, a sense of teamwork, and a feeling of accomplishment. Parks were also the places where I swam in public pools almost every other day during the summer ?—Tucson Park on the west side and Candler Park on the east side. Oh the joy! During the school year, West Manor Park and Recreation Center was my ?‘babysitter?’ from 3:00PMto 6:00PM. My father was an Atlanta Police officer and my mother was an Atlanta Public Schools teacher. Both were dedicated to their calling, and neither was reluctant to go the extra mile for the citizens they served. That meant long days for them. So West Manor Park was my parents?’ best friend. Parks activities kept me and my brother engaged, away from the negative influence of the streets, and safe from mortal harm. They were at the center of my world as a youth. As an adult, parks still are important to me as they are a place to congregate with family, be entertained, and engage in physical activity. Atlanta has a number of great parks and recreation centers. But as Atlanta continues to grow, we must commit to making a greater investment in these public assets, and initiate a plan to create more of them.

Atlanta ranks near the bottom tier of comparable cities in terms of the greenspace amount reserved for parks. From an environmental standpoint, Atlanta has been designated as a ?“non-attainment?” area by the Environmental Protection Area. Also, it is painfully clear that we remain squarely in the crosshairs of our clean water obligations. Further, our Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs has an annual budget of approximately $10 million dedicated specifically to the maintenance and operations of our parks and recreation centers. Compared to the City of Chicago?’s Park Authority with an annual budget of nearly $350 million, our entire general fund budget of just over $450 million appears laughable in comparison. There must be a better way.

In 2002, Mayor Shirley Franklin astutely convened a well-intentioned group of greenspace experts and business leaders to evaluate and make recommendations to improve our city?’s parks. This group recommended the creation of a park authority as the best way to enhance investment in existing greenspace, expand the number of public parks, and ensure a consistent commitment to greenspace management. Fundamental to this new approach would be the creation of a sustainable public-private partnership. However, the proposal was met with considerable resistance by the City Council for various reasons which included both substantive and technical objections.

The impetus for the disagreement between the Council and the Mayor actually originates with a state law that only allows the state legislature to create a quasi-governmental authority, even if such entity has purely a local purpose. The park authority legislation as initially drafted included several appointments by state officials to the park authority board, and no such appointments by the Atlanta City Council. Many Council Members felt that, beyond being dubious policy, the creation of a park authority was essentially a land?—and power?—grab on the part of State government. Other Council Members, including myself, while having some concerns regarding the role of State government, did not ascribe purely untoward motives to the drafters of the park legislation. We objected on the grounds that the creation of an Authority for the purpose of owning, controlling, managing and expanding our parks is a policy issue of seismic proportions, and as such should be the subject of extensive education, discussion, input and debate on both the City Council and neighborhood level. Plus, there were simply too many unanswered questions and unexplored options. For example, is a park authority necessary, or would a parks foundation or citywide conservancy suffice? Could we utilize the Atlanta Development Authority or the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority to accomplish the same purpose? Would a business enterprise or special revenue fund within city government meet our needs? Needless to say, the Council sent a clear message by flatly rejecting the proposal as being at least premature, even over the Mayor?’s veto.

But should the half-baked discussion have ended in an apparent stalemate? Absolutely not. As policy makers we owe the citizens of Atlanta much more than the spectacle of uninformed diatribe. We are obligated to hear the arguments, understand the issues, ask the right questions, and devise opportunity-based policy. Plus, we must include citizens in the process.

Toward this end, I convened a number of neighborhood activists, government officials and business leaders to take a trip to
Chicago in order to learn more about park authorities first hand. My goal was to resuscitate the policy discussion related to our parks in a manner indicative of Atlanta?’s collaborative and inclusive spirit. Just recently, this same group, which has become a steering committee of sorts, met to begin the process of devising a plan of action for engaging City Council and the community in a productive parks discussion. This group has committed to work aggressively over the next several months to take this issue to the people. I predict that this group?’s efforts will prove useful as we create concrete measures and methods for better managing and expanding our city?’s greenspace.

The stakes are high. Cleaner air, clearer streams and higher quality parks for Atlanta?’s citizens all weigh in the balance.

So stay tuned.

Great Parks: Good Medicine For Youth
second in series?—next issue of Citizen?’s Review