Private partners can play a strong role in maintaining and improving our public parks. An outstanding example is APF’s annual It’s My Park Day, which has been instrumental in engaging thousands of citizen volunteers in sprucing up these important public spaces each spring, including myself on occasion.
At the same time, I want to be sure that the city does not diminish or supplant its own support and responsibility for our public parks, nor do I want to see any of our public parklands turned over to unaccountable private entities. To be clear, I do not support commercializing our parks in any way – no Coke logos on our swing sets, please!
As mayor, I would direct the city manager to review current policies regarding public-private partnerships for parks and bring forward recommendations for Council action to strengthen and improve these, to ensure our policies are clearly delineated.