As a three-time council aide, I can say that community engagement is the
predominant role of the City Council to ensure that the community’s voices
are being heard and reflected in adopted policy. With regard to parkland,
especially, the use of master planning is incredibly important so that
impacted residents have input into proposed changes of use within the
parks, along with advance notice of changes to come.
At a minimum, changes in parkland policy should always default to review
by the Parks and Recreation Board, but we should also be sending notice
to registered neighborhood associations and neighborhood contact teams,
to ensure that sufficient community conversation is occurring.
The current Parks Director has done a great job in engaging with the
community and reaching out to known stakeholders in advance of
upcoming projects. I will continue to work with her to continue this practice
and help give her the resources needed to do this.