Editorial published in the Journal Gazette on September 4, 2004.

The process of creating the Comprehensive Master Plan for Fort Wayne’s Parks and Recreation Department is nearing its conclusion and the Friends of the Parks would like to commend the Board of Park Commissioners for its responsiveness to the public by reconsidering the plan’s vision statements. We believe that the document is now better suited to the needs and resources of our city’s parks, and most importantly, the door has been opened for community discussion of the specific steps to be taken according to the plan’s recommendations.

Here is the position of our board regarding the plan, which has already been shared with the Board of Park Commissioners.

1. We appreciate the concept of creating and applying objective standards for park maintenance and park development. Setting standards will enable the community to evaluate the condition of the park landscapes and amenities, and will guide the day-to-day care of the parks. It is important that each park have standards applied to it that are based on the uniqueness of the space, balancing its traditional uses and features with consideration for current needs and resources throughout the entire park system. This has already happened with the three Cultural Landscape Reports for Swinney, Lakeside and Memorial Parks. The Friends will assist in any way we can to see that this type of open standard setting planning continues.
   
2. We applaud and strongly support a discussion contained in Theme Six: Economic Development; "the intangible impacts" of park, greenway, and boulevard aesthetics cannot be overemphasized, and we believe that they should be central to park planning. Whatever excellence, quality, or tradition we hope to enjoy in our parks in the future relates directly to our ability to make use of the natural and scenic resources at hand. This applies to all classifications of park property, and is even more important today than when our parks' tradition of aesthetic excellence began.
3. We disagree with the fundamental assumption in the revised plan that funding in the parks will remain at current levels. In order for the parks department to achieve its full potential, the community must be creative in considering additional public and private revenue sources over and above fee-based activity. Revenue streams to fund maintenance and capital improvements must grow. Other cities across the United States are utilizing innovative funding options and our community should be no exception. The Friends would propose that Board of Park Commissioners initiate a committee of citizens and park board members and staff to look beyond our current horizons for suitable solutions.
   
4. There is compelling justification for aggressively looking to additional revenue sources beyond the concept of pay for play. With recent national, state and local attention to the increasing gang activity, we think that it is important to attract street prone youth to activities throughout the park system. Providing youth with healthy and affordable options across the city, such as swimming pools and supervised playgrounds, costs more money, but the payoff is reflected well beyond our parks’ balance sheet.
   
5. We appreciate the plan’s concern for balance within the system. Debates concerning the balance of passive versus active park uses are largely the result of either not enough park land set aside for various needs, or an imbalance of particular uses across different districts of the city. The community still has time to set aside future park land as well as to plan for linear or greenway parks, and the park board can take the lead in identifying the properties for acquisition. At the same time, to balance the financial pressures on the system that will occur with annexation, the concept of a conservancy for the city’s older parks is a proven funding strategy that should be explored in order to reassure city dwellers that their parks will continue to be cared for.
   
6. The plan’s concept of a single committee for the limited purpose of choosing landscape architects for single projects is a great step forward but we would respectfully suggest that your board consider building on the idea by creating a committee system for the park board that can ensure accountability and continuity for a whole range of activities. The Board of Park Commissioners is only four people and, as this community has seen with the recent Foster Park discussion, could benefit in a variety of ways by including more citizens, advocates and experts in the process of decision making before it gets into the realm of “public input.”

To conclude, the Friends believe that the Park Board is positioning itself to take the lead in a number of areas: continuing the excellent Cultural Landscape Planning that it has begun for the older parks, seeking to identify land in the newly developing areas, leading the community to reinvent the way it funds the parks, and incorporating a meaningful process and committee structure into its methods of operation.

We wish the Board of Park Commissioners great success and are eager to participate and assist as the process continues to unfold.

Julie Donnell
President
Friends of the Parks of Allen County, Inc.
For the entire Board
August 27, 2004

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