Kimberly Kleiber, Friends of Ormond-Grant Park, explains why she loves parks at the playground ribbon cutting, 2016. park PARKPRIDE.ORG | SPRING 2017 Park Pride's Park Visioning Program Expands Impact! Park Pride is thrilled to announce that in 2017, due to the enthusiasm of supporters and the proven impact of our services, the Park Visioning Program will expand to serve the citizens and parks of unincorporated DeKalb County! Since the program's creation in 2008, Park Pride’s professional landscape architect, the Director of Park The Park Visioning Visioning, has worked with Friends of Program provides access the Park groups in the City of Atlanta to a professional landscape to imagine and design, or in some cases, architect who, with vigorous redesign their neighborhood parks. community engagement, "The Park Visioning process has will create a park master helped to engage communities as they plan that can be used to develop a collective vision for their guide park development, neighborhood," stated Alvin Dodson, raise funds, and serve as a Deputy Commissioner of the City of Atlanta Department of Parks and foundation for a park that in this issue Recreation. "We look forward to our meets the needs of the continued partnership with Park Pride." community. The Front Lines of Park Advocacy page 2 Park Visioning is a keystone program Parks & Greenspace Conference of Park Pride. Its process embodies page 3 the organization’s value of a bottom-up to the pick-up soccer player, to the stay- approach, recognizing the residents of at-home parent and the avid dog walker. Grants for the Greener Good the neighborhoods we work with as All have different ideas and hopes for page 4 experts of their own community and what their park could become, and the 2016 Impact Report: Preview giving their needs and wishes a voice. Park Visioning process calls for several page 6 public meetings organized specifically to The program is inclusive of all individuals encourage and collect feedback from the in a community—from the retired teacher, community at large. continued on page 2. ENGAGING COMMUNITIES TO ACTIVATE THE POWER OF PARKS From the Front Lines Park Visioning continued from page 1. In 2016, Park Pride welcomed of Park Advocacy Andrew White as the new Director of Park Visioning and A MESSAGE FROM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MICHAEL HALICKI Teri Nye as the Park Visioning Coordinator. The team Park Pride serves as the “voice for parks” in the City of Atlanta, quickly dove into their work, and 2017 will be a big year with many park advocacy issues at the completing a park visioning forefront of decisions that will potentially impact many city residents. effort for the future Westside It is important that all park enthusiasts stay vigilant, be aware of the park, Boone Park West, set to break ground in 2017, as well as issues outlined below and prepare to raise your voice when needed: a linear park concept known as • FY2018 Budget for the City of Atlanta – Park Pride sees an increase in the Memorial Drive Greenway the park maintenance budget as a vital issue during the annual budgeting to the east of Downtown. process, and it doesn’t always get the attention it deserves. Maintenance matters! The combined background and experience of White and • Mayor’s Race – In 2017, Atlanta will elect our next mayor. Park Pride will Nye has made, in part, the work to educate mayoral candidates and other elected officials to ensure expansion into DeKalb County they understand the importance of parks to the city as a whole and the feasible, and Park Pride looks forward to expanding the need for greater funding for parks and park improvements. impact of the Park Visioning • Atlanta City Design – The City’s plan to accommodate double or triple Program with a total of four “visionings” in 2017 across our current population isn’t just about population density; it is also about Atlanta and DeKalb. the need for open space and connections to nature to ensure quality of life as we grow and develop as a city. "We have had a great working relationship with Park Pride • Westside – Parks are a big part of community revitalization efforts on for a number of years," said Atlanta’s Westside and lay the foundation for the future of this part of Marvin Billups, Interim Director the city. These parks respond to the area’s need for more greenspace and of Recreation, Parks & Cultural address stormwater issues with green infrastructure. Affairs of DeKalb County. "We are delighted to now expand • TSPLOST – The successful passage in 2016 of the Atlanta ballot measure the scope of services Park that provides funding for the Atlanta BeltLine and non-BeltLine trails is Pride brings to DeKalb parks to only the first step. The next step is to make sure funding for trails gets a include Park Visioning." fair share as TSPLOST moves to implementation. Applications for visioning from DeKalb County Friends • Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Act – The State of Georgia can and groups are under review. Visit should play a role in supporting land conservation. Park Pride is part of Park Pride’s website in March a coalition that supports the need for matching dollars from the state to to learn which DeKalb County leverage local government funding for parks and greenspace. communities will benefit from Park Visioning in 2017. Join us in making your voice heard for the greener good! Friends of Knight Park, a City of Attend Park Pride’s monthly Park Meeting to stay up-to-date on all the latest Atlanta park, began the eight- advocacy issues and to learn more about what you can do in your community month visioning process in to take a stand for greenspace. Reach out to the Marketing & Communications February. Manager, Rachel Whyte ([email protected]) to receive monthly park Learn more about the Park advocacy email updates. Visioning Program: www.parkpride.org/we-can- Park Pride’s Park Meetings take place in a different help/park-visioning/ park around the city on the second Thursday of each month at 7:30 A.M. We’ll bring the coffee and donuts; you bring your passion for parks! 2 parkviews | spring 2017 th 16 Annual Parks & Greenspace Conference connect to the theme: the impact of an Connecting with Parks integrated park system Monday, March 27, 2017 Carlos Perez, Register today: www.parkpride.org/conference Co-Chair, Parks Parks are places of common ground, of connection, and have the potential to & Greenspace become the hearts of our communities. Parks are the threads that tie the diverse Conference; tapestry of our cities together. These connections are the focus of the Park Pride board th member 16 Annual Parks & Greenspace Conference, themed Connecting with Parks. Over the last few decades, Through conversations led by locally and nationally recognized speakers, leading cities throughout the Connecting with Parks will explore the physical and abstract connections that U.S., such as Washington, parks create through the lenses of: D.C., Los Angeles, and San • Health & Wellness • Transportation • Equitable Francisco, have realized the Development benefits that planning, designing • History • Water and managing greenspaces as • Design • Ecology systems generate. Central to these benefits is a Featured Speakers: park system’s flexibility to tackle keynote speakers Paul Morris, FASLA complex social, environmental Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. and economic challenges—such Audrey Peterman as traffic congestion, affordable Ed McBrayer housing, crime, food deserts, Author, Legacy on PATH Foundation flooding, water quality and the Land: A Black shortage—that metropolitan Couple Discovers Nancy Rigby areas face. Cox Foundations Our National Additionally, a "systems Inheritance & Tells Becky Katz approach" to park planning, Why Every American City of Atlanta design and management Should Care allows municipalities to stretch Additional Speakers: implementation dollars. That Elena Madison means a community receives Kaid Benfield Project for Public Spaces multiple services for every dollar spent on a park project, a huge Author, People Robert Rogers benefit considering Atlanta’s Habitat: 25 Ways Rogers Partners infrastructure back log and to Think about projected population growth. Greener, Healthier Thomas Woltz Nelson Byrd Woltz There is much to be discussed Cities on this topic! I invite you to join me at the 16th Annual Parks Join the list of conference sponsors. and Greenspace Conference, Contact Jane Zoellick, Development Manager, at [email protected]. Connecting with Parks, to learn more about the impact that parks 16th Annual Parks & Greenspace Conference and greenspace systems can presented by have on your daily life and the future of the Metro Atlanta area. Hope to see you there, with support from ~ Carlos Perez parkpride.org | for the greener good 3 Grants for the Greener Good Park Pride congratulates the 17 Friends of the Park groups who were awarded funding in December 2016 through our Small Change, Community Building and Legacy Grant programs. The grants, which total over $820,000, include funding for bridges and trail systems which will increase access to greenspace; playgrounds and exercise stations which will provide opportunities for physical activity; and amenities such as benches, pavilions and shade structures, which will provide Families enjoy the new playground at Atlanta Memorial Park community gathering spaces. during the ribbon cutting ceremony, January 26, 2017. Legacy Grants (generously funded by the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation) Available only to Friends groups in the City of Atlanta Atlanta Memorial Park replaced the playground (which Little Nancy Creek Park will implement phase IV of had been plagued by flooding and sewage spills) with a new, their master plan, which includes a pavilion and seating community-designed playground located on higher ground for family and community gatherings, trash/recycling and in a more accessible location.