Civic Groups Step into Gaps
from The Columbus Dispatch
Before Columbus, Ohio, Mayor Michael B. Coleman announced his proposal last month to close some city facilities and reduce services to help erase an expected $82.9 million shortfall in next year's budget, he shared the idea with neighborhood leaders. The impending cuts, which include the closing of 12 recreation centers and three pools, are leading neighborhoods to fill in the gaps. Joyce Hughes, president of the Weinland Park Civic Association, said the meeting encouraged her to do more. More

Video: New Skate Park Aims to Protect Young Texans
from KWES-TV
What began as a tragedy is creating an opportunity for folks in Odessa, Texas. A skating accident took a young man's life several years ago and his family is committed to building a safe place for kids to skate. "We want our kids safe," Susana Pier, The mother of a skateboard accident victim, said. A mother's mission, born out of a tragedy. More

Volunteers Are Park's Biggest Asset
from the San Francisco Chronicle
The 75,500-acre Golden Gate National Recreation Area has always broken new ground, starting with its establishment in the 1970s as one of the country's first urban national parks and continuing today with its unparalleled success in luring city dwellers. The sweeping park, home to such well-known attractions as Muir Woods and Alcatraz Island, now boasts more than twice the number of volunteer hours every year as any other national park in the United States and 40 times more than the average. More

Operation TLC˛ Making Communities Safe
from NRPA
The National Recreation and Park Association is pleased to announce Operation TLC˛ Making Communities Safe, a set of national recommendations to: attract the best volunteers to contribute to community quality of life; qualify volunteers for public service with national background checks; strengthen public confidence by credentialing volunteers with a photo ID; and ensure fulfilling volunteer experiences with effective training tools for both volunteers and staff. More

Pastor Makes Project to Improve Park
from SignOnSanDiego
Steve Babbitt walks past the brightly colored playground equipment, past a gazebo and across a manicured green lawn near the entrance of Spring Valley's Lamar Park. The 35-year-old pastor and advocate for the unincorporated community keeps walking until he reaches a wilder, far less developed area of the park. Standing near a broken beer bottle, tattered clothing and a scrap of an old cigarette box, Babbitt said this barren expanse is a magnet for trouble in an already-edgy neighborhood. More

Incorporating Parks into Revitalizing Downtowns a Tall Order
from the California Real Estate Journal
As downtown Los Angeles continues to plod along the path of becoming a true city center, few obstacles appear to stand in the way. By providing a balance of jobs and housing with numerous public transit options, it is becoming the vibrant community envisioned by planners, politicians and developers. But like many other revitalizing downtowns, it is missing a crucial element that could hamper its growth potential - parks. Park areas are typically integrated in the planning stages of a community as part of a master land-use plan. However, since these downtown areas were designed to accommodate commercial and industrial uses, parks were not considered necessary and have left today's loft dwellers in want. More

Program Gets Kids on Feet
from the Georgetown Times
Georgetown, S.C., County Parks and Recreation's Program Specialist, Ron Wofford built a partnership with Robin Lindsey's GO FAR program that got area kids off the couch and on their feet. GO FAR, a nonprofit organization, sponsors a 10-week fitness and nutrition program for elementary school students. "My whole goal is to get more kids active, to combat the rising childhood obesity epidemic," Lindsay says. More

Report: Youth Need Healthy Living, Financial Sense
from the Gazette
Prince George, Md.'s youth need to be encouraged to live healthier lives, embrace technology and become familiar with financial literacy early in life, according to a summary of a report released by the county's Substance Abuse Treatment Education and Prevention Network. The coalition, funded by the nonprofit organization Suitland Family and Life Development Corp., includes county youths and members of community and government groups. More

Helpers Offer Parents a Break
from Florida Today
Christy Small of Merritt Island, Fla., figured her daughter, Morgan, wouldn't be up for a day of steam-cleaning the floors. That's why she took her to the Kiwanis Island Community Center for Santa's Helpers, an annual program that allows parents to leave their children in the care of Brevard parks and recreation staff on the day after Thanksgiving. More

Nature Calls, but U.S. is Hanging Up
from The Associated Press via The Sun News
In the years after World War II, Americans packed up their young families and Army surplus camping gear and headed into the national forests to hunt, fish and hike. Going to the woods was part of what it meant to be an American. Today, however, visits to the national forests are off 13 percent since 2000. More

Could Cameras Catch Criminals?
from the Batesville Herald Tribune
Can more be done to protect city assets? Batesville, Ind., officials are wondering if surveillance cameras should be placed at the Memorial Pool and Liberty Park that police dispatchers could monitor in real time, Batesville Parks and Recreation Board members recently learned. Pool manager Melvin Siefert believed that facility has “the highest liability in town at night.” Member Tim Hunter said the cameras would be a cheap way “to have a set of eyes 24/7.” More

Invasive Species Management Crucial to Forest Health
from USAgNet
Beneath the woodland canopy at McConnell Springs, Jeff Stringer stands ankle-deep in winter creeper. Bush honeysuckle is within arm's reach. Neither plant in abundance is a sign of a healthy forest. Stringer and other University of Kentucky College of Agriculture researchers are working hard to find management solutions to the pervasive spread of some exotic species throughout the state's woodlands, farmlands, urban landscapes and parkland. More