Thread by @shayshinecastle

First regular biz tonight: Parks and Recreation Master Plan. Here's the staff presentation: www-static.bouldercolorado.gov/docs/Boulder_P…

Not sure what I'll tweet; I always struggle to cover master plan planning processes bc... just because. It's like all jargon and high-level stuff. Mostly bones, not a ton of meat.

I do have a few notes, though. Like this: It will cost $242,000 to complete this master plan update. Design Workshop has been contracted for that.

The last master plan update was in 2014. This work was supposed to start earlier in the year but COVID.

Parks and Rec director Ali Rhodes leading this presentation.

The dept has focused its subsidies on youth, low-income individuals and folks with disabilities, which is what the community said it wanted. (This is a little bit of background since the last update)

2014-2019
400% increase in youth served
448% increase in subsidies
211% increase in financial aid enrollments
141% in youth participation

26,000 volunteer hours in a typical year for parks and rec.

One of the themes from the last update was "take care of what we have," similar to open space, which recently switched from a "buy more!" mindset (although it's still buying some land)

Per previous stats, from 2014-2019, there was a 52% increase in the city's EXPAND programming, which is for ppl with disabilities. (Waited on that one bc I didn't know what EXPAND was)

"It's time now to look ahead to the next 5-7 years and make sure as the community's needs are evolving, so are we," says Rhodes.

To that end, there are some new focus areas/goals for the parks and rec master plan moving forward: Resilience and
Equity

Resilience means things like addressing the climate emergency, ensuring ecological/environmental sustainability and financial sustainability

Equity priorities include Homelessness, Access, Affordability, Demographic Changes

For example, Boulder could do something like Vancouver did/does: ID’d equity zones

What are equity zones?
Areas w/o park access in 10-min walk or less than .55 hectares of park land per 1,000 ppl
Urban canopy gaps (less than 5% canopy coverage)
OR
areas with 3X demand for parks and rec services

I'm skipping ahead a bit but that's what's interesting to me. Staff is going over the public engagement plan now.

ohhh.... that might include a mask design contest. HERE for it.

Some more of what the public engagement / master plan update will include:
Updating the 2012-2014 white papers (research, data, etc.)
Four stakeholder focus groups will be set up in 2021 to ID “on the ground trends”

Engagement Window #1 (Early 2021) develop awareness and interest

Engagement Window #2 (March-April) statistically valid survey, targeted micro-engagement, including with youth

Engagement Window #3 (summer-fall) Developing recommendations

Engagement Window #4 (early 2022) Making and communicating decisions, including presenting the draft master plan

Two study sessions in 2021 (Q2 and Q4) with adoption in Q1 2022

First council q: Do you like this plan for engagement?
No feedback, so that means yes.

(That was a q for council, to be clear)

Q for council #2: Any input? And "if capacity becomes limited, what method should be the focus?" (Method of public engagement, I think. And capacity = staff capacity to do the work, I think.)

Many questions about questions. It's a real "Who's on First" situation going on here.

Brockett: "It's hard to say what you should drop if you run out of time and space." But hearing from under-represented communities "is very important. Certainly I wouldn't drop those."

Young echoes that. "I really don't know what you should drop should things become tight. But I suggest if things start looking tight, you should come to council and make some suggestions" about what you think should get cut.

We touched on key themes for the master plan earlier with Resilience and Equity (new themes). Here are the carryover themes:

Community Health and Wellness - Parks & rec provides measurable health benefits, from direct contact with nature and a cleaner environment, to physical activity and social interaction

Taking Care of What We Have - Ranging from daily operations to the large capital projects that are completed each year as part of the Capital Improvement Program.

Financial Sustainability - Balancing expectations from the public within existing resources, recognizing the limits to public funding and the need to focus on core services.

Building Community and Relationships - Parks & Rec promotes a healthy community and addresses social and cultural inequities through access.

Youth Engagement and Activity - Parks & Rec actively engages youth with parks, facilities and programs.

Organizational Readiness - Parks & Rec fosters a highly effective workforce that will positively impact the community’s health and quality of life.

I realize I'm just copying and pasting text from the presentation, which is overkill and maybe not all that helpful. I'll switch it up and add context/quotes instead.

PRAB (Parks and Rec Advisory Board) and consultants helped ID some of the Resiliency and Equity themes, says parks and rec staffer Jeff Haley.

Want to know more about PRAB and what it does? (Or, from the earlier thread, CLAB?) I've got a Local Gov't 101 piece for you! boulderbeat.news/boulder-101/lo…

Next q for council: Thoughts on themes

Yates (who started his political career on PRAB): There are "perennial problems" when it comes to equity and access, including what we do with fees for residents vs. non residents. "How are you going to strike that balance?"

Rhodes: We did a research brief on resident vs. non-resident fees. How do other ppl do it? Are we doing it in a way that makes sense? "I would say we know a lot more than we did in 2014."

Rhodes: We know "when and where it makes sense" to charge non-residents more than residents.

Yates: There was a big push in 2009-2010 around fee recovery and scaling down or eliminating programs that don't pay for themselves. What's changed in the last 10 years? Is it OK to have "cash cows" subsidize other programs, or do we need "full fee recovery" from every program?

Rhodes: We asked that q in 2014, and the community said if it benefits the community, the community should pay. That's why we're careful with our subsidies.

We will ask that q again this time in our public feedback, she says.

Swetlik: I'm interested in "intersectionality" of these issues. Some things — fire fighting, cleanup of encampments — those costs get "spread out" across budgets. "I want to look at those holistically."

"If we're not gathering this data and looking at it holistically — we have this problem with our master plans — we won't truly know when we're helping everyone by solving one problem," he says.

Great point. Never have I been so impressed by a man with a backlit couch.

Of course, I have never been impressed by a man with a backlit couch.

Friend: What's our outreach plan for ppl experiencing homelessness?

"I've been sort of surprised in my time on council how much parks and rec overlaps with (issues of) homelessness."

Haley: "That's a huge topic on our minds. ... We collaborate a lot with other dept. ... We'll be reaching out to a variety of staff, service providers and organizations in the community."

Young: You guys didn't mention public health in the themes... "How does public health and the effects of COVID, for example, fit within that resiliency category? And how can it be addressed?"

Haley: It certainly fits in there and we'll certainly be adding it into that topic.

Rhodes: It ties with resilience and equity. We recognize that racism is a public health crisis.

We'll be hearing more on that soon, apparently.

Or right now. Regina Elsner handling this.

The dept will be looking for a few outcomes from its equity focus:
Improved access
Framework for culturally relevant offerings
Metrics

The master plan will be using the racial equity assessment developed by/for the city. We'll hear more on that later tonight, in our next discussion.

Resilience really means two things when it comes to parks and rec: Surviving climate change and related disasters (drought, flooding, fire) and supporting the resilience of PEOPLE / the community as a whole.

What does the latter mean?
1. Build a sense of community that brings all people together as stewards

2. Create places where everyone belongs and that have opportunities for shared experiences among all

3. Increase access to nature and create environmentally friendly places easily reached by walking, biking or transit

4. Encourage additional investments in neighborhoods

Brockett: You are thinking about access — do community members have equal access to parks and rec facilities — but we need more "nuance" : what ages and incomes have access to what kinds of facilities? Are they allowed to be there?

Provide more details on what each demographic is looking for and "where the gaps are," he suggests.

Weaver: I think council isn't saying much bc the last master plan was so successful.

Weaver: We're seeing the payoff from some investments like the sugary drink tax, which funds health equity. That includes some parks/rec programs (like paying for rec center passes for lower-income residents)

Weaver: We're already talking about the planning reserve, which has land set aside for parks and rec. We need to be thinking about that.

Friend: Has parks and rec thought about / been asked to weigh in on the CU South annexation?
Haley: Yes. Our community in some respects views that as "one big park"

That wraps this topic. @threadreaderapp please unroll. Thank you!