Why we run

Jane Adams and Kirsten Trimble are running for two of the open seats on the Carbondale Park District Board of Commissioners.

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A great city needs great parks. Alexander Garvin, in Public Parks: The Key to Livable Communities, writes:

 

Parks, under responsible stewardship, become more beautiful and more satisfying as they mature. ... Parks  play a major role in enhancing well-being and improving public health, incubating a civil society, sustaining a livable environment, and providing a framework for urbanization.

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For many years the Park District has operated on a shoestring budget and the condition of our parks has deteriorated. In 2018, the City decided to take back maintenance of the Piles Fork Greenway and trail because the Park District failed to maintain it. The issue has moved front and center as the Park District's leases of other City-owned parks have expired. It has spurred the City Council to consider seeking to manage the Park District's operations (see the advisory referendum that will be on the April 2 ballot).

 

The Park District's budget is stretched so thin that the current FY 2019 budget allocates no money for capital improvements: 

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• No funds to repair to the roof on the gazebo at Turley Park, which leaks and will soon rot the structure. 

• No funds for new lawnmowers for Hickory Ridge Golf Course - the best golf course in the region. 

• No funds to repair the potholed roads at Evergreen Park or Marberry Arboretum and the eroded Aboretum trails.

• No funds to stabilize or repair the crumbling Life Center. In fact, last August the Park District Grounds, Facilities, and Recreation Advisory Committee recommended closing the Life Center by the beginning of FY 2020 -- next January. But the question of closure has not yet been on the Board of Commissioners agenda. 

• No funds to make the major repairs needed to the house and grounds at Hickory Lodge, once a jewel in the Park District crown.

• No funds to clean up the Derecho debris at Oakdale park and to develop trails and other amenities that would make this park a valuable asset to the surrounding residential neighborhood.

 

The Board of Commissioners must take a hard look at its priorities. It's time for a new Comprehensive Parks Plan.

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The City is interested in reducing duplication of services and assuming some or all of the Park District's operations. We believe that this might provide a partial solution to the current situation. 

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We promise seriously to evaluate the costs and benefits of merging City and Park District operations, while keeping the Park District as a policy-setting taxing body.