Last year was the year I became chair of Raleigh’s Parks board after three years serving on the board. It was something I could not have imagined when I started out and yet here I am.
Looking back, I did have some preparation for the role. As a boardmember I attended many of the ribbon-cutting ceremonies, I chaired my first meeting right after my election as vice-chair, and I filled in for the chair to speak at other park dedications the times he could not be present. I figured I could do the job, so why not take the next step and do it?
The year started off with a bang when, while still vice-chair, I was invited to go on the Bill Lumaye show to discuss the Parks board’s banning of smoking in parks. It was generally a hostile crowd but I held my own and made points most folks would find reasonable. The city council later approved the ban and to date there have been exactly zero incidents or complaints about the smoking ban.
Then in September I was elected chair of the Parks board. I wasn’t going to run for chair but go for another term as vice-chair but my fellow parks board members encouraged me. I was thrilled when my fellow board members put their trust in me but also wigged out once the enormity of it all began to sink in. Turns out I needn’t have worried since I’d had over two years’ experience conducting meetings for the East CAC. I do speak before City Council far more frequently now and that can be nerve-wracking (see Tuesday’s Council session for an example – I’m on around 1 hour, 35 minutes into it), but even that is getting to be more routine.
One of the best parts of being chair is all the park dedications where I get to speak. There were many in 2011, including St. Monica Teen Center, Marsh Creek Greenhouse, Millbrook Senior Center, Dr. Annie Louise Wilkerson MD Park, Strickland Road Park Dedication, the Neuse River Greenway, Pullen Park, and probably a few I have forgotten. I winged the talk at the Neuse River Greenway but felt like an idiot afterward so when it came time for Pullen I stayed up late crafting my speech. Some Parks staffers have told me they look forward to my speeches. I try to keep them entertaining.
It was a good year for serving on Raleigh’s Parks board and this year promises to be just as much fun.