Parks and Rec

There are 153 posts filed in Parks and Rec (this is page 11 of 16).

Discussing smoking in parks on WPTF

Perry and John in the WPTF studios

I was invited by guest-host Perry Woods to appear on the Bill LuMaye show on WPTF to talk about the proposed smoking restrictions the city of Raleigh is considering for its parks. I spent my lunch hour Thursday chatting about the proposed rule with Perry and his other guest, John Hood from the John Locke Foundation.

I’d never done an in-studio interview before and was a bit nervous at the start but overall I think I sounded credible. It was difficult making my points in-between the huge number of commercial breaks but I enjoyed it more than I expected.

You can listen to my portion of the show here:


MP3 File

Yates Mill and smoking

Smoking is prohibited in this park

We did get around to visiting Yates Mill today and had a great time. About the time we were wrapping up our visit, I asked a staff person inside about the park’s smoking policy.

He told me that the park generally does not have an issue with smokers ignoring the rule. Most are understanding when he’s had to explain it to them but occasionally some get angry. He said he doesn’t want to appear to be the bad guy and usually explains that rules are rules.

He said that the park staff usually don’t bother people who smoke in their cars. He admitted that the rule against is hard to enforce but most people seem to understand. He thought people bringing dogs was a bigger problem, as dogs are also not allowed in the park.

It was my impression that most people do seem to understand, as the park was positively spotless! I didn’t see any trash anywhere during our multiple-hour visit. Even on the mile-long Creekside Trail there was no trash (cigarette butts or otherwise) anywhere to be seen.
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Smoking in Parks interviews


As I mentioned yesterday, I did two interviews for the Smoking in Parks (in addition to the News and Observer’s).

The News 14 interview with Jessica Cervantez was posted yesterday afternoon and came out nice with the exception that my name was not mentioned during the interview.

The WPTF interview came out well, too. The interviewer took perhaps 3 minutes of my time to discuss the issue and didn’t ask any biased questions. I spoke calmly and with authority, which I think conveyed that this issue is no big deal. I was even impressed that our Voice over IP phone connection sounded fantastic. The clip aired during their next top-of-the-hour news update, where their newscaster repeated nearly everything I had said verbatim before playing the clip of the rest of what I said.

I laughed when the newscaster twice referred to me as “Councilman Turner” on the air. I admit I liked how it sounded, though!

Highlights of 2010: Parks board

Lions Park Playground Dedication

This year marked the start of my second term on Raleigh’s Parks, Recreation, and Greenways Advisory Board (a.k.a. PRGAB). Service on this board has led to an amazing set of friendships and a greater understanding for all our Parks department does.

It has been challenging but rewarding work. The board meets every month, and each member is also expected to serve on one or more committees. My committee of choice is to act as liason to Mordecai Historic Park, which is a mile away from our home.
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City council considers smoking ban in parks

The Raleigh City Council is considering a recommendation from the Parks board to ban smoking in city parks. Ray Martin of the News and Observer wrote a story about it that ran today.

My quote:

Mark Turner, vice chairman of the board who presided over that meeting, said littering was the board’s chief concern.

“We don’t have the resources to clean up all the cigarettes,” Turner said. “If people can’t be responsible, this has to take effect.

“I think there’s also a big health benefit of the ban, but I’m the kind of guy who does not like making health decisions for other people.”

Considering the circumstances I’m pleased with the interview. Ray caught me literally minutes before we walked out of the house for our New Year’s trip. I was racing around to find last minute items as I talked with him. I’m surprised I sounded somewhat coherent.

One thing I would like to point out is that for this issue it was about litter for me. Other board members might have different concerns but for me it was litter. Ray writes that “littering is the board’s chief concern,” but I don’t know that to be the case. I was only speaking for myself and I tried to make that clear.

Since the story ran today I’ve spoken with News14 Carolina and WPTF. We’ll see how those turn out.

Parks and Recreation chases away cabin fever

This morning as we were waking again to a yard filled with snow, I watched admiringly as Kelly and the kids paged through the latest edition of the Leisure Ledger, Raleigh Parks and Recreation’s guide to its activities and courses. Making plans for springtime courses seemed an ideal way to chase away the onset of cabin fever.

Raleigh is so very fortunate to have such a high quality parks and rec department as the Raleigh Parks and Recreation department. Its activities are a wonderful way to chase the winter blues away.

News media latches on to smoking in parks issue

I’ve always wondered why the news media constantly fails to cover the happenings of Raleigh’s parks department and its board. Parks is a huge city department and Raleigh’s abundant parks are enjoyed by so many citizens that it’s easy to assume that a reporter would be present at the board meetings. Such is not the case. In the two years I’ve been on the board, the only reporter I’ve seen at a meeting is the Independent Weekly’s Bob Geary, who was there when the board discussed the Honeycutt Creek greenway route.
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Smoking in parks

My ire for littering is well-known. It annoys me to no end that some smokers think the world is their ashtray. Anytime I see some careless bastard tossing a cigarette out their window, I send their license plate number to the NCDOT’s Swat-A-Litterbug page, resulting in a nastygram being mailed to them from the highway patrol. I’d venture to guess I’m one of their top litter reporters.
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Chaired my first Parks board meeting

Tonight I chaired my first Parks board meeting, one meeting after I was elected Vice Chair. The Chair, Jimmy Thiem, is on vacation this week.

And it was a doozy of a meeting, too, with a controversial action item: a proposal to ban smoking in Raleigh Parks. After some debate and discussion (and lots of work by our Smoking in Parks committee), tonight the Parks board voted unanimously to recommend banning all smoking in city parks.

I received several emails on the topic, all in favor of the ban. I’m sure there are other folks with differing opinions but they were nowhere to be found.
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