Parks and Rec

There are 153 posts filed in Parks and Rec (this is page 9 of 16).

Parade and Pullen

Posing after the parade


Wow, what a day! As a volunteer and boardmember with Mordecai Historic Park, I was offered the opportunity to march in today’s Raleigh Christmas Parade. This is the second year I was offered this opportunity but through a scheduling snafu Mordecai missed out on the parade. I had gotten the whole family excited about it then only to be disappointed. We were determined not to miss our parade chance this year and fortunately we were not disappointed.

We got to Mordecai around 8 AM, about 30 minutes before we were due to line up for the parade. Having gotten our costumes a week before, we were all decked out in 19th century clothes (though the timeframes varied considerably). We met the park staff and other volunteers who were participating and boarded the Raleigh Trolley for the parade.
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N&O LTE on Raleigh’s open parks

On Tuesday, the N&O printed my letter to the editor, responding to a grumpy writer who claimed that Raleigh’s Parks department couldn’t properly maintain its parks. That rubbed me the wrong way so I wrote this response.

Kudos to the editors who deftly edited my letter, creating a better one than I submitted.

The writer of the Nov. 6 letter “Dix State Park?” says that if the state chooses to turn the Dorothea Dix Hospital property into a state park it will be “enjoyed by all of the citizens of North Carolina.” While Dix’s future is still being debated, I can say that regardless of whether Dix becomes a city park or a state park it will be welcoming and available to all the citizens of our state.

Raleigh’s parks system is one of the best in the nation and continues to enjoy strong support from Raleigh’s citizens. More than that, our parks are open and available to all, providing recreational opportunities not just for Raleigh’s citizens but for those of Wake County and beyond. I invite the public to enjoy all that Raleigh’s parks system has to offer, no matter where you live.

Mark Turner
Chair, City of Raleigh’s Parks, Recreation, and Greenway Advisory Board
Raleigh

The family’s back together

It had been a challenging week for me, with the uncertainty of being unemployed and having Kelly gone all week for her work. I was feeling pretty lonely. I was happy to see Kelly again Thursday night, though, and by Friday we were our usual happy selves (with the exception of Travis, who left school early with a mild fever).

Saturday morning, Kelly took Travis to his piano lesson while I got ready for the Strickland Road Park Dedication at noon. Kelly took the kids to Hallie’s haircut while I was at the park. Afterward we went to Conn’s fall carnival.
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The Once and Future Way to Run

Here’s a thought-provoking look at how the way people are running today may be leading to more injuries than the way people run naturally when they’re barefoot.

It’s what Alberto Salazar, for a while the world’s dominant marathoner and now the coach of some of America’s top distance runners, describes in mythical-questing terms as the “one best way” — not the fastest, necessarily, but the best: an injury-proof, evolution-tested way to place one foot on the ground and pick it up before the other comes down. Left, right, repeat; that’s all running really is, a movement so natural that babies learn it the first time they rise to their feet. Yet sometime between childhood and adulthood — and between the dawn of our species and today — most of us lose the knack.

via The Once and Future Way to Run – NYTimes.com.

Drama-filled day

What a day filled with many events! On my dog walk this morning, I found a neighbor’s wallet where it was lying in the street and reunited it with its owner. I found out later that it fortunately had only been lost, not stolen.

Then at 11 I went over to an elderly neighbor’s home to discuss ways of making her home safer from some trespassing teenagers who have been harassing her lately. Together with her sons, other concerned neighbors, and our community officer, we brainstormed ways to keep this from happening again. She is a very sweet woman and expressed tremendous gratitude for my offering to help. To me it’s nothing. That’s what neighbors are for.
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Zombies for Mordecai Historic Park

Zombies
Travis and I spent the last two nights being zombies for Mordecai Historic Park’s annual Haunted Trolley rides. We were stationed in the insanely-decorated yard of Oakwood resident Jesse Jones, where we waited for the trolley to arrive. Once it did, Travis and I jumped out of the yard and worked to spook the riders.

After the second trolley went by last night, I decided it wasn’t enough to spook the riders. I wanted to make them laugh, too! Before the last trolley visit, Travis and I stopped by the house and made some cardboard signs saying “will work for BRAINZ” and “I need brains! Repeat: I need brains!” I also grabbed a bottle of Windex and a towel.

The trolley rolled up to the house and Travis and I stood statue-still for a moment. Then we leaped out with our signs (illuminated with LED flashlights – the latest zombie accessory) and hollered “braaaaaaains!” as we lurched around the trolley. Well, I lurched around the trolley -Travis lurched only as far as the curb: junior zombies aren’t allowed in the street.
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Event-filled day

I’d say a lot happened today. After I dropped the kids off at school I hopped on my bike and rode 20 miles along Raleigh’s greenways, following Crabtree Creek as far upstream as the path allowed (nearly to Duraleigh Road). After a quick shower and lunch, I hopped in the car to talk with some folks in Durham about a potential job.

Back from Durham, I got an email from the client I’m chasing, asking for details for the contract. That seemed to go well.
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Cemetery cleanup

The deadly tornadic storm (seen right) retreats after laying waste to Raleigh's City Cemetery on April 16, 2011.


The tornadoes of April 16th not only tore through several neighborhoods like the one near mine, it also tore up three of the city’s historic cemeteries. Some folks in the press have complained about the snail’s pace in which the clean-up is progressing.

The truth is that the city’s parks staff would like nothing better than to have these cemeteries cleaned up. It’s just that it’s a monumental task, if you’re pardon the pun.

If you’ve lived around Raleigh for any length of time, chances are you’ve been through one of our occasional natural disasters. The first thing the city and state does after a disaster is to seek federal assistance in cleaning up. This money from FEMA comes with requirements that the city and state must meet if they expect their work to be reimbursed. Throw in a historic designation and you add yet another layer of bureaucracy that must first be satisfied.
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Press released

In my inbox today was a request from the City of Raleigh’s public affairs department for my resume and bio. The city is apparently working up a press release about my becoming chair of the city’s Parks board and my fellow boardmember Kimberly Siran becoming vice-chair.

Of course, it would have to take a really, really slow news day for this to get into print anywhere. I’m talking like double-dog slow. Even so, it’s pretty novel for me to be the subject of a press release.

At least one news source will be covering it: my blog! Once it’s released I’ll post a copy!