With the help of The Indianapolis Star’s Editorial Board and the Friends of Holliday Park, Indy Parks and Recreation hosted a unique public forum recently at Holliday Park. This was the first forum bringing together residents, our friends groups, the Indianapolis Parks Foundation, and teams of Indy Parks staff from across divisions. It followed articles and letters in The Star from citizens voicing their ideas and thoughts and weeks of preparation and organization by Indy Parks staff to engage the public in breakout sessions to hear its concerns.

It is clear the passion for parks is strong. Our parks have deep roots in the community and serve our neighborhoods well. The stories of past stewardship and involvement by citizens always energize the staff, who work hard to build upon the history in our parks. As we reach out proactively to engage ideas, we can glean great insights from our community.

As has been highlighted in the press, we have significant challenges with deferred maintenance and capital projects. We need to connect with the public as well as with private and corporate partners to address these challenges. We have made a great start by increasing grant and foundation involvement as a catalyst to move the department forward. There is no greater friend in this effort than our own Indianapolis Parks Foundation, headed by Cindy Porteous. The foundation has launched multimillion-dollar campaigns for our parks and greenways. Companies such as Citizens Energy Group and Brightpoint Inc. have been leaders in investing in our family centers, while organizations such as Ivy Tech Community College-Central Indiana and Rupert’s Kids have joined us in sustainable partnerships that assist our budget and advance our mission to enhance the quality of life in our community.

It will take years of patience and persistence, but this recent public forum showed how positive energy and ideas for change can lead us down the right road to reconditioning and elevating our park spaces, from our physical buildings to our natural corridors.

It was encouraging to hear a diverse set of perspectives. Staff teams created focus groups that allowed everyone attending a chance to add ideas, debate solutions and build upon key topics for parks. Topics included new revenue, education, outreach, maintenance, advocacy, park amenities, and communication. We gathered input on programs while looking for new ways to engage the public and businesses that benefit from our park system. Indy Parks staff did an excellent job of actively listening and capturing comments, which we will be sending to participants for follow-up.

Public meetings are not new to parks; we perform them often and capture notes in our comprehensive and master plans. But as we come out of one of the deepest recessions in history, with challenges around budgets and city infrastructure, making sure we raise awareness of the value of our parks and the promise they hold for the future is key to our success.

This isn’t the end of the conversation. We are now working with The Star’s Editorial Board to plan a second community forum for early next year. Look for more details to come on that event in the weeks ahead.