September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 39

not a basketball court. How many
baseball fields do you see with first
and second base on one side of
the park, and third base and home
plate on the other? This is an example
of hostile parkitecture.
Do you have a picnic shelter in a
largely minority community? Does
it have only one or two picnic tables
and just one grill? This infrastructure
is not conducive to holding
a simple get together, much less a
birthday party, holiday celebration
or a family reunion. You should
be providing shelters that can accommodate
large groups.
It's no
surprise why rentals of large picnic
shelters are reserved by some
of the most diverse residents here
in Fairfax County, and I wouldn't
be surprised if that was also the
case in other diverse, rapidly urbanizing
areas where many houses
and properties can't handle large
groups for get-togethers.
When you provide amenities,
specifically in local parks, do you
come out to see who are using
them? Do they look like most of
the surrounding community? If
not, that's a problem. Imagine a
largely Latinx/Hispanic community
of people who value soccer and
really want a place where they can
play pick-up soccer games. You finally
purchase a 10-acre parcel
right in the heart of that community,
and what do you build? A pickleball
complex. It will be packed.
Your user counts will be through
the roof. You'll be able to get those
who advocated for their construction
off your back. But, did you
serve the community? No.
Just because you build it and
someone
comes,
doesn't
mean
you've served that community,
you've just served a community.
Why Equity Matters
There has been some great work on
park equity done by other agencies
Just because you build an amenity and
someone comes, doesn't mean you've
served that community, you've just
served a community.
- including New York City, San
Francisco,
Minneapolis,
Seattle,
Mecklenburg County, North Carolina,
and many others. We're a mile
into a marathon that started more
than a century ago, so we need to
get ahead by learning from and
copying the successes of others. It
hasn't been easy, and it's not going
to be easy, but I'm so proud of how
far we've come, and I hope that
no matter where you are in your
career, you understand the root
causes of racial inequity in parks
and take whatever steps you can to
remove barriers to equity, whether
they're large systematic changes or
small programmatic ones. They all
matter. You matter.
Jai Cole is Executive Director of Fairfax
County Park Authority.
PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G | SEP T EMBER 2 0 2 3
| Parks & Recreation
39
PHOTO COURTESY OF FAIRFAX COUNTY PARK AUTHORITY

September 2023 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2023 - Parks & Recreation

September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - Intro
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - Cover1
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - Cover2
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 1
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 2
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 3
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 4
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 5
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 6
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 7
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 8
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 9
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 10
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 11
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 12
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 13
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 14
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 15
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 16
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 17
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 18
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 19
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 20
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 21
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 22
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 23
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 24
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 25
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 26
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 27
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 28
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 29
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 30
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 31
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 32
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 33
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 34
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 35
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 36
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 37
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 38
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 39
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 40
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 41
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 42
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 43
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 44
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 45
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 46
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 47
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 48
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 49
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 50
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 51
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 52
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 53
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 54
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 55
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 56
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - Cover3
September 2023 - Parks & Recreation - Cover4
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2025
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2025
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2021
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