REFLECTIONS ON THE RECREATION AND PARK MOVEMENT

By David Gray and Donald A. Pelegrino, eds. Wm. C. Brown Co. Publishers, U.S.A., 1973, pp. 370.

Reviewed by Richard Mansell, graduate student, department of leisure studies. University of Illinois.

A collection of some seventy articles (mostly reprints from the official publication of the National Recreation and Park Association-Parks and Recreation) comprise the contents of this book. Because of the wide range of topics covered, this book might well be used as an introductory text for incoming freshman enrolling in a recreation curriculum. However, it would be necessary to do a careful revue of the articles in order to select those most fitting to the intended course.

A number of outstanding people in the recreation and park movement have articles in this book. Besides the editors, such noted people as R. Kraus, G. K. Douglas, I. J. Hutchinson, W. G. Bennis, J. S. Shivers, J. Pomeroy, M. Mead, W. G. McNamara, J. E. Curtis, A. Farina, T. L. Goodale and many others are represented in this text. Unfortunately due to the brevity of the articles many are neither informative nor delve very deeply into their subject. The book as a whole gives the reader a feeling of a few of the issues facing those associated with leisure service delivery systems. Unfortunately, the reader often finds himself reading through four or five articles (of maybe three to six pages) all outlining the identical issue or problem. Finding oneself sufficiently aware of the issue, the reader anticipates reading a subsequent article which will attack the problem from a different angle or delve a little deeper (maybe even begin to discusss some alternate solutions). Unfortunately the follow-up articles fail to materialize.

In stimulating some thought and awareness, the book is generally successful in three areas: 1) Inner City—a number of articles discuss the plight of the inner city dweller and suggest a number of avenues which recreation personnel might pursue with regards to this issue; 2) The Physical Environment—a number of authors challenge one's traditional concepts of park design and one's general philosophy of land acquisition and use; 3) Clientele —the book sensitizes the reader to the needs of two age groups—youth (teenagers) and the elderly. The authors who wrote on these groups appeared to be both empathetic and aware of their clientele but again due to the shortness of the articles the reader is left with the feeling that there is much more to be gleaned from these writers.

The articles pertaining to programming in general, the social environment, philosophy, professionalism and policy management came across as either extremely elementary or as the presentation of an exhausted lecturer hoping to elicit a response from an audience who agreed with him before he began.

In conclusion, I would recommend the book for two purposes: 1) for someone, relatively ignorant of the dimensions of the recreation and park movement and who would like to become acquainted with some of the issues and concerns of those in the profession; and 2) as a resource book for professors teaching a first year university course in recreation.

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During October 1976, Dr. Joseph Bannon, Head of the Department of Leisure Studies U. of I., spent 12 days in South Africa as a consultant to the Ministry of Education, Sport and Recreation. The purpose of his visit was essentially to advise Provincial (State) officials in developing comprehensive planning for the development of local recreation services.

Dr. Bannon's itinerary included the cities of Johannesburg, Capetown, Pretoria, Stellenbosch, Potchefstroom, and Prays. Discussions were held with the faculty of the Universities of Potchefstroom and Stellenbosch, and a highlight of the visit was a 3 hour meeting with South Africa's 'Mr. Sport,' Dr. Danie Craven. Dr. Craven, South Africa's commissioner of Rugby has long been considered a world authority of rugby.

During the period Dr. Bannon was in South Africa, the South African government announced that country's new sports policy which allows for multi-racial teams in international competition.

Dr. Bannon's trip was wound up with a two day conference on Recreation Research at the University of Stellenbosch.

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Officials of the City of Urbana were ordered to halt attempts to investigate a charge of discrimination leveled against the Urbana Park District.

A Circuit Court judge ruled that the city's Human Relations Ordinance, which bars discrimination in the hiring, firing and promotion of employees, is not binding on the park district.

The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the park district to halt a hearing scheduled by the city Human Relations Hearing Board to look into a charge of discrimination.

In a lengthy explanation of the reasons behind his ruling, the judge discussed the arguments made by attorneys for the city and the park district.

The park district attorney argued that the park district essentially was an equal of the city government, and was not subservient to the city's power and that any power the district might have over the city was abridged by the fact that the park district extends outside the city.

Because of the boundary issue, the judge said to allow the city to regulate the district's hiring would grant the city improper "extraterritorial" power.

He also stated the park district's management of its employees could not be "compartmentalized" within the city when the employees worked throughout the district.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 22 July/August, 1977