TRENDS

Illinois Members of the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration Look Towards the 21st Century
Part One

Illinois is privileged to have more members belonging to The American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration than any other state. Illinois members include Dr. Joseph Bannon, Dr. D. James Brademas, Ronald H. Dodd, Joe H. Doud, Robert D. Espeseth, Dr. Ted Flickinger, Dr. William McKinney, Ernest W. Nance, Rhodell E. Owens, Michael S. Pope, John C. Potts, Dr. Alien V. Sapora and Robert F. Toalson. The Academy recently published 21st Century Management, a publication covering the thoughts and comments of Academy members regarding park and recreation services in the 21st Century. In this and the next issue of Leisure Review, we will feature excerpts from Illinois members.

If we review the past 10 or 20 years, we can see the issues and themes that will emerge in the early 2000s. In general, there are six areas of major concern that will affect most public and private organizations and that will shape the park and recreation field in the next few years.

1. Ecological and environmental constraints and implications, including resource depletions and pollution.

2. Demands from racial, ethnic and homosexual groups for power and involvement in social and organizational decision making.

3. Decreases in fiscal and economic resources available to human-service organizations, including inflation and economic slow-ups.

4. Changes in the labor force, its number, consumption, values and aspirations, including changes in unionization.

5. Public concern with ethics and behavior in businesses and professions, including the quality, necessity and cost of goods and services, as well as decreased productivity.

6. Impact and role of technology, including the responsiveness of technological inventions to human needs, protection of individual privacy and the impact of technology on natural systems.

Our generation, and certainly those that follow, will have to come to terms with the consequences and actions of previous generations. At times, these consequences seem likely to overwhelm us. We must recognize the wide variety of options we actually have and take advantage of them.

Joseph J. Bannon
Professor Emeritus
Department of Leisure Studies
University of Illinois

Gambling and riverboat casinos are bringing in billions of dollars; lottery prizes are growing bigger and bigger; beer, wine and liquor sales have never been better — yet we are told there is no money for public leisure service programs at either the local or university levels. Where does the money go? It goes to the products and services best advertised and to where special lobbying groups pressure it to go.

Are we in leisure services doing our best to advertise? Do we in leisure services have our lobbying groups in place and functioning? Have we effectively made a case for leisure services? I don't think we have, and unless we do, we will face greater problems than we now have by the year 2000.

The high-tech crowd does well. NASA and the super collider are well financed, which means less money on the state and local levels. University departments of engineering and computer science also do well, while departments of leisure studies face budget cuts or elimination.

The Los Angeles Times defines happiness as "a warm report card." In their analysis, the United States had As in Wealth and Things, but a D in Leisure Time and only a C+ in Health. And here we are in leisure services — ready, willing and able to provide the services that contribute to As in both Leisure Time and Health, yet we go largely unnoticed.

It is time we mounted an effective, aggressive lobbying campaign with all levels of government and the general public to inform them what it is we do if we want our profession and its services to be, not just viable, but dynamic by the year 2000.

Jim Brademas
Associate Professor
Department of Leisure Studies
University of Illinois

Illinois Parks and Recreation 30 November/December 1993

The 21st Century brings a new attitude toward public agencies and with it, increasing restrictions that will force a proactive strategy if we are to survive. With reduced annual operating budgets and taxing limitations that have been enforced, plus an unsettling economy, the level and quality of services that meet the needs of the total community may be in jeopardy. Public leisure service agencies can no longer be driven by past priorities of taking on every cause. We need to examine our mission, determine our roles and understand our limits of involvement.

Our profession has learned many important lessons from the business community and has incorporated successful techniques to enhance the delivery of leisure services. During harsh economic times, businesses who still continue to survive and prosper apply the simplest lesson of all, going back to the basics. First, they identify their potential pool of consumers, their market. Then they tailor their services and products to meet the needs of their consumers. Finally, they create partnerships and networks with other companies that mutually contribute to success. As a result, businesses that meet the needs of their consumers are rewarded.

Unfortunately, the formula for success for public leisure service agencies is not so simple or clear cut. We have successfully applied a number of business techniques that have enhanced the financial and management outlook of our organizations. However, unlike the businesses we readily borrow from, we have a broader, deeper responsibility to be the catalyst and caretaker for positive social change. Public leisure service agencies must be responsive not only to generate revenue, but must also commit resources to address social concerns. We are mandated to provide services to our total community regardless of their ability to pay.

The time is upon us to realize that the community as a whole has ownership of its problems and responsibility for its solutions. Public leisure service agencies do not have the capacity, manpower or expertise to act as the primary provider for all segments of society. We should not deny responsibility, but position ourselves to become the facilitator.

Rather than ignore the problems that our resources alone cannot address, we should take the opportunity to train people to become self-reliant and spark change in their local surroundings. The key to creating momentum for change lies in community mobilization. The basis of community mobilization is the unshakable belief that powerful coalitions create lasting, positive change.

Ronald H. Dodd
Director
Joliet Park District

At this time, I have quite a different view of the future of parks and recreation than my professional counterparts, and I am concerned with the profession's future. Without strong public support and needed legislation, the survival of many agencies is questionable. If I sound like the voice of doom, my lack of enthusiasm stems from recent action by cities in some states to dissolve entire park and recreation departments, cut budgets drastically and assign the care, maintenance, upkeep and programming to other municipal divisions with untrained, unqualified personnel, and certainly individuals who may lack the same dedication as those currently serving the leisure field now.

In an era that is going to see increasing leisure hours, it is of the utmost importance to protect and ensure funding for the provision of programs and facilities to guarantee the quality of life to the residents we serve. This can only be done by launching a strong national effort to promote and secure necessary legislation, followed by a forceful and active campaign by national and local professional organizations that lends credence to the park and recreation profession and the unique talents of those involved in that profession.

Prudent action taken now by the various national and state park and recreation organizations, coupled with cooperation and support from all local agencies, can greatly impact the future of parks and recreation. My hope is that everyone involved in the leisure field will join together to reverse this trend and brighten what I see now as a bleak future.

Joe H. Doud
Executive Director
Northbrook Park District

As the American public becomes more concerned with quality of life issues, i.e. clean water, clean air, reduced use of chemicals for many uses and other environmental indicators, I am personally pleased to see an increased focus on the preservation and enhancement of very limited natural resources in urban and suburban areas.

I foresee the continued emphasis on establishment of green- ways, linear recreation ways, environmental corridors or whatever terminology one might wish to use to describe these unique systems. This is not, of course, a new phenomenon, but a rebirth of the basic concepts that were used in the establishment of many of the early park systems about the turn of the last century, and now we are looking at the turn of the next century.

The early systems used the linear concept to preserve waterways and their flood plains, geological areas of a linear nature, lake shores and woodland strips, which often penetrated into the heart of a city and helped to shape the development and character of the city.

The old adage "what goes around, comes around" is certainly true in the rebirth of the linear concept in park system planning. I like to think of the rebirth of many waterfront areas in our urban areas as "a sequential use" of a valuable natural resource. We have often seen the land go through a sequence of uses such as from residential to business, to industry, to transportation and now to recreation and public use through waterfront revitalization. We are using our linear riverfronts and lakefronts as entryways and welcome mats for the communities rather than the dumping ground and location of the foulest of industries when communities turned their backs to these wonderful water assets.

The park and recreation profession must be more proactive in the whole environmental area if we are to have an educated and informed society. We must foster an environmental ethic that reflects our dependence upon ecosystems of which man is an integral part. At every level, from national parks to community parks, we must focus on education of our many publics to the importance of preserving the biodiversity of unique areas and to recognize our connection to the rest of life; past, present and future.

Robert D. Espeseth
Associate Professor
Department of Leisure Studies
University of Illinois

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Illinois Parks and Recreation 31 November/December 1993

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In contemplating where the field of parks and recreation should be headed as we enter the 21 st century, it seems that we are faced with two overwhelming and opposing goals for the future. On the one hand, a more global and competitive environment will force public parks and recreation to substantially reduce the proportion of tax dollars comprising their total budget. The increasing cost of operations, coupled with little taxpayer willingness to invest in public sector services, will cause tax funding to be even scarcer than it is today.

Simultaneously, parks and recreation professionals feel responsible for situating their agencies in the broader social milieu and for being central in the leadership and solution to the real problems facing society today. The real dilemma is in the desire and ability to improve the quality of life for our citizens without sufficient resources to address the issues.

Recognizing the constraints of this paradigm, park and recreation professionals should:

1. Reposition our agencies as champions of the natural environment and move toward the "greening" of our cities and the protection of natural areas.

2. Form partnerships with education, social service and economic development agencies to fulfill our traditional obligations in serving the economically disadvantaged.

3. Develop cooperative programs in sports medicine, cardiovascular and physical rehabilitation, exercise and aerobic conditioning, diet and nutrition counseling and become the leaders in the prevention of illness rather than the cure.

4. Move quickly into computers and telecommunications and adopt participant- friendly information and registration systems that tomorrow's customers will readily expect.

5. Assume a leadership role for the value orientation of our constituencies. Concern for quality of life, humanitarianism, the ecological ethic and the economically disadvantaged, are all values that the field of parks and recreation was founded upon and should continue to emphasize.

Leaders in park and recreation must develop partnerships and strategic alliances that will simultaneously address primary goals while reducing dependency on tax support.

William R. McKinney Department Head Department of Leisure Studies University of Illinois

Illinois Parks and Recreation 32 November/December 1993