ACROSS THE BOARD

It All Started with Citizens

The crusade for public parks and open space began with legions of
ordinary citizens who had extraordinary foresight.



ip9709061.jpg
Dr. Ted Flickinger
IAPD Executive Director

The modern public park and recreation agency must be broad-based and "citizen oriented" to meet the needs and demands of today's concerned and sophisticated residents.

From the construction of Central Park in New York to the Boston Playgrounds to Chicago's Lincoln Park, ordinary citizens have been instrumental in the development and preservation of land for public use in America.

The playground movement in this country was started by citizen involvement to advance safe and creative areas in our urban centers for the children to play. Because these people believed that it is in the public good to spend leisure time in open green space, they devoted untold amounts of time and energy into the creation of a wonderful park system throughout our state and nation.

The American park system is unparalleled throughout the world. Our park districts and forest preserves were created and have prospered because unpaid volunteer board members have continued the tradition of giving their talents, skills and resources into improving quality of life.

Citizen board members not only make park and recreation policy, fight for legislation and financial support, but they also keep their districts vital, accountable and socially responsible to the public. Board members say that donating their time eventually becomes a habit and enriches their own lives substantially. Serving on a park district or forest preserve board can be demanding and time-consuming. But, it can also be one of the most rewarding experiences, for it repays the individual, not in dollars, but even in rarer attributes—the gratitude of the community and inner peace that comes from voluntary public service.

Today, our communities' needs for park and recreation services are increasing much faster than board members and staff can adequately fulfill them. More citizen involvement has helped park districts and forest preserves keep up with the needs of the community. In addition to the five to seven board members, citizens serve on advisory groups, "friends" of the park, or foundations to provide a volunteer base of support.

There is another more basic reason why park districts need strong citizen involvement. Quite simply, service is the hallmark of our profession. Recreation, like education, by its very nature is close to people. It's a people-to-people relationship. It's a grass-roots experience that grows from the needs and interests of those who participate.

By involving people directly and actively in our recreation and park services, we are creating understanding and appreciation for our work. We are also producing the community decisions and support we need to improve and expand our programs, facilities and services,

Not only are volunteers vital to the work of park districts and forest preserves because of limited financial resources, but also because volunteer citizens' interest, knowledge, support, and action are the lifeblood of top-quality park and recreation services. It is in the community where the recreation interests and needs of all people, regardless of age, sex, race, creed, social or economic status, are best weighed and served.

If the park and recreation movement is to continue its forward thrust for greater services to all people, and finally be a top priority at all levels, we must truly capture people's interest, ideas, energies and support. The modern public park and recreation agency must be broad-based and "citizen oriented" to meet the needs and demands of today's concerned and sophisticated residents.

Citizen involvement and volunteerism is the backbone of American society. Volunteer citizens do care about their communities and their park and recreation services. It is up to you, the board members and professionals, to ask them to become involved as a volunteer; then, to provide the atmosphere, training and support to make their experience successful and satisfying to them personally.

Serving park districts or forest preserves as a commissioner, advisory council member, volunteer in programs, or on a foundation board is recreation for thousands of Illinois residents. They are "taking time for fun," while experiencing democracy at its very best in the pursuit of happiness.

6 / Illinois Parks and Recreation


IT ALL STARTED WITH CITIZEN

An Early History of Parks

Asians are the inventors of the park, says Luise Gothein, in her 1913 book on the history of garden art. Specifically, the author credits the Asian clan called the "Sumerians," a people even more ancient than the Egyptians.

As evidence of the park idea, the author cites the Sumerian story "Epic of Gilgamesh," which was pieced together from inscribed tablets excavated in Mesopotamia. The Gilgamesh story predates the writing of "Genesis" of The Bible and, therefore, it is the oldest story known to mankind.

In her book, Gothein excerpts part of the story and notes that there is no enclosure by wall or fence that differentiates parks from woods. Following is Gotheins observations:

All the same, this cedar wood of Humbaba's, so realistically described with its straight, cared-for paths... and its bushy undergrowths and sweet- smelling plants, is a forerunner, the kind of starting-point for the park of history.

The author traces the western Asiatic parks from the vineyards and fish ponds of the Sumerian King Gudea (about 2340 B.C.) down through the Hanging Gardens of Babylonia (about the ninth or tenth century B.C.). She continues past the introduction of flowers in the parks in the seventh century B.C. and concludes:

This park is in its first intention is the spectacular scene for a great man's hunting ground, but is secondarily the place where feasts are given and where assemblies and audiences granted to great princes(ses) take place.

Public parks and open spaces played a very important part of life in classical Greece, where groves were dedicated to gods and temples often had a garden close by or attached. Xenophon, a Greek leader, brought back with him an admiration for the Persian kings' pairidaeza—pleasure-gardens of shrubs and blossoming fruit trees from which we take the word "paradise."

Julius Caesar bequest to the public his own gardens in Rome and this is one of the earliest recorded private endowments to open spaces for the public.

The word "parc" or "park" originally meant an enclosure containing animals for the hunt. London's ten royal parks, like the big Paris parks, were once either part of the king's hunting force or the grounds of royal palaces. Today, things are different, and those areas that were once the delights of lords are now the delights of the people.

It was not until parliamentary committees in the 19th century began urging sound Victorian benefits to the health of working men that parks began to be built at public expense to help alleviate the effects of the industrial revolution.

It wasn't until the middle of the 19th century that the United States developed its first large urban park, Central Park in New York City. New Yorkers had to use the parade grounds at Battery for their leisure pursuits until landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted created Central Park in 1853.

Olmsted and Calvert deBaux created nearly 50 major parks in the United States including Prospect Park in Brooklyn, the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, Riverside in Chicago, Fairmont Park in Philadelphia and Franklin Park, as well as the original parkway system in Boston.

Early Milestones
in the Park and Recreation Movement

2340 B.C.
Parks were created by the Asian clan, the "Sumerians"; vineyards and fishponds of the Sumerian King Gudea

9th and 10th century B.C.
Hanging gardens of Babylonia

7th century B.C.
Flowers introduced in parks

44 B.C.
Julius Caesar bequest to the public his own gardens in Rome

16th and 17th centuries A.D.
British and French royalty design parks for hunting grounds and palaces

19th century
Victorian era begins the use of public parks to benefit the health of working men

1853
The United States developed its first large urban park—Central Park, in New York City

1872
The United States established Yellowstone National Park, the first national park in the world

September/October 1997 / 7


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