It requires a mix of prioritization, teamwork, and preemptive funding
Among many reasons, park maintenance is important to ensure the safety of public facilities, protect investments in public lands, and position parks as a source of pride for local communities. But parks departments often have to juggle preventative work with other concerns, including emergencies, staffing shortages, and the addition of new parks or other construction projects. It’s a battle the Arlington County Department of Parks and Recreation in Virginia knows all too well.
During the 2021 Thanksgiving holiday, a four-day weekend for parks staff members, two public restrooms were vandalized. The discovery forced department leaders to shift plans quickly upon returning to the office Monday morning.
“We [were] actually in leaf season mode, so my teams [were] primarily engaged in leaf removal at all our parks,” says Kasey Spriggs, Park Service Area Manager for the department’s Parks and Natural Resources division. “But because of the urgency of the graffiti and what was damaged, a few members of my team have to be taken away from doing their routines for leaf season and deal with removing the graffiti.”
These types of decisions are made frequently, especially coming off weekends or holiday periods. In these instances, it’s easy for routine maintenance to take a backseat to more pressing problems.
“It’s a balancing act,” says Fernando Buenaventura, the department’s Facilities and Construction Manager.
This raises a critical question. With all the duties and responsibilities parks leaders deal with on a daily, and sometimes hourly, basis, how can departments get everything done without sacrificing the maintenance and quality of parks?
