* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
INTRODUCTORY*
CITY OF BALTIMORE
COUNCIL BILL R
(Resolution)
Introduced by: Councilmember Welch
A RESOLUTION ENTITLED
A COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning
title
Greater Community Involvement in Recreation and Parks Project Planning
FOR the purpose of urging the Department of Recreation and Parks to reevaluate the process it uses to plan and prepare projects in neighborhoods throughout Baltimore with an eye toward finding more ways to involve community groups in that process as early and often as possible.
body
Recitals
Many City services are more or less generic in nature - throughout Baltimore roads must be paved, trash picked up, and fires put out, all in much the same way from neighborhood to neighborhood. Many other services are highly particularized, how they are provided must vary a great deal in approach in different areas according to each community's unique characteristics.
Much of the work done by the Department of Recreation and Parks falls into the latter category. For example, a neighborhood with many young children may desperately need a playground in a nearby park, while one with mostly elderly residents might prefer a garden in a similar space. Some communities need recreation centers that focus on academic subjects and support, while others are best served by having a space to host youth sports leagues. From the outside, these needs may not be obvious to planners focused on the City as a whole.
Despite the intensely local factors that go into a neighborhood's recreational needs, some community groups have complained that the City sometimes uses a one-size fits all request for proposals (RFP) process better suited to city-wide repaving projects to plan and bid-out park or recreation center projects. This kind of a formalized, centrally directed, process can leave communities feeling like their needs are not being taken into account.
Too often, a community first learns the details of a project when an RFP is issued. When this happens, neighborhood groups can be surprised by the RFP's contents. This in turn can lead to confusion and conflict that makes the process unnecessarily long and difficult, and undermines the chances of a project that meets the community's needs coming to fruition.
To avoid this, a better job needs to be done of involving communities in planning recreation and parks projects in their neighborhoods well before formal steps are taken. Neighborhood groups should be routinely consulted before RFPs are issued, and included in the RFP process, to ensure that the goals of projects align with what the community wants and expects. Making sure that a community both feels like it is part of the process from the beginning, rather than an afterthought expected to sign off on a project conceived elsewhere, and genuinely understands the nature of the process as well as why particular requirements must be included in formal RFPs, is essential for arriving at the best possible outcome for the community in the most efficient manner.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That the Council urges the Department of Recreation and Parks to reevaluate the process it uses to plan and prepare projects in neighborhoods throughout Baltimore with an eye toward finding more ways to involve community groups in that process as early and often as possible.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be sent to the Mayor, the Director of Recreation and Parks, and the Mayor's Legislative Liaison to the City Council.
dlr11-0063~intro/05Dec11
ccres/RecRFP/tw
dlr11-0063~intro/05Dec11
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ccres/RecRFP/tw