It was a great year to be chair of Raleigh’s Parks board. In February, I led what I consider the best meeting I’ve ever led. The energy I from these kinds of meetings will leave me giddily bouncing off the walls for hours. It’s a shame that I get good at this right before I have to turn it over to someone else.
I did get some good park dedications this year, some of which I probably didn’t blog about. In April, I gave what was arguably my best speech at the Neuse River Greenway dedication. I followed that up with a speech at the synthetic field dedication at the WRAL Soccer Complex. Though there wasn’t much of a crowd at this one, it was special because my parents got to witness it.
I also spoke at the Hill Street Neighborhood Center Dedication in January, the Chavis Carousel Dedication in April, and attended the Marshall Park dedication in May.
The big, contentious issue this year was a proposal to limit the areas in parks where dogs are allowed. I was interviewed by Bill Leslie on WRAL’s morning program about this issue and met with citizens to collect their input. The board passed a resolution at November’s meeting which I think is a good compromise.
My term as chair officially ended in September but the board did not attain a quorum, which meant I served a month longer than most chairs. Finally I turned the gavel over to Kimberley Siran at the October meeting and resumed my regular-guy seat at the table.
It has been a true pleasure serving as chair for two terms and vice-chair for a term before that. We’ll see what future opportunities come my way.