"The Big Green Easy" Parks and Recreation Master Plan, by Scott Howard, NOLA Parks for All

 Dear Mayor Cantrell, City Council Members, Park Partners, and others,

I am writing on behalf of NOLA Parks For All, a local non-profit parks advocacy organization that has been a strong advocate for the adoption of a parks and recreation master plan. We are thrilled that the City has now completed and published The Big Green Easy Master Plan that will govern the city’s green spaces for years to come. The plan was funded by a $433,000 grant from the National Park and Recreation Association, executed by Design Workshop (a top national park-planning consultant), and guided by significant community input.  We urge each Council District Office and the community organizations in those districts to familiarize themselves with this plan and how it affects their neighborhoods. We also urge City Council formally to adopt the plan. 

The plan includes 205 pages of information, suggestions, and strategies.  Parks For All has compiled into a three-page document (go to Carrollton Life Nola home page for download) those directives  — taken directly from the master plan —  that we consider most pressing for the City. We have also compiled into an Appendix screenshots of the "Strategies and Action Items" listed in the master plan for easy reference. These sheets provide very clear recommended action items, responsible entities, and time frames to execute the next steps needed to follow through on the plan.  

As a parks advocacy organization, we intend to make sure this plan gets put into action by the Park Partners with the oversight and support of City Council, the City Planning Commission, and community organizations throughout the City. We hope you will join us in advocating for the execution of The Big Green Easy Master Plan. 

Sincerely,

Scott Howard, President of NOLA Parks For All, and its Board of Directors