Derek Green

Derek suspended his campaign for mayor but he was kind enough to sit down with our Parks & Rec Heroes Fund Teen Podcasting Team earlier in the campaign.

Parks & Rec Funding

Understaffing of Parks & Rec hurts us all but the pain is not shared equally. How will you ensure that Parks & Rec best serves our most vulnerable communities?

The City’s uncompetitive wages has deterred us from being able to fully staff municipal departments. When it comes to some of these more hyper-local institutions, however, I think we need to do a better job communicating the availability of these opportunities to the community. That happens by going into schools and recruiting our youth to get a job at their local pool or recreation center. We also need to make these spaces safe for both employees and patrons, which prevents many people from wanting to take on these public-focused jobs. These concerns can be addressed with leadership from the Mayor’s Office–we need to shift our focus back to our neighborhoods and the investments that will uplift them in the short and long term.

Philadelphia spends $50 per capita each year on Parks & Rec operations. Baltimore spends $125. What amount would you plan to reach by the end of your first term?

I would look to bridge the gap between our current budget and the level of investment we are seeing other large cities take. In particular, we need an additional dedicated funding stream for Parks and Recreation operations. Other cities are being creative by using parking spaces for EV charging opportunities for dedicated revenue for these departments. As the former National President of Democratic Municipal Officials and Executive Committee Member of the National League of Cities, I would explore this and other ideas provide more funding for these departments. However, I believe there are steps that our next Mayor needs to take to rectify many issues we are seeing in regards to parks and recreation that will not require additional funds. LIke various City Departments, we have not filled enough open positions in these departments and we need an aggressive campaign to fill these positions so that these departments can operate at a more efficient level.

Will you lead an effort to find more dedicated funding sources for Parks & Rec?

Yes.

Will you support continued funding of Rebuild?

Yes.

What qualities are you looking for in your Parks & Rec Commissioner?

I would value qualities in a potential candidate that include a familiarity with the City of Philadelphia, but also in a comparably diverse, major city where they could take their previous experiences and implement them here. Philadelphia’s green spaces are one of our greatest assets, but it’s clear that our parks and recreation spaces have seen a serious level of disinvestment since the pandemic. That would lead me to pursue a Commissioner who is committed to rebuilding our Parks & Rec department, with strong organizational management being at the center of that effort.

Safe & Clean Sites

Do you see a connection between keeping our parks clean and well-maintained and reducing gun violence?

Yes, I agree that there is a connection between them. The easy response to this would be to say that we need to put more money behind addressing these issues, but I believe this is an issue that needs to start with a culture shift in our city. We cannot curb waste if the community is not also invested in this goal as well. I would use my position as Mayor to communicate the importance this issue has in my administration and how we should take pride in keeping our neighborhoods safe and clean. Additionally, I will work to educate the public that by changing behavior–by increasing recycling and reducing waste–we can save money as a city and invest more tax dollars into quality of life improvements that will enhance Philadelphia.

How will you make sure Philadelphia’s 300 parks and rec centers are safe and clean?

The first step is to address the number one issue facing all Philadelphians: gun violence. I released a plan on how I will address this epidemic, which can be found here: https://derekformayor.com/public-safety/# I believe that until we address this crisis, we will see little movement, regardless of the level of investment, in the safety and cleanliness of our parks and recreation centers.

What will you do about short dumping in parks and empty lots?

In order to address this issue, we need to enforce our current laws and demonstrate to Philadelphians that people will be held accountable for short dumping in our City. As Mayor, we will greatly expand our use of cameras and drones to address this issue and deploy this technology throughout Philadelphia.

More Recreation Programming

What are your plans to increase neighborhood jobs for teens and young adults? What role will Parks & Rec play in your plans?

As part of my previously mentioned public safety plan, I believe that opportunity and investment are key parts for how we reduce gun violence in Philadelphia. From this perspective, we need to invest in our young people and my plan calls for a tripling of the number of jobs in the summer jobs program. As part of this investment to reduce gun violence, we will greatly expand neighborhood jobs at Parks & Rec for teens and young adults.

Parks & Rec, like other City agencies, faces serious challenges in hiring both permanent and seasonal staff. What steps will you take to fix the City’s broken hiring process?

My public safety plan calls for an aggressive approach to hire police officers that reflect our CIty. In a similar perspective, we also need to aggressively recruit City employees, especially in Parks & Rec. We should be using social media, neighborhood based community organizations, and more traditional efforts on a year long basis to recruit and increase permanent and seasonal staff.

How will you expand recreation programming across Philadelphia?

As we aggressively work to recruit more Park & Rec employees, my administration will work to address “program deserts.” Additionally, we will work to implement Park & Rec’s staffing model as a means to address this issue and, as a former National President of Democratic Municipal Officials, we will employ best practices from other cities to bring equity to the parks and recreation centers in Philadelphia.

How will you increase the number of after-school activity slots for students? What role will Parks & Rec play in your plans?

Please refer to my answer to question 1. Additionally, I also signed on to support the Kids Campaign goal.

What is your favorite thing to do at a park or rec center?

I am an avid runner, so I frequent our City’s many parks and pathways.

Grow The Urban Forest

What steps will you take to reduce heat islands in Philadelphia? Will street trees be a part of your plans?

We need to expand programs that work so that we can create new jobs and make our City more sustainable and reduce heat islands. In this regard, planting street trees will be an important part of my climate change plan. From the Philadelphia Energy Authority’s (“PEA”) Solarize Philly initiative to my C-PACE legislation for commercial and mulit-family properties to the Built to Last program that I developed with the PEA, my administration will prioritize and enhance these programs so that we can address climate change, grow jobs in the green collar economy, and lift people out of poverty.

Do you support the Philadelphia Tree Plan goal to reach 30% tree canopy in 30 years?

Yes.

Philadelphia has a waiting list of 23,500 trees to be pruned or removed. How will you eliminate this backlog?

This is a question of fully staffing our Parks and Rec Department, which, as I have mentioned previously, will be a top priority of mine as Mayor.