07/06/1992 Park Board Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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/'\ REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION TO THE LINO LAKES PARRS AND RECREATION BOARD: REPRESENTATION IN LEISURE SERVICES By: Marty Asleson Recreation over the years has been looked at differently through history. To a great extent, the organized park and recreation movement evolved out of society's need to socialize its youth in the 19th century, particularly the youth of immigrants. Programming at this time was looked at as they should provide a needed balance between active and passive forms of expression. This balance approach was very value-oriented. The focus of this approach was on the activity and not the individual, and the belief was that action activities were more valuable than others. The merging of Parks movement and the Recreation movement came to be in 1965, and had a tremendous impact on the recreation programming philosophy. The critical program issue became one of determining which activities were appropriate for which environments. Park professionals turned their attention at this time, to carrying capacity and design of recreation spaces. (balance) Recently, because of the drastic change that many of us have experienced through the 60's and 701s, a humanistic programming approach has now been developed. We now no longer look at offering up a smorgasbord of recreational programs that we feel as ^ professionals are important. The recreation interests and behaviors of the public should not be programmed independent of the client's need for other services. In other words, a holistic approach to recreation "programming" and the real intent and aim is to provide services that might address the intrinsic needs of the residents who live here. This means something different to everybody. What it does mean is that the parks and recreation departments that used to program only those activities and services that were "acceptable" to the larger society, have to look at things differently now because many different groups of people were excluded. It is imperative that we now develop program strategies that allow it to work with all segments of the population, adults and children of all ages, as well as the disabled. We have a variety of life styles. We have life long learning and specialization. The quality of recreation experience is what is now important. How do we address our recreation needs in Lino Lakes? Now that we have provided an "offering" for the first year, it is time to address and empower the residents of Lino Lakes to recreate. The way that this is most oftenly done is through a Park and Recreation Board, (again a balance between the program and the open spaces) using the holistic approach. The suggestion, and the method that works very well in most situations today is that of forming an advisory committee with liaison to the Park and Recreation Board. A fair representation of all of the members of the community should be represented in the committee. I believe that possibly a youth