Activating Park Spaces to Improve Community Health: Green time instead of screen time. As a career nurse that has specialized in behavioral health, I commit to looking at the challenges we face through the lens of health. We have a population, young and old, that has been affected by the poor health outcomes that we experienced as a nation because of COVID including sedentary lifestyles, addiction, bad eating habits, loneliness, depression. I believe that Park spaces, facilities, and events play a pivotal role in changing people’s lives and health well being, physical and mental, for the better. I have seen my patients – adult and child, begin life changing wellness journeys with an increase in activity and in connection always occurring near the beginning of that.

Elevating Collaboration Opportunities: Teamwork makes the dream work. Strong partnerships are essential for us to rise to the scope of the challenges we face. The challenges we face include a growing and aging population, a changing world our children are being raised in, and ongoing climate change. Parks Tacoma partners with the city to provide senior services at our community centers, this should be expanded and the quality of care should be high. We must partner with the city and Pierce Transit to achieve enjoyable and safe routes to park spaces across the city. As Park Commissioner, I will continue to expand partnerships with Tacoma Public Schools to achieve goals outlined in the Tacoma Whole Child initiative. Club B and Beyond the Bell after school programming are wonderful examples of supporting students and working families, programs that my own children have benefited from. The Trust for Public Lands has collaborated with Parks Tacoma to transform schoolyards into accessible green spaces, a recent project at Larchmont Elementary was stopped because of an anticipated pause in federal funding. We must partner with government and private entities that see the benefit of this project so we can bring the project to completion. Parks Tacoma stewards over 2000 acres of green space so we must be a leader and active collaborator to tackle the challenge of climate resiliency. This should include federal, state, city, private, and non profit partners that commit to achieving tree canopy goals with a focus on tree equity.

Foster Community Ownership of Public Spaces: Clean and bright, public spaces done right. Clean parks lead to safe parks which makes for a happier community that offers opportunities to enrich its citizens to be more connected to each other and better stewards for the environment. As park commissioner, I will focus on improving park equity on the Eastern and South End of the city. I wil continue to foster public well being and input using Community Center Leadership Teams, Participatory Budgeting, and Community Gardens. Public engagement is vital to enhancing and tailoring programming in an equitable manner.