5 Questions for ... Ryan Mello

Ryan Mello is a Park Commissioner with MetroParks. He is a UPS graduate and works for the Cascade Land Conservancy as the Pierce County Conservation Director.

While we were busy working on our servers, he took the time to answer a few questions we had for him about parks and open space.

1. What’s your favorite park in Tacoma on a Saturday morning? Is there an “undiscovered” park in town that you love?

My absolute favorite is Point Defiance – I realize a little cliche, but it is just amazing. The opportunity to bike/run 5 mile drive, think by the water at Owens Beach, enjoy the native gardens and play a fun game of volleyball in the bowl is just remarkable. Second to Pt. D – I really enjoy our smaller pocket parks. I think those little jewels are what make our system so unique, and more importantly, contribute meaningfully to the quality of life in our neighborhoods.

2. Now that Transferable Development Rights has passed in the Council, what is the next step for the program?

Implementation. It’s a huge task – but a very worthwhile endeavor. With competition for public resources for education, health care, criminal justice and transportation, among other critical needs, there simply is not enough public funding in place to protect our quality of life. Conserving our farms, forests, shorelines, rivers and urban recreation areas are paramount to protecting our environment, health and quality of life.

The County Council must fully fund the personnel to implement the program so that transactions are painless and seamless. The concept is quite simple. When a development project is requesting to build bigger or more densely than currently allowed by right, that developer will have to meet a transfer of development right (TDR) requirement. TDR allows us to harness the private marketplace to do conservation of precious and productive lands. By the county investing in the employees and infrastructure to support the marketplace, we can harness the building growth to build healthy communities and conserving the spectacular lands that make Pierce County so beautiful.

3. After the Cascade Land Conservancy helped expand the borders of Snake Lake park, are there other sites in the city that could benefit from such growth?

Certainly. Blueberry Park on the East Side and Wapato Park in the South end and extending Ruston Way from the Thea Foss to Point Defiance are three possibilities for additions. More importantly, in my opinion, we need to grow our system where we are currently underserving our residents with space and amenities. I think we need to look very closely at all the neighborhoods that do not have a park within a reasonable distance. We have a goal at Metro Parks of having a park within a 1/4 mile of every home in Tacoma. I think we need to really ensure we are fulfilling the spirit of this goal. Downtown is lacking open space – especially off the waterfront – more uphill where people actually live. There are other places in Tacoma where you need to walk over a nightmarish street of zipping traffic to get to an open space, like South 56th or South 19th Street. Also, we need to plan for the future needs and wants of park users – there is a high demand for dog parks and being able to go wireless with technology in our parks and perhaps new sports and recreational uses. We need to be finding more ways to get people on the water – shoreline, water access are in high demand. I would encourage us to not necessarily expand the parks we have, but to ensure we have enough recreational opportunities and the kinds of opportunities strategically in a convenient distance to each and every resident of Tacoma.

4. If you could do one thing in Tacoma, given the political will and the budget, what would it be?

I would ensure that our neighborhoods are truly livable and connected via transit sources; this would mean – vibrant and dynamic business districts with housing incorporated in to the commercial buildings (mixed use) and surrounded by housing that fit with that business district. The new buildings and rehabbed buildings would be of high-quality urban design with street amenities that made patrons feel safe and comfortable and encouraged people to want to live/shop/do business there. Our city deserves first class amenities with superb urban design – nothing less! I would then ensure that all neighborhoods were linked via great bus or streetcar/light rail service which were then linked to a more central station to get to major attractions to the south/east/west and north of us. It’s unfortunate that it seems like it takes such great political will to have high standards on the kind and quality of development we want in our business districts and neighborhoods.

5. It’s expensive to rake all those leaves in our parks. Wouldn’t upkeep be easier if we just paved them over?

Pavement is expensive and difficult to upkeep, too – just look at our city streets! Seriously, our parks play an absolutely vital role in raising our quality of life as residents and encouraging strong economic development. What sets cities apart from each other, with all other things being equal (skilled employees and regulatory/tax systems) is quality of life. Businesses can move anywhere for the most part. The business people I work with regularly tell me they choose to grow their business in Tacoma and the Puget Sound because of its natural beauty and commitment to quality of life. As our city grows and as we fit more and more in to our geographic space, having first class, well-maintained parks and recreation resources will be more and more important to our sanity and well-being.