Metro Parks Strategic Plan Review

In August 2006 the Board of Parks Commissioners adopted the Strategic Plan, which serves as the roadmap for Metro Parks Tacoma’s development. The plan calls for “major public review and revision” every six years. Doing the math, and accounting for time to complete all processes, that works out to… starting now. MPT, therefore, is now undertaking a major update to the Strategic Plan, including a proposed rewritten mission, vision and goals:

VISION:

Metro Parks Tacoma envisions a vibrant, active and engaged community.

MISSION:

Creating healthy opportunities to play, learn and grow.

GOALS:

1. Foster active lifestyles to support a healthy community.
   
   

2. Foster appreciation and stewardship of wildlife and natural resources.
   
   

3. Foster appreciation of Tacoma’s culture and heritage.
   
   

4. Be an innovative, sustainable and accountable agency responsive to changing social needs and new growth while contributing to economic development.

Going forward, these principles will guide Metro Parks in their decision-making processes. This new list is considerably more succinct than the original, which set out ten goals in greater detail, and a more lengthy mission statement:

“Metro Parks Tacoma builds a healthy community, a vibrant region and a sustainable environment by promoting active lifestyles and strong individuals and families through parks, programs and partnerships.”

The pared-down vision, mission and goals are still in draft form, and a MPT survey (available through December 9th) is asking for community feedback on how well they represent Tacoma’s expectations of its parks.

We encourage you to fill out the brief survey, but we also know that sometimes it can be difficult to form an opinion on such broad statements. All the goals sound good, but perhaps a little vague. Is something lost when we move from specifically stated goals to broader generalizations? For instance, questions of accessibility and diversity are implied in the goal of “Foster active lifestyles to support a healthy community,” rather than explicitly stated, as in the original goals of “accessible … parks and facilities,” and “affordable and high-quality recreation and educational experiences for a diverse community.” By not being made explicit, is it sometimes easier to lose sight of such goals?

To read more about the Strategic Plan and review process, and to complete the Metro Parks Tacoma survey, visit www.metroparkstacoma.org.

The original Strategic Parks and Program Services Executive Summary is also available.