Stanley Park Project White Paper

The City of Kelsey has had a steady rise in population over the last several years. This increase in population, has led to an increase in individuals using community resources. The Department of Parks and Recreations is experiencing an increase in facility usage that they are unable to accommodate on a daily basis. They are also unable to accommodate special requests. This creates a problem that needs to be addressed. The proposed Stanley Park Project is the suggested answer to this problem. This new facility will be constructed on a vacant 60 acre city-owned lot and will house a variety of different amenities. It will meet sporting needs, and house a playground, a pool, a dog walk and a community center. There will also be a police substation locate within the park.

Does The Stanley Park Project Have Value

The first step in this project is to determine that this proposed project will bring value to the community. This can be determined through evaluation. Specific information needs to be collected in order to show value? First we need to establish the need. Is this community center needed? The population increase and the Parks and Recreation Departments inability to accommodate the community at existing centers says yes. Right away there is a value to this project because needs of community members can now be met. Additional information that will help evaluate predicted value will be: how much will the project cost and what is the increase in cost to run this new facility? How much money can be expected to be generated through paid programs and renting out space for special requests? What programs will be offered to residents and will improvements on quality of life for residents be made. A program that teaches computer literacy to adults that leads to better jobs gives value to the project. A child learning to swim through instructions at the pool that leads to an increase in aquatic safety provides a value to the project. If the facility can be rented out for private parties and meetings and paid sports instructions can be organized, the project can provide value and possibly pay for itself.  Collecting date on the need for the project, the need being met and outcomes of the project show the value of the project.

The Use Of Normative Futures In Goals And Agenda Setting

According to Dunn (2008), “An important aspect of normative futures is the specification of goals and objectives. (pg. 134) As a community, we must concern ourselves with future changes because today’s values are likely to change. Goals and objectives are both future oriented, but goals are broad and objectives are specific. Objectives are usually quantifiable and have a time frame. When trying to solve a problem such as the need for additional recreational facilities in a community, it is important to set goals, objective and alternatives. Sources for these are, authority, insight, methods, scientific theories, motivation, parallel cases, analogy and ethical systems. Using these can help ensure the need is being met. Authority suggests, going to experts to get the problem solved. Insight, appeals to intuition or the judgment of individuals considered to be unofficial experts or “knowledgables”. Method searches for alternatives that may be beneficial. Scientific theories are also an alternative produced by natural and social sciences. Motivation is the stakeholder’s beliefs, values, and needs. Parallel case looks at experiences with policy problems in other countries, states, and cities. Analogy is the similarity between different kinds of problems. Ethical systems are a theory of social justice policy alternative created by social thinkers. (Dunn, 2008)

The Parks and Recreation Department are an authority in this case because they are experts on the existing facilities run in the community and the need the community has. They have conducted needs assessment surveys to find out what the community wants out of a new facility. The “knowledgables” in this case are the Council Members. Through method and scientific theory, alternatives were explored and the Stanley Park Project was the most beneficial solution to the problem the community faced. The motivation for the project is the growing population and the inability to meet the community’s needs at existing facilities.

Performance measures

Program performance measures based on the goals and objectives for the project will aid us in determining if the project has value and is successful. The main goal of community member satisfaction can be measured through survey. This can also be measured through the Department of Parks and Recreations main office when tracking complaints about inability to accommodate community members, the number of residents turned away from facilities on any given day and number of special requests met and turned away. Specific milestones and benchmarks can be set up to measure these goals based on the time frame for the completion of the park and it opening up each area. Additionally, things such as hours of community member participation can be tracked. How many members used the facility, participate in structured programs offered, use sports fields, ect. How many special events are conducted at the facility can be tracked as well. By establishing indicators, units of measure, baselines and targets, the success of the project can be measured. All of these work together to answer the question does the project have value and is it successful. (Dunn, 2008)

Conclusion

As a result of the steady rise in population over the last several years, the needs of the City of Kelsey’s community members were not being met. The current recreational facilities available to residents were no longer able to accommodate community members and special requests were being turned away. The creation of the Stanley Park Project was developed to provide additional recreational space for the community. This proposed project is one that is able to be measure to ensure it not only has a value but that it is meeting the needs of its community members. Through program evaluation, it will be shown that the Stanley Park Project is the direction the community should go in to meet their needs.

Reference:

Dunn, W. N. (2008). Public Policy Analysis: An Introduction. : Prentice Hall.

Virtual Organizations. (2014). Retrieved from https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/cist/vop/index.html