The City of New Orleans recently announced the launch of the public participation phase of the Big Green Easy, the citywide parks and recreation master plan.
“It is my administration’s goal to deliver bold, equitable climate action and green infrastructure projects that achieve major environmental, health, social and economic benefits for all residents,” said Mayor LaToya Cantrell. “We embrace this holistic approach that improves our residents’ quality of life by beautifying our city and does it in an intentional way to make us more resilient for the future. I encourage all residents to actively participate and become involved in how their city’s parks are shaped.”
Big Green Easy fulfills the commitment made by Mayor LaToya Cantrell and the four major park agencies: New Orleans Recreation Development (NORD) Commission, Parks and Parkways (PPW), Audubon Nature Institute and City Park - as part of the 2019 parks and recreation millage proposal that passed with 76 percent voter approval.
“The Community engagement phase is a core priority of the City’s park and recreation master plan,” said NORD CEO Larry Barabino, Jr. “This plan will ultimately decide the future of our city’s parks and recreation services. I encourage residents to actively participate in all of the planned community engagement opportunities.”
“Improvement of the City’s public spaces is driven by public input,” said Michael Karam, Director of PPW. “The Department of Parks and Parkways looks forward to applying the public feedback and the Big Green Easy master plan into current park use and when crafting future greenspaces to strengthen communities.”
The master plan will gather feedback from community-based organizations and residents in order to create holistic strategies to advance the City’s goals. In addition, there will be multiple opportunities for residents and community groups to get involved in the planning process and provide feedback:
- Park Ambassador – Interested residents can sign up to be a paid member of the planning team who will help develop creative outreach and engagement strategies
- Survey – The City launched a comprehensive survey to gather feedback and input from residents
- Community Workshops – Beginning in early March, the City will host a series of in-person community workshops; dates and locations will be announced on the website soon
Residents can visit nola.gov/youth to learn more.
