Are you satisfied with Emporia’s parks and recreation facilities? How do you think they can be improved?
From now until the end of the year, you can voice your opinions by taking part in a survey put together by a committee of the Emporia Recreation Commission.
“What we have is an initial survey asking basic questions, and from there we’re going to develop a more detailed survey,” said Tom McEvoy, director of the Lee Beran Recreation Center.
He said the commission plans to use the results of the initial survey to pinpoint a more accurate way to determine the community’s wants and needs and will give the recreation commission direction in prioritizing projects to improve Emporia’s leisure opportunities.
The survey is a part of the recreation commission’s role in the Building Futures campaign, a list of nine goals to improve and successfully market the city of Emporia. Goal No. 7 of the campaign is “to improve and increase the recreational opportunities available in the Emporia area.”
The survey was developed using the recommendations of the Parks and Recreation Study conducted in 2002 by the consulting firm of Bucher, Willis and Ratliff, as well as the recommendations of the recreation commission’s current strategic plan.
Both the study and the strategic plan are available on the rec center’s Web site, www.emporiarec.org.
One area to focus on is infrastructure, McEvoy said.
“The infrastructure within our park system, when it comes to recreation facilities, are in dire need of upgrading,” he said. “A lot of the facilities that have been developed for recreational use — the ball diamonds, the flag football fields and things like that — have been done through the generosity of service clubs and money they were able to generate. ... But you can’t rely on donations and service clubs to go out and do something that a professional needs to do. We need to look at those things and evaluate how we’re going to develop those things.”
Another focus is a change in the leisure needs of people in the community, McEvoy said.
“Four years ago, baseball was king with kids in the summertime. Well, baseball has dropped off to the point where we don’t have as many people playing baseball and softball.”
The commission wants to look at what types of facilities can accommodate the wants and needs of an active public.
“Instead of being behind the eight-ball, we would like to be in front of what those needs are,” he said.
McEvoy said response to the survey has been strong so far.
“In the two weeks the survey’s been available, we’ve had about 300 responses to it,” he said. “Our goal is to have 600 responses.”
The survey also is available on the Web sites of The Emporia Gazette, the chamber of commerce, USD 253, the City of Emporia and KVOE. A Spanish-language version is available, also.
“We really would like to hear from the Hispanic population in town on what they would like to see in the community.”