by Emily Gunderson & Ricky Gutierrez
Ricky Gutierrez is the Assistant Parks & Recreation Director for the City of Eagle Pass. Within the City of Eagle Pass there are 25 park-like facilities. These include one Maverick County park (73.5 acres); three community / regional parks (60.5 acres); eight neighborhood parks (26.3 acres); six special use facilities (149.6 acres); one linear park (8.3 acres); and six Colonias Parks (24.1 acres). This interview was conducted by Emily Gunderson, a Program Manager on the Working on Wellness Environments team. The following quotes from Mr. Gutierrez reflect his perspective on how park support healthy communities. The photos were provided by the City of Eagle Pass. The transcript has been edited for clarity and succinctness.
I’m trying to to meet our community needs when it comes to recreation and quality of life programs that involve families, and youth which is a big focus of ours.
We want to start meeting the needs of our community such as enhancing tree canopy in our parks, updating landscaping, play features, playscapes, and putting more focus on beautiful areas to get more people out there.
We strive to create spaces that lend itself to active lifestyles. In Eagle Pass, we always joke that it’s hot like 8 months out of the year. So, we’ve put a focus on making sure all playscapes have shade structures and trying to have a shade program out there. Making sure that we have proper tree canopies, trying to work on more pavilions, and just to provide places that want to support health. We want people out in parks, walking and using them, and using the green space. But we know all people aren’t going to do it in the heat if there isn’t the proper infrastructure in place.
Our parks system, the role we play is twofold. The recreation is providing opportunities for community members. The parks are providing spaces that lend themselves to have active lifestyles, either having kids go out and play on the playground, or having somebody going to a basketball court or volleyball court and shoot around or just utilizing a walking trail to walk.
