Racial issues forcing change in Minneapolis parks leadership

The two top officials on the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board are expected to be replaced Wednesday after weeks of acrimony and conflict tied to issues of race and the park system.

Board President Liz Wielinski and Vice President Scott Vreeland say they'll step down from their leadership posts despite a stretch of recent successes that includes a key funding agreement and a top ranking for Minneapolis as the nation's best big-city park system.

Race is at the core of the controversy. The elected nine-member park board is overwhelmingly white in a city where nearly 40 percent of the city are people of color.

What began as some park employees questioning the racial equity of hiring, promotions and discipline in the park system has grown into a battle over how one of the city's premiere amenities is shared.

Minneapolis NAACP President Nekima Levy-Pounds, best known for her activism in the wake of the Jamar Clark and Philand Castile shootings, has been leading the charge.

"Yes, we have beautiful parks which are wonderful, that we all get a chance to enjoy, but the reality is that underneath that number one designation are tremendous racial disparities that many of us are ashamed of," Levy-Pounds told a June park board meeting.

She has admonished the park board for the conditions at Farview Park in north Minneapolis compared to parks in wealthier parts of the city. She's taken the board to task for the cost of summer programs in poor neighborhoods and chastised board members for the treatment of park employees.

In May, Levy-Pounds and Wielenski got into a shouting match over the issues.

Wielinski said she regrets the exchange and has apologized. She's added that she's sorry the controversy is overshadowing the lasting achievement of stable funding for parks that resulted from a historic 20-year-funding deal struck in the spring with the city that averted a potentially contentious voter referendum.

But Wielinski also says the park system isn't racist.

"I've looked and seen with my own eyes where we are spending the money, where we are making our efforts, and we really have put a lot of efforts toward making sure we are doing equitable distribution of funds that the park board has," Wielinski said.

"These unfounded accusations by outside groups affected my health, and my family and I would prefer that I remain a member of my family, versus being president of the board," Wielinski said.

She and Vreeland are staying on the board of the park system, which was praised in May by the Trust for Public Land. The group ranked the city's parks the best for big cities anywhere in the country for the fourth year in a row.

Wielinski and Vreeland also say they want to stay on to keep up a dialogue with the board's detractors and address their concerns.

Critics, however, are calling for even more change.

Wading pools and recreation programs may seem peripheral as Minneapolis debates larger issues, like police community relations, minimum wage and other matters, but they deserve attention nonetheless, said Cathy Jones, a regular at park board meetings who's married to a Minneapolis park keeper and hopes voters elect at least one person of color on the board in next year's citywide elections.

"These are the divisive things that we're trying to dismantle," Jones said. The goal, she added, is to "create an environment where everyone has a voice and there's equitable solutions and equity for all people, not just certain people, and the park board definitely intersects with all that."