KFAL The Big 900 Classic Country
Columbia Parks and Recreation’s longtime director praises city residents for their support of parks over the years.
Columbia Parks and Recreation oversees 3,700 acres of parkland. They also maintain 75 parks and more than 60 miles of trail. Deputy city manager and former parks director Mike Griggs tells 939 the Eagle’s Fred Parry that Columbia voters first approved the park sales tax in 2000.
“It was the Stephens Lake ballot issue. It was Mike Sledd and Barbara Hoppe, they were citizens. They lived over there, they wanted to protect Stephens Lake Park from Stephens College selling it,” Mr. Griggs says.
Stephens Lake Park is now considered the crown jewel of Columbia’s park system and has an 11-acre fishing/swimming lake as well as mature trees and the Hindman Memorial Garden.
Columbia’s Parks and Recreation Department is funded by a permanent park sales tax, while another tax is renewable and must be approved by voters every few years. It was recently approved again with 80 percent of the vote. Mr. Griggs says that’s good for everyone:
“And I like that sunset part, because it allows us to create a program, a list of projects to do. We’re going to do those projects and when we’re done it’s generally going to be time to renew it again and we can come up with another list of projects,” Griggs tells Mr. Parry.
