Why wont a funding increase alone help improve the Citys recreational efforts?
Along with stable funding, NORD needs stable leadership. For the past 30 years, NORD has had 12 directors for an average term of only 2.5 years. This frequent turnover limits long range planning. As long as it is directly under the mayors office, NORDs leadership will be subject to turnover every time an election rolls around. Q: Why change the structure? A: The current NORD structure is outdated. Only 3% of the recreation departments nationwide are still structured similarly to NORD, and those are not the ones that are ranked in the top tier of the nations best recreation departments. Baton Rouge has one of the best recreation departments in the country. BREC, the Recreation and Park Commission for the parish of East Baton Rouge, consistently ranks in the top four departments nationally, and demonstrates that NORD, like BREC, could one day rank among the best. Q: Who names the commission? A: The mayor nominates 15 candidates and city council members nominate 2 each, totaling 29 nomine
