Anchorage Parks: A Legacy of Community Investment
by Victor Mollozzi, founder of the Anchorage Park Foundation
I joined the Parks Commission about 25 years ago after there was neighborhood resistance in creating the Abbott Loop Community Park. In addition, to four Little League Fields, Abbott Loop Community Park has a soccer field, a concession building with restrooms, a scenic Community Pavilion/Picnic Shelter, a sledding hill, a playground area plus an area where people could park horse trailers for horse access into Far North Bicentennial Park.
Our parks and trails in Anchorage are our playgrounds and funding is necessary to maintain, improve and create new parks and trails. The park bonds, which are the major source of funding for parks and trails, were not getting approved by the Anchorage voters in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Anchorage’s park plan called for the creation of the Anchorage Park Foundation to work along with the Anchorage Park and Recreation Department to enhance and expand our parks and the trail system in Anchorage.
The Anchorage Park Foundation was created in 2005 to help support parks and trails and we have been advocating for the approval of Park bonds for the last 20 years.
Park Bonds have passed every year for the past 13 years! In addition, there has been a significant source of private funding into our park system because of the work of the Park Foundation. Park bonds are an investment in our community.
I encourage you to ask yourself these important questions as residents of Anchorage: what do I want for myself, my community, our young people and Anchorage’s future? Then ask: what can I do to help expand and maintain Anchorages parks trails, what is my commitment and what is my responsibility to my community.
The future of Anchorage’s parks and trails depends on all of us, I encourage you to continue supporting the Anchorage Park Foundation, voting for park bonds, and investing in our city’s outdoor spaces for generations to come.
