Parks Chief Heads South

After 14 years in charge of city parks, Bob Levine is packing his bags and leaving for Georgia.

Levine, the city parks director, plans to take a new job as the director of recreation, parks and facilities for Augusta-Richmond County in Georgia. His last day of work for the City of New Haven will be April 26, he said in an interview Tuesday.

Levine joined the city 16 years ago as deputy chief administrative officer; he served the last 14 and a half years as parks director. Levine, who’s 62, said he will be able to retire with the city, but will continue working, in part because he will be supporting two children in college.

Levine is the second top department head (in addition to schools chief Reggie Mayo) to announce his retirement after Mayor John DeStefano’s bombshell announcement that he will step down at the end of the year after 20 years in office. The change in mayoralty was ​“one factor” prompting his departure, Levine said — his term expires in January of 2014, and he would have to be reappointed by the next mayor. ​“Who knows who the mayor might be, or what their agenda would be,” Levine said. ​“Making a decision like this, for me, takes the uncertainty out of it.”

Levine said he had already been looking around for a new opportunity before that instability arose. ​“I had applied to this job back in May or June,” as well as several jobs. ​“I’m not leaving because the mayor’s leaving — I’m leaving because this is when that process came to a conclusion.”

“I was always kind of interested in looking around and finding the next stop,” Levine said. ​“I wanted to move south and wanted to find a place that was less densely populated. They made me an offer, and it just seemed like the right time.”

Levine grew up in Windsor Locks. He worked in Windsor Locks and in Roanoke, Virginia, before moving to New Haven.

In his 14 years as parks chief, he saw his department cut nearly in half from 106 to 56 staffers. He said the department has done ​“an extraordinary job” maintaining services in the face of those cuts. He credited the mayor for ​“pushing the whole organization to work better together and to try to do more” and the city’s many volunteer parks groups, such as the Friends of Edgewood, Dover Beach and East Rock parks, for working with the city to invest in and take care of public spaces.

With money from the city government’s capital budget, the department rebuilt all the playgrounds in the city parks, including installing 12 new ​“splash pads” (like the one pictured). The goal, Levine said, is that when the weather gets hot, kids ​“aren’t opening hydrants to play on the street — they’re in a safe park.”

In the past 15 years, the city has set about refurbishing all the monuments in city parks, including the 1907 Bennett Memorial Fountain (pictured) on the New Haven Green. The city just put out a request for proposals to fix up the final monument, at the confluence of Davenport and Columbus avenues and Ella Grasso Boulevard.

The crowning accomplishment in that series, Levine said, was refurbishing and reopening the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in East Rock Park. It had been closed for so long that Levine surmised no living New Havener had ever climbed up inside its iconic tower before the reopening.

The city first shipped away the Angel of Peace for restoration, displayed her on the Green (pictured) for all to see, restored her to her perch with dramatic flare, then set about reopening the spiral staircase inside the tower, which the department now opens up for tours. The whole project cost over $1 million.

Under Levine’s tenure, the city also spun off three parks facilities to quasi-independent operations, funded by the fees they generate. First, at the suggestion of former budget director Frank Altieri, the city hired an outside management company to run the Alling Memorial Golf Club. The city also chose outside management to run the skating rink and hired a city employee on a grant to run the carousel at Lighthouse Point Park as its own business, paid for by rental fees. All three operations now generate enough money to be self-sustaining, Levine reported. And the carousel has been completely restored.

In stormier times, Levine recalled, fishermen were fighting with boaters and jet-skiers over the use of the boat ramp at Lighthouse Point Park. The city ​“had to shut down the boat ramp because it was getting dangerous.” The parks department introduced fees for boaters who wanted to use the ramp, and cracked down on jet-skiers and boaters, making sure they had proper registration.

One day in 2009, Levine looked out the window of his Edgewood Avenue office to find men from an adult soccer league protesting on the sidewalk. Levine had booted the men from a Boulevard field after complaints about parked cars on the grass and illegal food vendors. The two sides ended up brokering a deal.

In both cases, Levine said, the conflicts prompted good discussion about the use of public space that ended up making the parks safer.

A third controversy arose when the city banned beachgoers at Lighthouse Point Park from drinking booze, unless they have a special events permit. Despite initial outcry, the ban has gone smoothly, Levine said: ​“People have accepted it for what it is. There’s a lot of people who behave properly and responsibly down there.”

Looking ahead, Levine named several tasks that await the next park director: Redoing Bowen Field. ​“Improving and expanding programs for at-risk youth.” And continuing to improve the city parks with more splash pads, including one slated to go in at Dover Beach Park.

“There’s still tons of work to do,” Levine said. The new parks director will no doubt bring new ideas, Levine noted: ​“It’s an exciting time for the city — whenever someone new comes in, there’s an opportunity for change.”

Levine called his career move ​“exciting” and ​“terrifying.” ​“The anticipation is really great. You’re basically packing everything up and heading out of town to a completely new place.”

Levine said discussions are still under way about who will lead the department after he leaves.