Last updated on August 25, 2024
The city is looking to hire an executive director to oversee Franklin Park to “set the course for a new chapter” for the largest city-owned park.
The new position would be under Boston’s Parks and Recreation Department, and would lead the park as envisioned through the Franklin Park Action Plan. The Franklin Park Action Plan calls for a woodland dog park, a lot of improvements to every access point into Franklin Park, updating picnic and BBQ areas, providing restrooms, improving and adding trails/paths/walks, upgrading playing fields, and more. The plan did include plans to improve/renovate White Stadium to make it Boston Public Schools leading athletic site, but there wasn’t mention for the stadium to be renovated for a professional women’s soccer league team.
In this year’s state of the city address, Mayor Michelle Wu mentioned that the city would be hiring for the executive director role and six full-time staff members for Franklin Park.
The executive director must have a minimum of five years experience in park management and operations, natural resource management, public garden or arboreta management, or similar, according to the job posting on boston.gov. The job posting says the job would be 35 hours a week, but it is hard to imagine it wouldn’t be more than 35 hours.
Responsibilities of the executive director role include:
- Operates with a deep understanding of the natural and cultural history of the park including its value to indigenous communities, status as an Olmsted designed landmark, and its legacy of community stewardship in response to City disinvestment.
- Sets goals for park management and operations improvements, tracks progress, and issues reports for internal and external communications.
- Oversees the co-creation and implementation of a park management and operations plan with City, community, and in-park tenants and operators.
