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Meet the People - J.R. Pope

"We are here to improve your quality of life, even if it's just a little bit ... It's not measurable, it's a mindset."

Name: J.R. Pope

Job: Director of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities, City of Richmond. He started Jan. 2, 2006, after having served as the chief of state parks in West Virginia.

"There's approximately $19 million for bringing this park system back to hopefully where it was years and years ago," Pope said of the city park system. "What we're going to do with the City of the Future is not necessarily build a lot of new things but just bring back a lot of old things."

"We're in the process over the next five to six years of upgrading and rennovating playgrounds," he said. Major rennovations are planned for the lakes at Joseph Bryan and Forest Hill parks as well as updating and upgrading playgrounds, ball fields and tennis courts throughout the park system.

"We're giving people a reason to come out and enjoy the parks," he said. Pope added that it is good to have community groups involved, like the neighborhood group at Carter-Jones (Fonticello) Park that has been instrumental in improving the facilities and helping maintain and watch over the park.

Pope also acknowledged that having more people in the parks has improved the perception of the facilities, such as all the people out playing disc golf at Gillies Creek and Joseph Bryan parks or playing in recreational leagues like kickball and dodgeball.

"There's probably a lot of new people coming to those parks" that might not otherwise have known about them or had a good impression of the parks before they visited, he said.