Parks offer islands of tranquillity

May 28, 2002  |  Orlando Sentinel

(Copyright 2002 by The Orlando Sentinel)

He shows up at the front door, unexpected and unannounced, her oldest son. The one who wants to be a massage therapist.

Joan Taylor is at the dining-room table of her Azalea Park home with its picture-window view of traffic flying by on the East-West Expressway.

She is talking about this confederation of 14 congregations she belongs to that is hosting a public meeting to convince the Orange County Commission it should make parks and recreation a higher priority.

David Bray is 35 and cynical. "Nice forum, Mom," her son says, "but what kind of action can you take?"

"They get people to listen," she replies.

Taylor is seated in the middle of a table with blue skirting in the front of Orlando's First Presbyterian Church. The sanctuary is filled, pew after pew, with church members holding placards announcing their affiliation: Good Shepherd Catholic Church, John Calvin Presbyterian, First AME Church, Holy Family Episcopal and Taylor's church, Azalea Park United Methodist.

Taylor is a 57-year-old mother of two, retired Navy, wearing a forest-green jacket with gold buttons. Before her on the table is a well-rehearsed script.

Directly across from Taylor, Orange County Chairman Rich Crotty sits alone at an identical table with blue skirting. The other county commissioners are seated in the front pew, but it's the chairman who is on the stage and under the scrutiny of 620 members of the Federation of Congregations United to Serve -- FOCUS -- in what the group calls an "action."

The purpose of the action is to extract a commitment -- they call it a covenant -- from the county to place a greater emphasis on parks and recreation. For Taylor, this means recreation programs for the children of Azalea Park -- which has no parks.

Those seated with Taylor at the table facing Crotty ask the chairman specific questions, seeking commitments to improve the county's parks and recreation programs.

When it's her turn, Joan Taylor reads from her script.

"Mr. Chairman, will you set up a task force which could research available land and dedicated funding for facilities that could be used for future generations?" she asks.