I have previously written about the various groups in the community that must play key roles in preserving, protecting and enhancing our parks and trails. These parties include neighborhood associations, service clubs, youth groups, church groups, schools, businesses, corporations and others. Another key component is that of citizen volunteers.

Contemporary American cities are at a defining moment in many ways. Traditional, reliable sources of revenue have been reduced. Reductions in federal and state spending have added to the burden by cutting or removing direct funding for city programs. But I am optimistic about the future of San Jose’s parks system, and there are some very specific reasons why.

From the late 1890s into the 1920s, there was a national movement in the United States to create more livable cities. At its core, this movement believed that cities should be more than simply places where people work and lived. The movement was called City Beautiful. Now, on a smaller scale, one local citizen has refashioned this idea while eliminating graffiti.

One of my most tightly held tenets of community activism: When citizens organize to take action on behalf of their neighborhoods or to advance issues of importance, the last thing that should get in their way is paperwork or bureaucratic interference—at any level. It is this belief that is the basis for San Jose Parks Foundation’s program of Fiscal Agency. Being a Fiscal Agent means extending nonprofit status to projects, programs and groups whose purposes, missions, goals, and objectives are compatible with that of San Jose Parks Foundation.

Today I write about an extraordinary man and truly remarkable project being created in his honor. Umberto Abronzino, a talented soccer player and barber, was born in 1920 in Sessa Aurunca, Italy. More than 30 years later, he found his way to San Jose and created a soccer movement.

I received a phone call last year from a resident who lived near Almaden Winery Park. She told me that she wanted to plant some rose trees in the park, and that she had been referred to San Jose Parks Foundation for help.

In my last column about San Jose Parks Foundation, I stressed the economic importance of parks, as well as the overwhelming evidence of the correlation between health and the presence of accessible parks and trails—both for individuals and a community’s wellbeing. There is another layer of health benefits that is even more critical: the essential role that parks and trails play for the environment.

I had an incredible experience this past July, attending the Greater & Greener Conference in New York City. It was the largest gathering ever in the United States of Park, Trails and Open Space Professionals, Advocates, and Supporters, with more than 900 people from 200 cities and 20 countries. Some of the critical messages form this conferences are now being applied to our parks here in San Jose.

San Jose Parks Foundation, as I mentioned in my first column, was born out of an enlightened look into the future. Funding for parks and trails has been cut to the bone and sometimes worse. Urban and suburban parks are essential economic factors in every municipality. They often are invisible in the economic picture that most of us have.

Since this is my first column for San Jose Inside, I’ll begin by framing my current endeavor, the San Jose Parks Foundation. Some of you may know of my past, as San Jose Rep Founder, San Jose Arts Roundtable Co-Founder and the After School All-Stars Founding Executive Director.