InTucker Magazine

Ask Rip – February 2018

Rip Robertson is the first Parks and Recreation Director for the City of Tucker. He takes the job with years of experience in Parks and Rec, as well as Public Works. Rip is a former Military Intelligence Analyst for the U.S. Army and is active with the Army Reserve.

In this issue of InTucker, you’ll meet or – for many of you – reacquaint yourself with our Recreation Leader Joe Stewart. Joe is a Tucker native and representative of the type of professional we are looking to bring into our Parks and Recreation Department.

I want you also to know the name Tom McDermott. Tom is our Recreation Center Manager and someone I’ve had the privilege of knowing and working with for a number of years. He will oversee a staff that, collectively, has several decades of experience working in the recreation field. These Recreation Assistants are Kay Hendricks, Louisa Joseph, Orin Romain and Arthur Taylor.

Please make sure to stop by Tucker Recreation Center and get to know these folks. I’m sure you’ll be as impressed with them as I am.

Now on to the questions …

Andrew Gladu – What are the plans to ensure the litter around the Rec Center is picked up on a daily basis?
Andrew, the City of Tucker has brought on an active staff, who will be monitoring both interior and exterior maintenance issues. If I, or any member of my team, see so much as a bubble gum wrapper, we will remove it. More importantly as we move forward, we plan to have a landscape contractor who will be responsible for ensuring that the grounds around the Rec Center, as well as the Tucker parks, are maintained on a regular basis. As we go through this process in the coming months, if any resident has a concern about rubbish at our Rec Center or our parks, I want to know about it so that we can address it immediately.

Cara Schroeder – I have had a ton of folks asking important questions about dogs (i.e. leash laws vs. restrained vs. DeKalb rules). What will be your stand on this issue, Rip?
We want to make sure that we have policies in place to ensure safety and enjoyment for all the visitors to our parks, including those with four legs. There are new dog waste stations in Henderson Park for this very purpose and, once we acquire the parks from DeKalb County, we plan to install dog waste stations in all our parks. To answer your question, we will enforce DeKalb County policy in regard to any leash laws. We will be better able to enforce these policies and install signage to that effect once we acquire the parks on April 1.