WHY YOU KNOW HIM: Pope, 57, has overseen a major revival of the city's parks department, including the restoration of Forest Hill Park lake and the Azalea Garden pond in Bryan Park, the construction of a concession building at Fountain Lake in Byrd Park and improvements to community centers and athletic fields.
WHAT'S NEW: Pope hasn't been afraid to think big in his four years as head of the Richmond park system. He's got some big jobs ahead of him, such as making emergency repairs to the Richmond Coliseum while city and regional officials ponder the 38-year-old building's fate.
A native of Ohio, Pope is a burly former football player who came to Richmond in 2006 after four years as chief of state parks in West Virginia. He has worked in the natural gas business and run local park systems in Missouri, where he received a graduate degree in parks and recreation administration, and West Virginia, where he earned a bachelor's degree from Bethany College.
He has a big imagination. He sees the eventual restoration of the historic Pump House as a visitors interpretative center and community venue. He can envision a reflecting pond in front of the Carillon, where one was planned but never built decades ago. He wants to restore two silted ponds in Bryan Park.
At the same time, Pope is busy with nuts-and-bolts improvements to some 150 parks and community facilities in Richmond -- building baseball fields, replacing gym floors and roofs, maintaining decorative fountains and statues, and upgrading playgrounds.
"We're here really to improve people's quality of life," he said. "When everyone else plays, we work."
-- Michael Martz
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement