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BREC Superintendent Carolyn McKnight talks challenges and accomplishments ahead of her upcoming retirement


After almost seven years leading East Baton Rouge’s parks and recreation agency, BREC Superintendent Carolyn McKnight will retire in late January.

McKnight began her parks and recreation career in 1988 in her hometown of Dallas, after eight years of active service in the Air Force. She held several leadership roles at the Dallas Parks and Recreation System before coming to Baton Rouge in January 2012.

Her tenure has seen some controversy: most recently the attempt to move the Baton Rouge Zoo from north to south Baton Rouge, as well as a push in September to challenge ExxonMobil’s property tax assessment in hopes of generating more tax revenue.

Still, McKnight has brought on plenty of successes for BREC, including a huge expansion of amenities, major attractions and public green space throughout the parish.

“It’s been an honor to serve this community,” she says. “I believe we’ve done some major things to improve the parks system, and I believe it will continue to grow and improve.”


Which accomplishments from your time at BREC are you most proud of?

Probably at the top of the list would be BREC receiving the gold medal finalist honor three times in a row. It is so significant to our profession, because people look to you when you are a gold medalist or a finalist. They want to imitate what you’re doing.

Another significant move was the implementation of the Imagine Your Parks 2 strategic plan that we are in the process of implementing. We started creating the plan in 2013, we completed it in 2014, and we are working to build all kinds of amenities across the parish from north to south.

The work we did with the Knock Knock Children’s Museum was huge.

We also responded to the 2016 flood. We served in shelters. We opened emergency camps for kids so that parents could go to work or handle a flood issue in their homes. We even used our parks to store debris.

The public has asked for more biking and walking trails. How would you characterize that progress?

We have doubled the miles of trails, and we are still building and designing and working with partners to implement the master plan. Our plan is to complete the north extension from Southern University to the levee all the way to LSU.

We also have the path we put near the Mall of Louisiana, and we’re working with Ochsner to build the bridge over Ward Creek [for a “Medical Loop” trail]. We’re moving as fast as money will allow.

What have been your biggest challenges and disappointments?

I would say the challenge is not having enough resources to move as quickly as the public would like us to move. I know there is a desire for more. We’re excited about that, but it’s going to take the support of the general community, the philanthropic community and the business community to keep moving the system forward.

If you had it to do over, would you handle the zoo issue differently?

We had all of the facts. We had all of the data necessary for a good decision to be made. We did not have the political support. As a result, we’re going to stay where we are, and we’re going to plan the best, most innovative zoo and park at the current location. And we will hopefully get the political leadership and the community to help support the plan.

What are the most important issues your successor will face?

Making sure we are able to reimagine Greenwood Park and the zoo inside the park. Completing the trails master plan.

Hopefully, we’ll get approval from FEMA to build the three safe rooms we’re planning: one at Greenwood, one near Memorial Stadium and one at Airline Park. Those facilities will be designed for recreational programming and would double as a safe house for first responders when floods and other natural disasters happen. We have a proposal, as part of the city-parish resiliency plan, and they are awaiting funding approval from FEMA.

The next person will need to expand and enhance the partnerships we have to make sure we’re able to leverage as many resources as we can. So this person is going to have to be a consensus builder. We have some tax renewals on the ballot down the road, so we have to make sure we’re giving the public what they told us they wanted.

Why retire now?

When I signed that last three-year contract, I told them that would put me at exactly 41 years of employment. I knew that would be my last extension. It was my intent to retire in 2019.

What’s next for you?

The next step is to spoil grandchildren. 


McKnight’s accolades

• In 2016, she won the highest individual award conferred by the National Recreation and Park Association when she was named the organization’s National Distinguished Professional.

• Under her watch, BREC has been a three-time finalist for the NRPA’s Gold Medal Award, which BREC says is the profession’s highest award.

• During her tenure, the amount of trails in the parish has doubled, the long-awaited Knock Knock Children’s Museum opened (read our story on page 34), and facilities across the parish have been modernized.


Interview edited for space and clarity.

This article was originally published in the November 2018 issue of 225 Magazine.