If we're about to get on this beautiful morning. >> I promise our program will be brief. All right. Thank you so much for joining us on this absolutely gorgeous morning. Uh welcome to Mosart Park. Uh I'm I'm There
we go. Thank you, Steve. Much better. Um I'm we're we're tremendously excited to be here today uh to announce the appointment of the next leader of our treasured Boston Parks and Recreation Department. Uh but before I begin, I want to uh in particular thank uh our steward for the last year of the Boston
Parks and Rec Department, Kathy Baker Eclipse as interim commissioner. Uh for for folks who who may have not noticed, she was she was doing two jobs for the last year. Um did not drop a ball the entire time uh and has really kept us moving forward. So, uh, we're
so, um, thankful for your time as interim commissioner and really privileged to have you continuing to lead our capital program as we, uh, deliver a 21st century park system, uh, going forward. So, thank you so much, uh, and I'm very grateful. Uh, so, the Boston Parks and Recck Department stewards and programs over
2200 acres of permanently protected open space, including a thousand acres of which make up the historic Emerald Necklace. This inventory includes over 283 properties, including two award-winning golf courses, 16 historic burial grounds, and three active cemeteries.
The the parks and recck department is also responsible for 46,000 street trees uh in the city of Boston and really plays a pivotal role in ensuring canopy coverage and reduction of urban heat uh as we think about how the city needs to adapt to climate change. But more than that, the parks and open spaces define
Boston's neighborhoods and communities. This is where we gather and we play. This is where we protest and we grieve. This is where we reflect and we celebrate. And more recently, this is also where we protect our neighborhoods and our future generations from climate change. Parks and open spaces and the
thousands of programs and activities and athletic events that occur in them every year help define what it means to be a Bostononian and create a city where everyone can call home. As such, we are tremendously excited today that our new commissioner will also serve in a new
role as deputy chief of open space for the city, serving as the primary convenor of open space policy, facilitating alignment across city cabinets, departments, and external stakeholders, bridging city, state, federal, and private entities. This new role will ensure a cohesive and
equitable vision for Boston's public realm now and for generations into the future. Over the last several decades, and in particular in the last four years, parks and recck leadership and staff has worked tirelessly to bring our land and our nature under our stewardship into a state of good health
and deliver an everinccreasing and diversifying array of recreation, arts, and youth programming for all Bostononians to enjoy. We're now in a position to take Boston's historic and treasured parks and open spaces to the next level, bringing the oldest park system in the country back to the
pinnacle of park systems everywhere in the world and prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the next century. So, I am excited that we found the leader to lead us on that journey. Uh, I'm intentionally not announcing her name because it is the privilege of the person I get to announce next to
announce her name. Uh it is my pleasure to introduce uh a phenomenal user of our park systems and the best mayor uh in this country for parks and open space, our mayor, Mayor Michelle Woo. >> Thank you so much, Chief Sweat, for all that you do, your incredible leadership,
your vision, and the um sense of camaraderie and collaboration that you instill in everything that we do across all of our city departments. Uh, okay. So, I'll just Diana Fernandez Bibbo is the just so weita can pierce the suspense. Um, but I want to say a few
words about why we're here, who we all are um and and what the hope is for the future for um all of us to move together. So, if you just even look around this incredible space,
Mozart Park is a beloved beloved um part of the heartbeat of this community and a place where we have many many civic conversations and events as well. This is one of our traditional coffee hour spots. You can come at just about any
time of day and and certainly on the weekends and see every generation here enjoying the space. We're also here um to recognize that there's work ongoing. So, don't worry. This is under um planned renovation and uh the the uh
incoming commissioner was just reminding me that this will be done and open in time for next summer. We're doing some resurfacing of the courts here and trying always to um not just ensure we're thinking big, but getting all the little details right that are needed in
our communities. So, thank you. Thank you to all of the many many city team members who are here. Uh there are are a number of cabinet officials in addition to Chief Sweat who are who were part of today's announcement but also part of the collaboration that helps uh draw and
expand the impact of our parks department. Uh our chief of planning Kyro Shen who knows Diana well um and also knows our park system well and and Devin and so many others from the planning department team. Uh Dr. Isaac Yabau, who coordinates all of our who's
our senior adviser and um head of violence prevention and community safety at the Boston Public Health Commission and and from my office. Um Katherine from our planning advisory uh council and Chief Dion Irish uh of chief of operations. I know Chief Brianna Malure
of community engagement is here. I think I saw Commissioner Commissioner Michael Cox of the Boston Police Department and uh members of the the command staff are here. And I see Luis um Perez Maurici who is the director of Franklin Park. We
have shout out to Franklin Park and to Luis um and others from various cabinets and and departments too. Small business um communications. Everyone is represented here. I also want to recognize that there are
a number of elected officials who are here because they can't wait to be the first one in to uh get their list of requests in for things that they need in their communities, but also who have been such important partners in this work. So, thank you to State Representative Rob Consalvo, State
Senator Mike Rush, uh, State Representative Sam Montano, who I see every weekend in all of our parks, uh, both as elected officials and also as park users, as community members, family members. Um, really grateful for all of
you and thank you for supporting all that we do across the city and certain especially in open space. I want to also recognize members of our community organizations and and various groups that are here. Our friends from the Environmental League of Massachusetts. Thank you for all your support. They
have also generously donated breakfast from Piccolo. So, some some treats afterwards for all of us. Um various Raise your hand if you're part of a a climate organization in some shape or fashion. Okay. So, we have a a number of folks uh represented Franklin Park
Coalition, Elm. Um anyway, friends of groups across all of the entire city, thank you. Thank you for joining us. And a very special welcome for our fifth graders from the JFK Elementary and to Principal Copeland. Thank you for all
that you do. We already got some great ideas of what we need in our park system. So, um Diana already heard we need some cat parks in addition to dog parks and um we need to make sure there's access everywhere. So, keep the ideas coming. These are your parks and
um we are doing everything we can so that you enjoy them now but also so that our young people will enjoy them for decades and generations to come. Um, finally, and very, very importantly, I want to echo Brian's thanks to Kathy Baker Clips, who for the last eight,
nine months has led this department and built on her incredible track record um, 17 years within the parks department prior as well. Thank you for all that you do. Thank you for your care and your love and your determination that Boston will keep moving forward no matter what
the federal and outside landscape has been. Um, and so so many of the ribbon cutings and renovations and most joyful events are because of your leadership and stewardship and we're going to keep them coming. So, thank you Kathy and thank you to the entire parks
department. Oh, and I'll shout out the two um previous commissioners too before that are also here. Liza Meyer uh now at Friends of the Public Garden. Thank you for all that you do. It's great to see you just very recently. And Ryan Woods.
Thank you, Ryan. Now at meet Boston. So today we're here to officially share that starting June 1st, Diana Fernandez Bibbo will be the next commissioner of parks and recreation for the city of Boston and our first ever deputy chief of open space. Diana is a licensed landscape architect who spent a decade,
shout out to all the architects in the house. Diana's a uh has spent a decade designing parks and public spaces before joining city government. And through that work and through her own lived experiences, she understands the little things, the small design
choices, the tiny details that make all the difference between a park people pass through and a park people stay in. And she also understands the big picture that parks are where we all belong and that our choices in how we invest, where
we invest, who we bring into the conversations about what's needed have all the the difference in truly making our parks a home away from home for each and every one of our community members. Since 2022,
Diana has served as Since 2022, Diane has served as deputy chief of urban design in our planning department. And in that role, she's raised the bar for public space access across our neighborhoods, reforming the design review process to prioritize quality and predictability. She's worked on
improving the Rose Kennedy Greenway, implementing the Franklin Park Action Plan, and carrying out many other projects in partnership with our communities, and always pushing us to think creatively about how public space could better serve our residents. As commissioner, she'll oversee our 2200
acres of parkland and the more than 300 incredible team members who care for it. She'll also take on the new role of deputy chief of open space where for the first time one point of contact, one leader will be responsible for managing our open space network across city
departments and private philanthropic and community partners to make our open spaces more connected and accessible. Diana is an immigrant, a Dominicana, a BPS mom and a dedicated gardener.
She understands that our parks must serve everyone from all our communities in all our neighborhoods. And she understands the power of public space to create a sense of belonging. I am so excited for her to take on this role and to continue making Boston even greener, more welcoming, and more
connected. More than 150 years ago, Frederick Law Olmstead imagined a continuous green corridor running from the common through the Backbay and the fence out through Roxbury and Dorchester all the way to the harbor at Marine Park. The part that he completed is what
we know today as the Emerald Necklace. But that eastern stretch, the parkway that was meant to extend the necklace through Dorchester out to the ocean, was never built. The neighborhoods that would have been connected by that last piece were workingclass immigrant black
and brown residents. And we didn't see the same investment that the other neighborhoods did. The map we have today of the Emerald Necklace is not the map that Olmstead drew. And every gap between what our residents have and what they deserve is a gap that the city has
a responsibility to close. Under Diana's leadership and with the coordination across all of our city departments and our community, we will grow and connect our open spaces, care for what we have, and bring more programming into parks across every neighborhood to be the places where we
all belong. Boston is home to the first public park in America. And so we are the oldest park system. For 391 years, we've made space for everyone to gather and belong. We are going to ensure that these legacy
parks are the backbone, the lungs, the heart of our community. And we are going to continue adding tree canopy, open space, investing in our parks and playgrounds in every neighborhood, every pocket of the city so that our residents truly have what they deserve and that we
can be a city where every generation, every culture comes to our parks as at home away from home. Congratulations to Diana. Thank you for your dedication to Boston and thank you to your whole family. to Devvin, Kayla, Aiden, and Charlie. We love the Red Sock, the green monster
green. And now before I pass it on to our our incoming commissioner. Okay. Kathy Baker Eclipseime, Diana Fernandez, Serala The architect. Urbano.
Fore philanthropos. accessib. Diana mucho. Thank you so much to everyone for all of your leadership in our parks. And now I'll pass it on to our incoming
commissioner, Diana Fernandez Bibbo. Thank you, Mayor Woo, and thank you, Brian, um, for granting me this opportunity to serve the city in this way and to join the parks and recreation team as commissioner and deputy chief of open space. I also want to thank Kathy
Baker Lips for all your incredible work and the many years of collaboration and partnership I've shared with you during my time here at city hall. And I also want to acknowledge the very important role you'll continue to play as a head of capital projects within the division.
Standing before you today, I am overwhelmed with gratitude and I recognize the profound weight of this moment to think that the daughter of immigrants, a little girl who barely spoke English, would one day be
entrusted with the care of Boston's most treasured landscapes. and as a first Latina in this role is beyond what my wildest childhood dreams could be. As I step into this role, the very first thing I want to do is to acknowledge the
incredible parks and recreation staff already doing the hard work. Coming from a family of laborers and having done hard physical labor myself before becoming a professional, I know firsthand the effort you put in day in
and day out. The sweat, the exhaustion, and the deep pride that goes into what you do, maintaining our parks, running our programs, and caring for our green spaces. It is a true heartbeat of our city. Your dedication ensures that our parks
are safe and welcoming and I am deeply honored to join your ranks. And this is why I'm so excited to step into this role and to champion an ambitious and community- centered agenda.
An agenda that is focused on centering on growing, protecting, and programming healthy, resilient, and beautifully designed open spaces. And that means that we have to think big and rise to the challenges of a changing world.
We can actively grow our footprint through a generational investment in open space creation. Taking on the unfinished work of Fderick Law Olmstead, completing the Emerald Necklace. We can also protect our open spaces,
strengthening open space protections, enhancing ecological health, and mitigating the impacts of increased heat and flooding. And finally, and most importantly, and I'm looking to Mrs. Harris for this, we can program our open spaces so that
we can guarantee equitable access to year-round recreational access for all of our residents in the city. And yes, that means spring, summer, winter, and fall sports that are truly accessible to every student, every
resident in the city. I'm also deeply excited to bring a new perspective, celebrate the identity of many of the spaces that our city bels and ensuring that we can create community spaces where everyone can
belong. And when I think about the future that we're building here in Boston, I think about my parents. Decades ago, they immigrated to this country from the Dominican Republic in search of a better future. The sacrifices, hard work,
imagination, and resilience they modeled so fire in me for making the world a better place. Regardless of who you are, how much you make, or where you come from, I know that the work ahead is vast and
as JFK once said, we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do other things not because they are easy, but because they are hard. And in this moment, as the incoming leader of the parks and recreation department, we are choosing to dream big, to do the hard things, not
because they are easy, but because they are hard. In closing, I also want to acknowledge my family, my aunt, my mother-in-law, my kids, and my sister who are all here with me today. They are the folks behind me making sure that I can dedicate and
pour my heart and soul into the work that I do. And a special thanks to my husband and my children, Kayla, Aiden, and Charlie. I love you so much. I am honored to serve the city in this
capacity and to also serve with a mayor who puts our residents first in everything she does. Thank you, mayor, and I can't wait to get to work. Bueno. And uh you'll have to forgive me. My Spanish is uh how I speak with my
family. Not very professional. Um, Baker Project Superch. Professional. Foreign STOs. Homestead. for
you see artistico. John F. Kennedy Moment. Mia mera. Aiden E. Charlie. All right. Um, please enjoy the rest of your beautiful day. There are a few more delicious empanadas over here. I don't want to bring any with me back to the
office. Um, so please grab those, but thank you for joining us uh on this momentous occasion. Brian, are you on topic question? Oh, >> if they're on topic questions, uh, the mayor's happy to take Oh, okay. >> Diana, do you want to
>> It's a little windy. Stay