New leader of Louisville Parks and Recreation to focus on park improvements, maintenance

There's a new face of Louisville Parks and Recreation. On Friday, Mayor Craig Greenberg introduced Michelle King as the organization's next executive director.After a nationwide search, Greenberg said King, a lifelong Louisville resident, is the right leader for Louisville's Parks and Recreation department. King has served as the assistant director of the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District for about 20 years.When she takes over as the head of Louisville Parks and Recreation in June, King said her goal is not to change the direction of the organization, but to further it."My goal is really to be able to be a strategic umbrella for the team that we have in place," King said. "Really allow them to continue the big moves that we're seeing in our parks using the great investments that we've received and hope to continue to see."Having quality parks and recreational facilities matters to locals like Shauna Watson, who stopped to share what she wants to see while strolling through Alberta O. Jones Park in the California neighborhood."Trash bins that aren't overflowed, so it shows that someone's coming to actually take out the trash," said Watson. "Lots of benches and seating for the parents to be able to observe their kids playing."King said she plans to make the needs of the community her top priority. As the new executive director, she said one of the things she's looking forward to is improving parks across Louisville, including the Alberta O. Jones Park expansion.According to Metro Government, some of her biggest projects this year will be building new pools at Algonquin and Camp Taylor parks. King said she will also focus on removing graffiti and performing maintenance that's been on hold for years."It would be nice to see stuff removed in a timely fashion," said Watson. "You keep coming back, and it's still kind of same, or things that are broken are still broken."King will officially take over as executive director of Louisville Parks and Recreation on June 24 and will get right to work so families in Louisville can have parks to enjoy for years to come."It's a big job," King exclaimed. "Parks and Recreation is a huge organization with so much responsibility to our community."