“The Parks are in Good Hands” – Interview with Marlene Finley, San Mateo County Parks Director
Marlene Finley led the San Mateo County Parks Department for the past three years after a long career with the US Forest Service. The parks flourished during her tenure with park expansion (Devil’s Slide Trail, Memorial Park, Pillar Point), record attendance, and a reinvigorated team. Recently the San Mateo County Parks Foundation had the opportunity to speak with Marlene about the parks and her upcoming retirement. Can you describe the San Mateo County Parks? The San Mateo County Parks is a 93 year old system with a lot of tradition and diversity. It includes playgrounds, picnic shelters, trails, stables, and a marina. It includes many wild places like the redwoods along Pescadero Creek and tidepools along the coast. It offers a diversity of natural resources and park facilities, so there is something for everyone. What accomplishments are you most proud of as Director? One theme involved rebuilding the parks after the recession and reinstating the parks as a department. We created a natural resource program. We increased visitor services with interpretation. We’ve embraced social media. With the uptick of resources from Measure A, we’ve added many projects. We’ve made improvements and addressed deferred maintenance. We also increased the number of park rangers. Those improvements…
