After 13 great years, the Director of Parks and Recreation is off to new adventures.
We join Mayor Carter in a salute to retiring Director of Saint Paul Parks and Rec, Mike Hahm. Mike is a lifelong Saint Paul resident whose parks career began more than 35 years ago as a recreation center employee while he was finishing his business degree at the University of Saint Thomas.
“It has been my honor and privilege to lead Saint Paul Parks and Recreation these past 13 years,” says Mike. “I believe I speak on behalf of our entire community in saying that we have the best parks and recreation system in the nation and a staff that is second to none. I am grateful for the political and public support of our work that has made this possible.”
Mike’s notable career highlights include championing efforts to expand free youth programming in recreation centers, outdoor programming for Saint Paul’s BIPOC community and mobile recreation offerings, and successfully strengthening strategic public-private partnerships in an effort to counter shrinking budgets, including the Saint Paul Parks Conservancy, Great River Passage Conservancy, the Trust For Public Land, and Como Friends.
Close to our hearts at the Conservancy is Mike’s work to add culturally relevant amenities to the park system, including the nation’s first public Kato courts, which was a Conservancy partnership.
Thank you, Mike, for all you have done to make Saint Paul’s park system the envy of the nation!