The quotable Bob Lambert

 “I don’t count chickens before referendums.” Bob Lambert, quoted in an April 28, 2004, story previewing a parks referendum. (That referendum failed.)

“There will be controversy. That’s a given.” Bob Lambert, quoted in the Nov. 6, 2002, Eden Prairie News about proposed sites for an off-leash dog park in Eden Prairie.

“I enjoy watching geese as much as anyone else. I think they’re beautiful birds. But they sure don’t leave anything beautiful behind.” – Bob Lambert, talking about the reason Round Lake Beach closed early in the Aug. 28, 2002, issue.

“As I indicated before, I didn’t believe their numbers. Their numbers were not from any engineer. They really were – I don’t know – bar talk.” – Bob Lambert, quoted in Stuart Sudak’s last column as editor of the Eden Prairie News as his “favorite person to quote.” Lambert was talking about a proposal to build outdoor ice rinks in Round Lake Park.

 “I’m outta here!” – before formally announcing his plans to retire at a December 2006 Eden Prairie Parks and Recreation Commission meeting. Lambert has been with the city for almost 30 years.

Source: Eden Prairie News archives.

  

Parks and Recreation director’s last day is March 30

By Karla Wennerstrom

About 30 years ago Bob Lambert told his wife he had made a major mistake getting his master’s degree in parks and recreation management.

He had been working in Cottage Grove for four years and while the first two years were exciting, by the fourth year, he thought, “It’s a boring field.”Bob Lambert: Bob Lambert tries out the new Staring Lake slide

His wife asked him where he would want to work. Lambert said he wouldn’t mind Brainerd, but he said, “Eden Prairie is where the action is.”

A few weeks after they had that discussion, “I was deciding whether I was going to be a realtor,” Lambert said, when he found out that the Eden Prairie position was open. He “threw an application in.”

Lambert met with City Manager Roger Ulstad, who said that Lambert would have to commit to at least two years if he took the job.

Lambert took the weekend to think about it.

Now, 29 years later, “I would have never guessed,” he said. He decided to “stay as long as it’s challenging and fun and it’s been both of those.”

Lambert said Eden Prairie is blessed with a stable bunch of leaders, great staff, great commissions, great councils and a great community.

“I’ve been extremely fortunate to be here,” he said.

Quotable quotes

Lambert has long been known as outspoken – and quotable.

“One of my greatest faults is not being able to tone it down,” he said. “I have seen so many of my previous bosses kind of shudder when I open my mouth.”

“I respect the intelligence of the public,” Lambert said. “It’s very obvious when people give the politically correct answer.”

Besides, he said, “I’m not the brightest bulb on the tree. I basically have always told council members in the past, ‘I’m not going to try to figure out what you want me to say.’

“I’m going to tell people exactly what I believe about something and I’m not going to apologize.”

Public Works Director Gene Dietz, who has been with the city since 1981, said Lambert has always been quotable. “One thing is a constant with Bob, you always knew what was on his mind and where he stood on an issue. That’s not a characteristic you see in a lot of people anymore.”

Lambert said his job is one that generates debate as he is often the one responsible for spending money voted on in referendums.

He offers the Community Center as an example. When you not only spend what was voted on, but spend even more on a somewhat controversial project, he said, “That generates a lot of strong feelings and public discussion.

“I’ve never shied away from public discussion,” he said. “It may be controversial but that’s what democracy is all about.”

Lambert said that the job becomes an almost political position.

“Frankly, I’ve got really thick skin,” he said. “You will never please everyone.”

Building a park system

When Lambert started work in February of 1978, the city had four incomplete parks.

“It became clear to me early on that we didn’t have enough land set aside,” Lambert said.

How was the land obtained? Some was purchased. But 60 percent of the city’s park system was gifted to the city or received by tax forfeit, Lambert said.

Much of it was obtained by requiring developers to include park land in outlots, giving the city conservation and trail easements.

There was pressure for developers to comply as the community was developing quickly. “The developers knew if these were the rules of the game, they were going to have to play it.”

Lambert said that as some park land was being purchased for future use in the early 1980s, some residents questioned the expenditures.

He recalled a letter to the editor saying, “Lambert is spending money up at city hall like a drunken sailor.”

Today there are 52 parks, conservation areas and open spaces, two regional parks as well as sidewalks and trails.

“Bob has been a very dynamic force in our operation,” Dietz said. “He’s grown this park system dramatically and made it the envy of the upper Midwest.”

City Manager Scott Neal said, “I think that Bob’s impact on the way that Eden Prairie looks to people can’t be overstated. In the same way that the architects of the ADC building or the Stellent building, in the same way that their work impacts our visual understanding of Eden Prairie, Bob’s work over the last 29 years has done the same.

“When you take the drive down 212 and see the Minnesota River Valley preserved and the bluffs preserved in their more natural state, you’re seeing Bob Lambert’s work. When you drive by almost any park in this city, you’re seeking Bob Lambert’s vision of how he thought the community would be best served by open space and recreation opportunities.”

Lambert said he’s most proud of the preservation of the community’s creek valleys. He said preserving the lake shores, creek valleys and river bluffs has preserved the character of Eden Prairie.

Embracing change

“I look back at the changes that I’ve seen,” he said. “When I came here there was no soccer.” Now, he said, it’s been the dominant sport in terms of youth participation for 10 years.

Lambert said that the athletic association rules were that all kids played an equal amount of time. All kids played every position and they didn’t keep score. “They understood what recreation was,” Lambert said. “That changed dramatically.”

There were few opportunities for girls to participate in sports.

“Look at how girls play softball or basketball today. We have girls pole vaulting 12 feet. I was a pole vaulter in high school. I didn’t dream of 12 feet on my best day.”

Changes come every year, like providing off-leash dog parks, skateboard parks, disc golf areas. Lambert said that members of the cricket community recently visited with the Parks and Recreation Department.

“There’ll be as many or more changes in the next 30 years,” he said.

 “People – rightfully so – aren’t satisfied with the status quo,” Lambert said. “Either you’re getting better or you’re getting worse.”

Challenges for EP

Challenges the city will face include protecting the resources that have been acquired, Lambert said.

“It seems as though a lot of people who have the privilege of living next to resources believe because it’s public land they can use it for their own use,” he said. The issue of encroachment is not going to be fun for his successor to deal with, he said.

Another challenge he cited is the Eden Prairie Taxpayers Alliance.

“I’ve never had any problem with people questioning how we spend money,” he said, but the recent discussions have been “nasty.”

“If that way of doing business has to continue, that will be a challenge,” Lambert said.

“Most of the challenges here are fun challenges,” Lambert said.

The park system is entering its “third cycle,” he said. First came acquiring land, second was providing basic parks and services, now comes creating spaces with character.

“What can we do to this to make it really special?” Lambert said. He said each neighborhood park should have a personality. “There is so much potential at every one of our park sites.”

Providing services for “the other 50 percent” is also challenging, Lambert said.

That’s what he calls the kids who end up out of organized sports by the time they’re 12 years old.

He said we need to “blast kids out from behind that computer.” The city should offer things that help get them excited to “taste this beautiful world we live in.”

A history with the city

“That walks out the door,” Lambert said of his historical knowledge of the city. “Luckily we have people like Stu Fox.” Lambert said that the department also has a pretty good written record, including detailed annual reports.

Twenty-nine years might seem like a lot, but in the Parks and Recreation Department, several staffers can meet or beat Lambert.

Sandy Werts, who has been with the department for more than 32 years, said that Lambert will be remembered for developing the park system. “He always had a very clear vision of what he wanted Eden Prairie to be.”

Fox, who will celebrate his 30th year with the city in April, said Lambert has been “a terrific person and boss and confidante and just a real first-class person.”

“I don’t think people realize the amount of time and effort that Bob has put in to making the Park and Recreation Department … what it is today,” Fox said.

 “Bob is the only boss I’ve ever known,” said Recreation Manager Laurie Obiazor, calling him a mentor and leader. She calls his outspokenness “moxy.”

“It is refreshing for him to say things he’s actually thinking,” Obiazor said.

“I can’t remember a day I didn’t enjoy coming to work here, and mainly because of the people I get to work with,” Lambert said.

Advice for the new director

“Whoever’s my replacement is going to step into a job with a lot of work,” Lambert said. He said he asked the rest of the staff to give the person some slack “for at least a year.”

When asked if he had any advice for his successor, he said of the candidates being interviewed, “They would probably all do a better job than I’ve done.”

He will come back to offer information or help out if requested, however, “I’m looking forward to a different kind of lifestyle,” Lambert said.

He said after 29 years it’s impossible to walk away and not care, but maybe the new director will say, “I don’t want to hear from the guy.”

Lambert said he learned a lot after he was first hired in Cottage Grove, thinking “I must be really important.”

After six months, “it became very obvious to me that nobody knew who I was or what I was doing unless I was screwing up. Then I started figuring out where I was in the big picture.”

The decisions can be important, he said, “but the day-to-day stuff you have to keep in perspective.”

Neal said that interviews with candidates were held Friday and a decision on the new Parks and Recreation director was expected this week.

Lambert’s shelter

Lambert’s last day is Friday, March 30.

Then he plans to spend time on the farm outside St. Peter where his great-great grandfather homesteaded in 1855. He lives there with his father, who turns 93 on March 31, his wife and his two grandchildren, Amari, 6, and Yaasiyel, 8. “Life would be really boring without those two,” he said.

He has four quarter horses and plans to add a few more. He said now he’ll have time “to see whether I’m really a trainer or not.”

He said he’s looking forward to being able to go fishing, work in the garden and take the kids on vacations without worrying about getting back.

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, a proposal was unanimously approved that will name the shelter at Purgatory Creek Recreation Area in honor of Lambert.

A retirement party for Lambert is set for Friday, March 30, at the Garden Room at City Center, 8080 Mitchell Road, Eden Prairie. A program is set at 5:30 p.m. with dinner at 6. To RSVP for the fried chicken dinner, call Brenda Uting at 952-949-8441 by March 23. Cost is $15.