Oct. 18 was Ryan Woods Day in the city of Boston. It was a fitting way to salute a fine public servant who spent 24 years working in city government.

As first revealed in The Reporter, Woods announced plans to step aside as the Commissioner of Parks and Recreation last month

The 40-year-old Dot native is set to start a new job at MeetBoston, the region’s primary private sector agency charged with encouraging tourism to the city.

Woods served under three mayors, including Mayor Wu, who stopped by a farewell event for him held last week at the Landmark Public House in Adams Village.

“It will be hard to find anyone who loves the city of Boston more and who lives and breathes public service,” Wu told The Reporter. “I’m really grateful for all the work he has dedicated to our residents, our neighborhoods, and our city.

“We talk a lot about making the parks not just a line item on the budget or a point on a map,” the mayor said, “ but spaces where you take your own kids like he did and meet the high standards of our biggest critics – our own children. Ryan brought so much to the job from his experience to his relationships.”

For Woods and his wife Lauren, their three kids have been a big part of his success and his approach to the job. As he told The Reporter’s Seth Daniel in an interview last month:
“I also take my kids to a lot of other parks around the city and their input has helped me a lot. They have a rating system of 3, 2, or 1, and they’ll tell me, ‘Dad, that one was just a 2.’ The input really has helped.”

Woods and his team at Parks did a terrific job covering a lot of ground across the neighborhoods. There are 331 city-owned parks, cemeteries, golf courses, and squares— and most of them have daily users who are very invested in their upkeep and in safety issues. In our experience, Woods was always responsive, practical, and hands-on in his approach. It was the style of a leader who cared about the job itself and the constituents he was there to serve.

Ryan Woods can look back with pride on the legacy of improvements made on his watch here in Dorchester. Perhaps the best example is Garvey Playgound in Neponset, which was transformed through a $5.8 million project that resulted in stunning new ballfields, play areas, and open space. It reopened in 2021 after an 18-month construction effort that Woods oversaw during the Walsh administration.

But every neighborhood in the city has seen investments and proper care during the Woods era at Parks. That’s as it should be. We are grateful to Commissioner Woods and his team for a very job well done.

-Bill Forry