The City of Portland has a new parks director, Mike Abbaté. He replaces Zari Santner, who retired, and Sue Keil, who served as interim parks director while the FBI was raiding her old bureau, transportation, over the parking meter contracting scandal.

Abbaté has worked at the parks bureau for half a year. Before that he was a city planner out in Gresham, and apparently he had a real job at one point as a landscape architect.

He inherits a park system that's basically insolvent, and with lots of deferred maintenance needs. At last report, Portland had to draw on a line of credit for $320,000 just to cover park maintenance expenses. In addition, it's got more than $16 million in long-term park bonds outstanding, and that too is earmarked for maintenance.

Abbaté's predecessor tried for quite a while to sell off parkland and lease it to private corporations to make the park system a profit center. Those moves were flushed out and stopped, but neglect continues. Like all other essential city services, the parks are being held hostage to streetcar projects, "urban renewal," and the Mystery Train to Milwaukie. There's plenty of money to build condo toys, but to cut the grass in the parks you have to hold a bake sale.

And of course, one of his first jobs will be dealing with Occupy Portland and the leadership being shown in that situation by the city's unique mayor. Good luck to you, Mike Abbaté. Try not to get indicted.