After almost 40 years with the city parks department, the Queens parks commissioner is calling it a career.

Dorothy Lewandowski will retire at the end of the year. She has been the borough's parks commissioner for 14 years. She started with the department in 1979 with a Summer job as a ranger in Prospect Park. Over the years she has worked in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the Bronx before coming to Queens. Lewandowski says she will miss the job but she is proud of the work she did to help improve parks in the borough and the city.

" I think in general we have done really well. I feel very strong about the bonds I made with local communities. I'll miss that, I will miss many of the workers but I still live in the borough, "said Lewandowski.

The parks department is still interviewing candidates. An acting commissioner will be chosen in the interim.