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Axios
13-06-2025
- General
- Axios
Indy's new and improved park system
If you haven't hit a local trail or been to a pool in a while, there's a chance your favorite park has gotten a facelift since your last visit. Why it matters: A multiyear, multimillion-dollar plan to strengthen Indy's parks is bearing fruit across the Circle City this summer as new and improved facilities debut. State of play: Last month's grand opening of the Grassy Creek Environmental Community Center on the east side marks the end of the $45 million Circle City Forward initiative announced in 2021 to improve our parks. It also included the Riverside Adventure Park, which opened May 1; the Frederick Douglass Park Family Center, which opened in May 2024; the renovated Krannert Park Family Center, which opened in January 2024; and the Riverside Promenade, which opened in October 2023. Yes, but: Circle City Forward was just one piece of a more than $140 million parks investment puzzle that also includes the city's $16 million American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding and an $80 million Lilly Endowment grant to pay for improvements across 42 parks. Zoom in: The ARPA projects will transform 28 playgrounds in 26 parks by the end of this year. Seventeen of those projects are done. In addition, ARPA funding covered the cost of the Wes Montgomery Basketball Pavilion, which opened late last year. Lilly grant projects currently under construction include Tarkington Park, Holliday Park, Washington Park and Garfield Park. Stunning stat: The funding will allow Indy Parks and Recreation to replace more than 40% of the city's 132 playgrounds, according to Indy Parks spokesperson Alex Cortwright. Flashback: The city's post-pandemic push to make our parks better came years after falling to the bottom of the annual ParkScore Index rankings alongside Fort Wayne in 2017. The two cities have since opted out of participating in ParkScore, according to a spokesman for the Trust for Public Land, a pro-park nonprofit that compiles the rankings. While Indy isn't part of the rankings, the nonprofit's assessment of the city found that just 4% of its land is used for parks and recreation, well below the national median of 15%. Meanwhile, the nonprofit says, 35% of Indianapolis residents live within a 10-minute walk of one of our more than 220 parks. That's a far cry from the national average of 76% among the 100 most populous U.S. cities, and 57% among all urban communities. Between the lines: Cortwright said that scoring is affected in part by our city's history. Many of our parks were established before the " Unigov" legislation that merged city and county governments in 1970, expanding the city's territorial jurisdiction from 82 to 402 square miles. The majority of our parks are within the old city boundaries, he said. What they're saying: "That's where you see a lot of those empty areas, and where we're looking to establish more parks. That's why things like what we're working on in Decatur Township where we acquired some land last year are really so important," Cortwright said.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
San Francisco's parks rank 6th best in the U.S.
The Brief A national nonprofit has ranked San Francisco's park system as the 6th best in the U.S. San Francisco received high marks for access and investment. Washington D.C.'s park system came in first place in the ranking. SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco's park system has been ranked as one of the best in the country. What we know The city ranked sixth on a national index moving up one spot from last year. According to a study by the Trust For Public Land, investments and access to parks are major factors contributing to San Francisco's high ranking. Other Bay Area cities in the 'Top 50' were Fremont at number 38, San Jose at 41 and Oakland at 44. Dig deeper The ParkScore Index compares park systems across the country's 100 most populated cities in the U.S. San Francisco received 80.2 points out of 100 based on five categories including; acreage, acreage, access, investment, amenities and equity. The city scored perfect scores in the categories of access and investment. Access looks at the percentage of a city's residents that live within a walkable half-mile of a park. Investment looks at the relative financial health of a city's park system, which is essential to ensuring the park system is maintained at a high level, according to the index. Washington D.C.'s park system came in first place, with Irvine, California and Minneapolis, Minnesota rounding out the top three in the rankings. For a more detailed look at some of the data on San Francisco's parks, check out the ParkServe map. For more on the ParkScore methodology, click here. Trust For Public Land is a nonprofit focused on creating park space and ensuring everyone has access to a park space within a 10-minute walk from their home.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
St. Paul's parks rank fifth-best in the nation
St. Paul's sprawling park system ranks fifth-best in the nation, down two spots from last year and two spots behind Minneapolis, according to the latest annual scorecard from the Trust for Public Land. The capital city's parks have long landed in the top three of the 100 most populous cities surveyed, and losing some ground in this year's ParkScore Index is not for lack of public investment, said Sophie Harris Vorhoff, Minnesota State director with the nonprofit parks advocacy organization. In fact, Minneapolis spends $324 per person on its park system, and St. Paul invests $248, both of which are well above the national ParkScore average of $133. And, that investment is growing. St. Paul voters went to the polls in November 2023 and approved a percentage point increase to the city's sales tax, which is expected to generate $1 billion over 20 years, including $246 million for parks. As more sales tax-funded projects come online, it's possible the city regains its perch in the top 3, Vorhoff said. Washington, D.C., always a strong contestant, ranked first this year, as it did in 2024. Irvine, Calif., which came in second, was recognized for its progress on building one of the most ambitious municipal parks in the country — Great Park, which currently spans 500 acres, and will soon add 300 more. Minneapolis fell a spot to third this year and Cincinnati — which renovated its downtown Lytle Park and engaged in a citywide effort to improve public access to schoolyards and other open spaces — came in fourth. For the Twin Cities, 'the drop in rankings is really a reflection on other cities making investments and strides forward, rather than a lack of investment in the two cities,' Vorhoff said. The Trust for Public Land is working with school districts to renovate outdated schoolyards into welcoming places that families can enjoy during non-school hours. Five such projects are underway in Minnesota from Red Lake to Rochester, including the upcoming overhaul of St. Paul's Maxfield Elementary School playground on Victoria Street in the Old Rondo neighborhood. Groundbreaking for that project — which drew students and community members together for planning — will take place in early June. 'There was a student-led class about what makes a great space for all,' Vorhoff said. 'From your 8-year-olds to your 80-year-olds, what makes a great space to play?' Another group of playgrounds will be chosen next year. Other parks projects moving forward in St. Paul include the upcoming opening of downtown Pedro Park at 10th and Robert streets, which has undergone $8 million in planning and construction, and the Wakan Tipi Center, a cultural and environmental learning center under construction within the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary. The center — led by Wakan Tipi Awanyankapi, previously known as the Lower Phalen Creek Project — is 'a national model project, and it's exciting to see it moving ahead,' Vorhoff said. New this year, the Trust for Public Land surveyed voters who supported Donald Trump or Kamala Harris in the last presidential election and found heavily similar attitudes toward public park space. In all, 80% of Harris voters and 83% of Trump voters described themselves as regular visitors to local parks and said they feel comfortable there. Two-thirds of both groups said they had struck up a conversation with a person they did not know at the park. The National Survey on Outdoor Public Spaces was conducted by national pollster YouGov in March, and survey details are included in the new Trust for Public Land report 'Parks, The Great Unifiers.' Lowertown favorite Dark Horse to reopen, from owners of Can Can Wonderland and St. Paul Brewing Charge: DNA links St. Paul man to 2013 rape at Maplewood motel CommonBond Communities to outsource, layoff 117 from St. Paul headquarters Shooter gets 33½-year prison term for killing St. Paul man after Edina birthday dinner Chroma Zone mural festival returns to St. Paul for sixth year
