NEWS BLIPS
Minneapolis Ranks As Best Park System From Major US Cities
Editor's Note: This news item was retrieved and first published through Next Ciy's website.
Next City reports that Minneapolis, Minnesota, has been voted the best park system in a major city in the U.S. for the third year running, according to the Trust for Public Land’s ParkScore index, released last month. Minneapolis outscored rival city St. Paul by just a few points, ranking higher on both park access (the percentage of residents within a 10-minute walk of a park) and park acreage (the percentage of city area dedicated to parks). St. Paul outscored Minneapolis on amenities but it wasn’t enough to push it to first.
According to the article by Next City writer Rachel Kaufman, "The Trust for Public Land has been running its annual ParkScore rankings for seven years, ranking cities on park access, amenities, acreage and per-capita spending on parks." This year, the Trust updated its algorithm to include splashpads and restrooms as amenities, and added volunteer hours and charitable contributions to its calculation of parks spending. This provides “a ranking boost to cities whose residents strongly support their park systems,” TPL said. Other fun facts from the ParkScore report 2018: Boise, Idaho, is still the best city for dogs, with 6.7 dog parks per 100,000 residents; Norfolk, VA, has the most basketball hoops; and Cleveland, Ohio, has the most splashpads and water features.
For more details from The Trust for Public Land's ParkScore index, read the complete article.