Comments for City Parks Blog

Comment on What is Your City’s ParkScore? by Thomas Baker

Thomas Baker — Sun, 27 May 2012 01:41:08 +0000

To clarify a point made by Randy A. Simes. The city boundaries of Columbus DO NOT include the entire county. Suburbs are separate municipalities, as are unincorporated township areas.

Comment on What is Your City’s ParkScore? by Ryan Donahue

Ryan Donahue — Thu, 24 May 2012 22:10:25 +0000

Hi, Randy. Thanks for your input. That’s definitely an interesting and valid point. The issue of where a “city” begins and ends is a complicated one with all sorts of implications. I would argue that if the city boundary is too restrictive in some cases (i.e., it doesn’t truly reflect the urban form of places like Cincinnati and Minneapolis), the metropolitan areas that you cite aren’t restrictive enough.

Take Minneapolis, for which the official metropolitan area (population 3.3 million) extends all the way to St. Croix County, Wisconsin. According to the 2010 census, the population density of St. Croix County is 0.2 people per acre. Oklahoma City, the least-dense city included in ParkScore, is more than seven times as dense, at 1.5 people per acre.

To rank “city park systems” using areas with less than 1 person per acre would be extremely misleading.

Unfortunately, there is no consistent, universal way to define a city in such a way that all “urban” areas are included and all “suburban” areas are excluded. We think that the city boundary is most appropriate. Fortunately, we plan on expanding ParkScore, and many of the cities you mentioned will certainly be included.

Comment on What is Your City’s ParkScore? by Randy A. Simes

Randy A. Simes — Thu, 24 May 2012 19:01:34 +0000

City boundaries are arbitrary when it comes to population. For example, Louisville, Columbus and Indianapolis all have artificially high population numbers because their city boundaries include the entire county in which they exist. Meanwhile, cities like Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Cleveland are much larger cities than what their official city population would indicate because of their politically constrained boundaries.

The fact that El Paso (680k), Fort Worth (740k), Fresno (510k), Memphis (1.3 million), Mesa (440k) and Virginia Beach (438k), but Cincinnati (2.2 million), Cleveland (2 million), Minneapolis (3.3 million), Pittsburgh (2.3 million), St. Louis (2.8 million) and Tampa (2.5 million) are not is a bit silly.

Comment on What is Your City’s ParkScore? by Jeremy

Jeremy — Thu, 24 May 2012 17:26:43 +0000

I think the study is somewhat flawed when you are looking at cities with urban/county governments. For instance, Louisville is judged on its massive city/county boundary (400 sq. mi), not the city itself, which has a pretty respectable park system for a city with 300,000 people.

Other cities on your list that do a similar consolidated gov’t are Indianapolis, Nashville, and Jacksonville just off the top of my head.

Comment on What is Your City’s ParkScore? by Ryan Donahue

Ryan Donahue — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:36:23 +0000

Thanks for your comment, Curt. ParkScore included the 40 largest cities by population. While the Minneapolis-St.Paul-Bloomington metro area, as defined by the census, is the 16th most populous in the U.S., the city of Minneapolis is actually the 49th largest by population.

Other large metro areas whose primary city is not in the 40 largest by population include: Tampa, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Orlando, Cincinnati, and Cleveland.

We certainly plan on expanding the scope of ParkScore in the near future, and Minneapolis would be included. Additionally, we have been collecting data on Minneapolis for years in our City Park Facts report, available at tpl.org/cityparkfacts. The 2012 report will be out this summer.

The Trust for Public Land is heavily invested in the Twin Cities. Check out our Parks for People – Twin Cities projects at: http://www.tpl.org/what-we-do/where-we-work/minnesota/parks-for-people-twin-cities.html

Comment on What is Your City’s ParkScore? by Curt

Curt — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:21:58 +0000

Really?!?! Minneapolis was not even included in the rankings. Also, as of 9:20 AM CST, your links do not work.

Comment on Proceed Without Caution: Cities Add Parkland by Closing Streets and Roads to Cars by Theodore "Ted" Mastroianni

Theodore "Ted" Mastroianni — Tue, 22 May 2012 21:22:05 +0000

There is an error in your article dated April 2012 on Park Closings.

in the section on dates when the parks were closed to traffic, you gave the date of 1983 for Piedmont Park, Atlanta, GA

The Park roads were closed in 1977 on a weekend basis. They were closed entirely in 1983.

I enjoyed your article and the work you do.

Sincerely,

Ted Mastroianni
Commissioner/Director of Altanta, GA Parks, Libraries and Cultural Affairs Department 1975-1979

Comment on Park Conservancy Models Part I: Buffalo Bayou Partnership and Detroit 300 Conservancy by las artes

las artes — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:40:10 +0000

With the flurry of new development plans, Campus Martius is once again the focus of Detroit’s downtown as the city prepares to enter a new century, just as it was when the city entered this one.

Comment on Park Conservancy Models Part I: Buffalo Bayou Partnership and Detroit 300 Conservancy by Park Conservancy Models Part II: Madison Square Park Conservancy and The Civic Center Conservancy « City Parks Blog

Sat, 05 May 2012 03:46:59 +0000

[...] This is part two of a three-part series looking at the histories of six different city park conservancies. Read part one here. [...]

Comment on Innovations in Urban Green, Questions for Peter Harnik by 'Cockeyed Optimist' Peter Harnik Honored as Rail-Trail Champion - RTC TrailBlog - Rails-to-Trails Conservancy

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 14:15:46 +0000

[...] to advocate for the benefits of trails and green spaces to modern communities. His latest book, Urban Green: Innovative Parks for Resurgent Cities, features a chapter on rail-trails, and a photo of New York's High Line graces the cover. Harnik is [...]