facilities | City Parks Blog

Park Signage: 2017

Posted on December 14, 2017 by Center for City Park Excellence

I’ve had the opportunity to visit a number of cities and their park systems in 2017 through my work with The Trust for Public Land as well as in my spare time. I love examining the features of parks and have been paying close attention to signage in the past few years. I wanted to share a few of the many park signs that I saw in the past year as a fun end of the year retrospective.

– Charlie McCabe, Center for City Park Excellence, The Trust for Public Land.

Boston, MA

Sheridan Memorial Park_Trust for Public Land Event_05-24-2017_61H

19554748_10213650855050223_5546550111373192613_n

The signage shown above is from the following cities: Albuquerque, Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Dallas, Gloucester, Houston, Minneapolis, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St John (NB, Canada), St. Paul, San Francisco.

Filed under: City Parks, facilities | Tagged: interpretive, regulations, rules, signage, signs | Leave a comment »

Greater & Greener in Minneapolis & St. Paul

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Center for City Park Excellence

Not too many park systems have their own lighthouses…

St. Anthony falls on the Mississippi

We’re just six weeks away from the start of the Greater & Greener Urban Parks Conference in Minneapolis and St. Paul and we want to encourage you to attend. You can register on the website.

hike/bike trail footbridge over a stream that empties into the Mississippi.

Recently, the Trust for Public Land held their first all-staff in person meeting in many, many years on the campus of the University of Minnesota and we were able to enjoy a little of these two great park systems. The weather was great and it should be an amazing conference there. We’re posting a few pictures of what we saw to encourage you to register and join us. (The Trust for Public Land is a sponsor and will be well represented at the Conference. And of course, the City Parks Alliance is the presenter of the Greater & Greener Conference.

trail and steps leading back to the Grand Rounds trail system

bikecoop

Great architecture can be found in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Filed under: City Parks, facilities, funding, ParkScore | Tagged: conference, greater, greener, minneapolis, st. paul | Leave a comment »

ParkScore: St. Paul is #2

Posted on May 26, 2017 by Center for City Park Excellence

ParkScore badges_Instagram_2017_2 St. Paul

Repeating their number 2 position again in 2017 is St. Paul Parks & Recreation! Congratulations! St. Paul has a park within a ten-minute walk of 96 percent of their citizens, with 15 percent of the city as parkland and a median park size of 3.7 acres. You can check out all of the details here or check out their map here.

You can experience all that St. Paul has to offer in their award winning Parks department by attending the City Parks Alliance Greater & Greener International Urban Parks Conference July 29-August 2. Over 1,000 parks advocates, designers, programmers, planners and professionals will be there and it’s a great way to learn more about what our urban parks are doing.

Mears Park, downtown St. Paul

And check out The Trust for Public Land’s ParkScore with the 2017 rankings of the 100 largest US city park systems. Questions? contact us at ccpe@tpl.org

Separated bikway nearing completion in downtown St. Paul.

Filed under: City Parks, facilities, green infrastructure, ParkScore, transportation | Tagged: #2, 2017, ParkScore | Leave a comment »

ParkScore: Minneapolis is #1

Posted on May 25, 2017 by Center for City Park Excellence

Congratulations to the Minneapolis Parks Board and the City of Minneapolis for being number one for the FIFTH year in a row! Minneapolis has a park within a ten-minute walk of 97 percent of their citizens, with 15 percent of the city as parkland and a median park size of 6.6 acres. You can check out all of the details here or check out their map here.

Click on the photo to view the Minneapolis ParkScore profile and score results or here.

Better yet, make plans to join 1,000 park advocates, planners, programmers and managers at the Greater & Greener Parks Conference in Minneapolis and St. Paul (#2) July 29-August 2 and see the number 1 and 2 city parks systems for yourself.

Micheal Langley (Greater MSP), Charlie McCabe (The Trust for Public Land), Jayne Miller (Minneapolis Parks Board) and Melvin Tennant (MeetMinneapolis) celebrate the fifth #1 win in a row)

Filed under: 10-minute walk, City Parks, facilities, funding, green infrastructure, ParkScore | Leave a comment »

ParkScore 2017 has arrived!

Posted on May 24, 2017 by Center for City Park Excellence

renditionDownload

The Trust for Public Land is pleased to announce that the 2017 edition of ParkScore is live. Visit and find out where all of the 100 largest US cities rank. Minneapolis has once again come out on top, with St. Paul in 2nd place. [And you can can experience them in person through the City Park Alliance Greater & Greener Conference July 29-August 2.]

A big thanks to all of the Parks and Recreation agencies in the 100 largest cities. Assembling all of the data, especially the GIS information, is a big job and we couldn’t do it without each city’s help and support. We truly appreciate it.

We’re also doing a big promotional push and we have a number of media reports published, this update is from Thursday evening, May 25.

Chicago:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-chicago-park-score-ranking-met-20170524-story.html

WGN Radio – Adrian Benepe interview

Washington, D.C.:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/parks-in-dc-and-arlington-lose-ground-to-west-coast-in-ranking-report-says/2017/05/23/731b3f7c-3fe7-11e7-8c25-44d09ff5a4a8_story.html?utm_term=.28647ebfab93

http://wtop.com/dc/2017/05/dog-parks-playgrounds-dcs-green-spaces-measure/

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Washington-Arlington-Rank-in-Top-10-for-Parks-423959033.html

http://dcist.com/2017/05/parkscore_2017.php

http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/dc/dc-va-parks-among-top-in-nation/442557951

Twin Cities:

http://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-parks-named-tops-in-the-nation-and-st-paul-comes-in-second/423970983/