St. Paul parks look good in a national report on big-city parks issued this week by the Trust for Public Land, with a couple of first-place rankings for most rec centers per 20,000 residents and most ball diamonds per 10,000 residents. Plus, St. Paul is third in tennis courts.

Minneapolis is second in both rec centers and ball diamonds.

The report puts St. Paul second in best-funded park and recreation departments (2006 data), with spending of $224 per resident. San Francisco was at $268 and then Seattle with $242.  Minneapolis is eighth at $151. (Oops, you can almost hear the no-tax lobbyists in St. Paul taking notes on that one.)

Compare that with the lowest-rated cities: Houston ($31), Tulsa ($35), Memphis ($39), Louisville ($40), and Toledo ($40).

St. Paul is 14th in non-seasonal employees. And we're way near the bottom on swimming pools.

Mayor Chris Coleman gives lots of credit for the high park rankings to City Parks Director Bob Bierscheid, who has announced his retirement.

You can see the TPL rankings here. — Joe Kimball