The recent news that the Twin Cities ranked among the top in the nation for park systems — second for St. Paul and fifth for Minneapolis — is wonderful. But the honor also comes with an important finding that we must acknowledge and address.
Minneapolis and St. Paul score well in terms of resident access to a park within a 10-minute walk from home on TPL’s annual ParkScore® index. But, in 2021, Trust for Public Land (TPL) added new equity measures to ParkScore®, providing a more complete sense of the disparities driving who does — and doesn’t — have access to parks.
Though both cities score high in park access, both Minneapolis and St. Paul score lower compared to other cities on these more detailed park equity measurements.
In Minneapolis, neighborhoods of color have 60% less park space than primarily white neighborhoods and low-income neighborhoods have 65% less park space than high-income neighborhoods. In St. Paul, neighborhoods of color have 32% less park space than primarily white neighborhoods and low-income neighborhoods have 32% less park space than high-income neighborhoods.
In other words, parks in communities of color and low-income residents are smaller and serve more people than parks in higher-income, primarily white neighborhoods.
For context, neighborhoods of color in top-ranked Washington, D.C., have 17% less park space and low-income communities have 7% less park space than their big city counterparts.
We understand that the size of parks isn’t everything. There are lovely small parks, and insufficient large parks.
But taken as a whole, park size does often matter. Compared to large parks, smaller parks often get crowded easier. They’re often less picturesque. They typically have fewer natural features, fewer trees and fewer amenities overall.
Research demonstrates the benefits of parks are wide-ranging.
Access to parks is associated with greater mental health and well-being. We must work so those benefits are enjoyed by all Minnesotans, not just some.
Trust for Public Land is partnering with community leaders and local park agencies to change that, focusing on neighborhoods where safe, vibrant and welcoming parks are needed most. We are excited to support Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board leadership around a community driven idea to re-create North Commons Park in the Willard Hay neighborhood of Minneapolis.
Sometimes, we roll up our sleeves with community leaders, park agencies and philanthropic partners to ensure a community’s dream for a new or renovated park comes to life sooner rather than later. Midway Peace Park and Central Village Park, both in St. Paul, are recent examples. Nationally, since 1972 TPL has created more than 5,000 parks, trails, schoolyards and special natural areas around the nation, and connected more than 9 million people to the outdoors.
So, let’s look at this year’s Park Score® ranking as both cause for celebration and action. Let’s consider it a challenge to do much better serving Minnesotans in areas where parks are scarce or inadequate in terms of size, quality, use or safety.
To get that work done, reach out to your federal, state, and local elected officials about the need to increase public funding for local parks and trails. Let’s actively promote local funding initiatives for park investment like the 20-Year Neighborhood Park Plan (NPP20) measure in Minneapolis. Reach out to state elected leaders to ask them to support reauthorization of state lottery proceeds for the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, a vital source of state funding over the years for local parks in historically underserved communities.
[image_caption]Susan Schmidt[/image_caption]
With adequate public investment we can realize community dreams for safe, welcoming parks and make Minnesota a happier, healthier and more equitable state. But the very first step in solving the Twin Cities’ park equity problem is to admit that we have one.
Susan Schmidt is the Minnesota state director, and Midwest regional vice president, for Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit that partners with the communities it serves to connect everyone to the benefits and joys of the outdoors.
The metric of park size seems simple on its face but its complicated – people who live close to large, regional draw parks (Chain of lakes, the falls etc…) share those spaces with a ton of people who drive many miles into the city to enjoy them – so the idea of looking at the density around the park is very limited in assessing total park use. Neighborhood parks are almost exclusively used by the people who can walk/bike/drive a short distance. Also to their credit the Mpls Parks a number of years ago recognized the need to invest disproportionally in some neighborhoods that had been getting overlooked to address some of the inequities in park amenities.
An insufficient ratio between walk to neighborhood parks and the number of people who want to walk to them results in folks finding alternatives that don’t work well: Things like bus stops and street corners. We both need to let folks know that this bus stop is not meant as a gathering place and here is an easily accessible, close by park alternative with a restroom to boot…
If you live in the inner city, you can’t just buy a bunch of houses and tear them down so you can have a park for that neighborhood. We have more inner city parks than any other metropolitan area in the US.
North Commons was the wrong picture to use, unless we want to show the large parks that we need. The large investment (21 million) being used to ‘update’ North Commons is indicative of that.
*Would that some of the structures could have been placed elsewhere. (The Kenwood park building, for example, is attached to Kenwood elementary. ) A landscape architect creating a more bucolic park is sometimes needed. Some users need a quiet space, a walking place to appreciate nature,.
How does the above thesis mesh with the apparently official push for higher density?
And looking at one case in particular, has the City of Minneapolis really abandoned its plan to turn parking lot ‘A’ over to Sherman Associates to make an even higher density of housing in that already overly dense West Bank area of Riverside Plaza where tiny Currie Park serves so many?
Every Day I could post the same comment. Does every story have to be about blacks being “disadvantaged” in the Twin Cities? I suggest the editors go back and look. Yesterday, a lawyers piece was about Donald Trump gets off breaking the law ( last I read the AG will prosecute if proof exits) while blacks are routinely arrested and found guilty.
I’ve asked if you could please post information on the people arrested for the nonstop carjackings. What is their race? If they are white are they getting off? If they are black are they going to jail?
I suggest you start printing some hard numbers so we know what’s happening now in the Twin Cities, instead of pontificating of what has happened years ago,
Theodore Wirth is a gorgeous park, so is Hiawatha. I disagree with the conclusion of this article
I know a number of families that don’t use some parks after about 4 pm due to the concern of crime. I live near several parks that have lots of play equipment and it is rarely used.
Not all parks need equipment, sometimes stressing nature is the way to go. Also how do you define park, is Victory Memorial Parkway an actual park or a pathway with green space. The north side did receive money to update some of the parks.
When we look at public spaces for recreational uses, N Minneapolis’ Webber Natural Pool comes to mind. At a cost of over 6 million plus dollars and it being unable to function as designed due to design failures, I question the decisions of those holding the purse strings. How could this massive amount of money have been better spent for the advantage of a lot more people.
On Thursday, from 4-6:30 p.m., the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board will host a second open house for the just-opened Webber Park Natural Swimming Pool in north Minneapolis, giving the public another chance to tour the $6 million chemical-free pool, which took the city 10 years to build.
As of today, the status of the pool is questionable and the web sight even posts a warning.
Daily Pool and Water Park Status
Know before you go: Check pool and water park closures
Pool closure times range from a few days to several weeks, depending on the types of repairs needed.
Enough with the racial division narrative! Yes, we want parks (and everything else) to be distributed equally, but to constantly use skin color as a metric only serves to divide us more.