As many restaurants and entertainment venues remain closed, local parks are gaining new life as hot spots and hangouts. Luckily, Cleveland continues to improve its green spaces. The Trust for Public Land ranked Cleveland 29 out of 100 cities in its ninth annual ParkScore Index, a study of park access, amount of green space and more. “We know the power of outdoors and being connected to nature can help us deal with the situation and the times that we are in right now,” says Shanelle Smith Whigham, the Ohio state director for the Trust for Public Land. Here, Smith Whigham breaks down three improvements Cleveland made that helped the city jump up six spots from last year's ranking.
Park SpendingThe Cleveland park system spends $137 per resident, which is significantly higher than ParkScore’s national average of $89, says Smith Whigham. In recent years, these funds have helped the city add water features such as splash pads and update parks such as the Glenview Park in Glenville, which now features nature paths, chess and checker boards and playgrounds.
Park Access
Eighty-three percent of Clevelanders now live within a 10-minute walk from a park — well above ParkScore’s national average of 72 percent. But while the parks are close to where residents live, they are smaller than the national average. “Right now, [Cleveland’s] park size is about 3.9, acres in the national average is 5.2,” says Smith Whigham. The city is exploring ways to expanding space and updating facilities, she says.
Park Amenities
In addition to more green space, Cleveland has also worked to increase and update amenities at parks, such splash pads, playgrounds and dog parks. The addition of water features, for example, put the city at 10.6 splash pads per 100,000 residents, well above the national average of 1.2. “[We want to make] sure that we get places for our young and other family members to explore the outdoors,” says Smith Whigham.