Houston #30/40 in accessibility to public parks (Buffalo, Parker: tax, live, transportation)

[Dopo]

I constantly hear about Houston being the city with the most park acreage in the country,
but I find that number very misleading.
I have little kids and I feel like Houston is seriously lacking public parks.


I did some research, and it doesn't surprise me that Houston is ranked #30 out 40 in "Park accessibility"
The webpage Parkscore.com doesn't just look at acreage, but also looks at spending per resident, number of parks per resident and accessibility to parks (having a park within 10 minute walk)

Park score ranking of 40 largest cities
City of Houston profile (#30)
Houston interactive map

Parkscore.com methodology

[texas2188]

I'm with you that you have to take all claims with a grain of salt, but this rating really isn't any different. It's a bit more comprehensive than a pure acreage measure, but it also will ding cities such as Houston that are more spread out. A more dense city will score better since naturally more parks will be walkable.

[Dopo]

I just wonder why nobody else said a word about this.

You are right, I was trying to find St. Louis, MO to see where it was,
that's when I realized that St. Louis is not going to be on that list since the city of St. Louis is only 62 sq. miles, about 1/10 the size of Houston.

They made the mistake of looking at cities instead of metropolitan areas.

[baddoctor]

This thread is Obama-Communist themed. Public parks don't make money.

If the market has demand for a park, it will build it.

[jek74]

Originally Posted by baddoctor

This thread is Obama-Communist themed. Public parks don't make money.

If the market has demand for a park, it will build it.

Hitler built a lot of parks too. Guess how he made room for them?

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by jek74

Hitler built a lot of parks too. Guess how he made room for them?

You can also thank Hitler for our national highway system


The Reichsautobahnen - US Department of Transportation - Federal Highway Administration

For Eisenhower, the vision of the autobahn was strong in his mind as he became President. Years later, he would explain that "after seeing the autobahns of modern Germany and knowing the asset those highways were to the Germans, I decided, as President, to put an emphasis on this kind of road building. ... The old [1919] convoy had started me thinking about good, two-lane highways, but Germany had made me see the wisdom of broader ribbons across the land."

[MikeyAusmus]

Originally Posted by Dopo

I constantly hear about Houston being the city with the most park acreage in the country,
but I find that number very misleading.
I have little kids and I feel like Houston is seriously lacking public parks.


I did some research, and it doesn't surprise me that Houston is ranked #30 out 40 in "Park accessibility"
The webpage Parkscore.com doesn't just look at acreage, but also looks at spending per resident, number of parks per resident and accessibility to parks (having a park within 10 minute walk)

Park score ranking of 40 largest cities
City of Houston profile (#30)
Houston interactive map

Parkscore.com methodology

Parkscore.com is misleading when it doesn't take into account the SIZE of parks too. What difference does it make if you have tons of 1-block sized parks all over that are overcrowded when Houston has mega-sized parks like Memorial Park, George Bush Park, etc. that can handle tons of residents at one time.

Houston has the most park acreage in the nation, but also one of the largest city limits in the nation as well. Houston does a fine job with its parks and an even better job of maintaining them as well. Mayor Parker has added an additional $166M to the Houston bonds measure for overhauling, maintaining and adding new parks to the city (mind you the city of Houston, NOT Houston metropolitan area).

$410 million worth of bond measures placed on November ballot | Houston Politics | a Chron.com blog

Also, Mayor Parker and a nonprofit organization is overhauling a key park inside the city to the tune of $55M to make it an urban green landmark!

Shovels ready to turn in Buffalo Bayou Park makeover - Houston Chronicle

So clearly, the city of Houston is taking an interest in its parks. Really it is up to voters to approve how the city spends its tax dollars. So what I would encourage you and anyone else who lives in the city of Houston is to vote. Also, email the mayors office! If you feel something needs to be looked, changed or done better let the mayor know. You will get much further attempting to make a change when you complain to the right source. Complaining about Houston in this forum will get nothing changed in this city or any other city in the nation.

I prefer to use this forum to talk about the great things this city has to offer. I reserve my complaints and concerns to the mayors office where they belong.