WKSU Stories

Cleveland Parks Score in Middle of Pack According to New Study

Ideastream Public Media | By Mitch Felan

Published May 24, 2017 at 5:53 AM EDT

Willard Park (pictured) is one of the areas that make up park land in Cleveland. According to a new study, about 6% Cleveland is made up of park land.

The Trust for Public Land has released a study of the parks systems in the country’s 100 biggest cities. The report finds Cleveland right in the middle.

It ranks the cities by the size of their parks, the percentage of residents who live within a 10-minute walk of a park, and the facilities and investments in them. Cleveland ranked 45^th.

According to the study, 80 percent of Cleveland residents have access to a park, and the city’s investment is above average.

But research associate Ali Hiple says Cleveland still has work to do.

“They have pretty small parks. The median park size is only 3.4 acres. And there’s not a whole lot of park, only about 6 percent of the city is park land, which is pretty low. That’s what’s getting Cleveland that right-in-the-middle ranking.”

The study was limited to parks inside of Cleveland’s city limits.