REAL NEWS: The Trust For Public Land Ranks Mesa #96 Out of 97 - Among The Lowest In The 7th Annual Scoring

Photo credit: Ivan Martinez

It's not often that a message your MesaZona has been sending for more than three years now gets some more momentum from a non-profit organization named The Trust For Public Land.

What's the message?

> To empower people to hold their leaders accountable

> To ensure residents are involved and engaged.

When is Mesa Mayor John Giles, captured in the opening gonna get that??????? Clue-Less is NO EXCUSE.
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NEW YORK, NY — A new report has ranked the best cities in America for park systems.The Trust For Public Land, a San Francisco based nonprofit group that aims to create parks and protect land for people, released its 7th annual ParkScore rankings 3 days ago 

The Trust for Public Land Releases 2018 ParkScore® Index, Ranking ...

https://www.tpl.org/.../trust-public-land-releases-2018-parkscore®-index-ranking-par..

3 days ago - The Trust for Public Land Releases 2018 ParkScore® Index,

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Ranking Park Systems in the 100 Largest U.S. Cities 

" . . . The national nonprofit organization is leading a movement to put a park or natural area within a 10-minute walk of every U.S. resident. More than 200 mayors have endorsed the 10-minute goal.

"The research is clear: quality, close-to-home parks are essential to communities. Everyone deserves a great park within a 10-minute walk of home," said Diane Regas, President and CEO of The Trust for Public Land. "These rankings are the gold-standard for park access and quality, and empower people to hold their leaders accountable.” . . .
This shows how the onus is on cities to make parks as attractive as possible and also to ensure their residents are involved and engaged.

Source: https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news

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Dive Insight:

TPL is pushing hard for city residents to be a 10-minute walk or less from a park. The organization unveiled its ParkServe tool earlier this year in collaboration with mapping software Esri to provide information on who does and does not have such access. The benefits of parks, especially for those who live in cities, include higher levels of physical activity for residents while mitigating the risk of storm damage and helping with issues like carbon emissions. “High quality parks make cities healthier in nearly every way,” Adrian Benepe, TPL’s senior vice president and director of city park development, said in a statement.

ParkScore’s rankings are based on access, acreage, investment and amenities, which counts the availability of features like off-leash dog parks, playgrounds, basketball hoops, “splashpads” and restrooms. The rankings added the latter two this year as part of its calculations on amenities, as well as volunteer hours and charitable contributions for spending.

The ParkScore rankings were based on four factors:
park access,
acreage,
investment
amenities
Here are the lowest-ranking park systems:
90. Baton Rouge, LA: 32.9
91. Memphis, TN: 32.8
92. Winston Salem, NC: 31.9
93. Laredo, TX: 31.5
94. Fresno, CA: 30.9
95. Hialeah, FL: 29.7
96. Mesa, AZ: 28.4
97. Charlotte, NC: 25.0
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VIEW FULL RANKING ANALYSIS
Park Score Rankings 

City Profile for Mesa > http://parkscore.tpl.org/city.php?city=Mesa
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The 2018 ParkScore® rankings... - The Trust for Public Land - Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/TheTrustforPublicLand/posts/10155861806474735

BREAKING: The 2018 ParkScore® rankings are here! See how your city's parks stack up against the country's best. Surprised? Share in the comments below