DALLAS (1080 KRLD) - Several north Texas cities are being recognized for their efforts to make parks more accessible to people. Plano ranked 15th nation-wide on the new list from the Trust for Public Land, called the ParkScore index.
The group studied the size of a city's parks, how much communities invest in their parks, the amenities and equipment in parks, and how many people live within a ten-minute walk of a public park.
"Seventy-five percent of Plano residents have a park within a ten-minute walk of home, that is leading in the state of Texas," said Robert Kent, the North Texas Area Director for the Trust for Public Land. "When we provide a safe-to-walk-to park or playground or green space...that means better health, better social outcomes, better education outcomes...and of course a better environment."
Dallas ranked 52nd nation-wide, but Kent says the city has made significant improvements in public access to parks in the past two years.
"Dallas has made incredible strides in improving park access," said Kent. In 2017, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings signed on to the group's "10-minute Walk to a Park" campaign. At that time, Kent says, "only 59 percent of Dallas residents had access to a park." The City worked with the Dallas ISD to open some school playgrounds to the public during certain hours, improving park access without a major increase in spending. "In the last year and a half, over 145,000 people have gained access to a park...bumping us up to 69 percent," said Kent. "It's a ten percent improvement in park access in a little over a year. That actually is the fourth-best improvement in park access across the country - so Dallas should really be commended for that."
Nine cities in north Texas have signed the pledge, including Fort Worth, Grand Prairie and Plano.
Kent says Plano recently passed a bond package that includes new funding for parks, but cities in north Texas can do more. "I think our cities across the region need to look at partnerships," he said. "These would be things like what Dallas has done, working with school campuses at 32 public schools across the city to open up those playgrounds after-hours as public park space."