The highest percentage of park land in the country wasn’t enough to offset relatively low parks spending as Honolulu scored in the middle of the pack in an annual survey of U.S. urban park systems unveiled Wednesday.
Honolulu scored 28th — tied with Detroit, Phoenix, Tampa, Fla., and Corpus Christi, Texas — in the ranking of the 60 most populous cities by the Trust for Public Land.
Minneapolis retained the title as having the nation’s best park system, followed by New York City and a tie among Boston, Portland, Ore., and San Francisco. Fresno, Calif., was at the bottom of the list, followed by a tie among Louisville, Ky., Indianapolis, Charlotte, N.C., and Mesa, Ariz.
This is the first year Hawaii’s capital city is included in the trust’s ParkScore index, which was expanded by 10 cities beyond the 50 largest evaluated in previous years. According to the U.S. Census, Honolulu’s urban core has a population of 341,636, making it the 54th largest U.S. city.
Honolulu was tops in the nation with 33 percent of the city’s land area with parks, according to the ParkScore index. The city also received a strong score for park access, with 83 percent of residents living within a 10-minute walk of a local park. The average score nationwide was 65 percent.
The city was hurt, however, by below-average marks for park size, playground access and parks spending.
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URBAN OASES
The Trust for Public Land’s highest-ranking city park systems:
1. Minneapolis
2. New York
3. Boston
4. Portland, Ore.
5. San Francisco
6. Washington, D.C.
7. Denver
8. Sacramento, Calif.
9. San Diego
10. Virginia Beach, Va.
28. Honolulu (debut)
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ON THE NET:
For more information visit parkscore.tpl.org
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Honolulu’s median park size is 2.3 acres, while the national average is 6 acres, according to the report, and Honolulu has only 1.3 playgrounds per 10,000 residents compared with a national average of 2.3.
As for parks expenditures, Honolulu spends only $39 per resident while the national average was $99. By comparison, spending in Washington, D.C., is $350 per resident, while in Minneapolis it is $213. On the other end, Detroit spends only $23 per resident, while Indianapolis spends $34.
Lea Hong, Hawaiian Islands state director of the Trust for Public Land, conceded that the spending figures for Honolulu are a little "fuzzy." City officials had some difficulty breaking down figures between the urban core and the rest of the island, so the numbers might be "artificially low," she said.
Nevertheless, Hong said Honolulu’s ranking isn’t surprising because the city has its strengths and weaknesses.
"The City and County of Honolulu has a very dedicated staff committed to providing parks to the people," she said.
Hong said the city can improve its ranking by, among other things, seeking out more public-private partnerships to help pay for parks. New York City, for example, benefits from the Central Park Conservancy, a nonprofit that organizes the city’s largest park under a contract with the city.
In Honolulu, an example would include Livable Hawaii Kai Hui, which owns and manages the 5-acre Hawea Heiau and Keawawa Wetlands in Hawaii Kai, she said.
Honolulu Parks Director Michele Nekota could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The annual Trust for Public Land survey hands out a "park bench" rating to each city on a scale from zero to 5. Minneapolis earned five park benches, while Honolulu earned 2.5. Fresno got one.
"You can’t have a great city without great parks," Adrian Benepe, senior vice president and director of city park development for the Trust for Public Land, said in a statement.
Among the 10 new ParkScore cities, Aurora, Colo., ranked best, earning a 10th-place tie with Virginia Beach, Va., while New Orleans tied for 18th place.
Information about the index can be found at parkscore.tpl.org. The website includes interactive maps of each city allowing users, for example, to zoom in and study park access on a block-by-block basis.
