PARKS

Philadelphians rely on their parks. In a densely-packed city the open green spaces are critical to give us room to stretch, air to breathe and a taste of the natural world to enrich our asphalt and concrete-bounded lives. ¶ In this section we celebrate our parks, but every piece also examines the tension between demands and resources, between potential and capacity. It might be the case that park users make some demands, like swimming access, that cannot be accommodated safely and sustainably. Other demands, like gardens still take a lot of work by volunteers, work that is harder to come by in the neighborhoods that need them the most. Philadelphia Parks & Recreation has done amazing work to restore natural lands, but, in a theme Grid has covered in the past and is committed to covering in the future, the city’s elected leaders neglect to provide the funds critical to continue the work. ¶ The Trust for Public Land released the 2023 ParkScore ratings in May, telling us again what we already know. Philadelphia has a lot of park space but not enough park dollars. The City of Philadelphia spends $56 per capita on parks. Private organizations and volunteers (counting the dollar value of volunteer hours) pick up about $24, for a total of $80 per capita. That is $28 per capita less than the average total for the 100 most populous cities in the country, a gap mostly accounted for by lower government spending. Ninety-five percent of Philadelphians can walk to a park in 10 minutes, but those parks are under-policed, undermaintained and under-staffed. Philadelphians need those parks, but the parks need help, too.