Tulsa climbed one spot in a ranking of park systems in America’s 100 largest cities.
Tulsa is 59th in the Trust for Public Land's sixth annual ParkScore.
The Trust for Public Land looks at park acreage, facilities and investment, and access, which is how many people live within a 10 minute walk of a park.
"We assign a point value to each of those three categories. The score is from zero to 100," said Director of the Center for City Park Excellence Charlie McCabe. "Tulsa this year came out at 46, which, in terms of the rankings, gives it the 59."
McCabe said many city park systems haven’t fully recovered from the recession; Tulsa, for example, got just six points out of 20 for spending.
But Tulsa’s doing well with park acreage, and the Gathering Place is still expected to boost Tulsa’s score.
McCabe said parks rely on public support.
"Public support — everything from elections to paying taxes to helping come out and volunteer in parks is a significant portion of what makes our parks great in our cities," McCabe said. "So, the more that people invest in their parks — advocating as well as volunteering as well as helping out — the better your park system is."
Tulsa tied with Chandler, Arizona, and Corpus Christi and Arlington, Texas, in the rankings.
Oklahoma City ranked 88th.
