The San Francisco-based Trust for Public Land has conducted a
first-ever ranking of public parks in American cities.
Sacramento ranked #2, right behind San Francisco, and just
ahead of Boston and New York. Peter Harnik with the Center
for City Park Excellence, a division of the Trust, says the scoring
considers factors including playgrounds, spending, acreage, and
most importantly, accessibility.
"Basically our goal is to help every city make sure that a
park is within a half a mile, a ten minute walk, of everybody in
the city," says Harnik. "And Sacramento isn't there
yet. You're at about 77 percent of your citizens are within a
half a mile walk of a park."
Sacramento ranked very high on "playgrounds," with four per
10,000 people, and on "spending," which works out to about $150 per
person in the city.