Here’s How Much St. Louis Spends On Public Parks

ST. LOUIS, MO — New data shows St. Louis ranks 40th out of the country’s 100 largest cities when it comes to spending on public parks. The Trust For Public Land released a new report Wednesday saying cities spent about $400 million more on public parks in fiscal year 2017 than the previous year, and the number of Americans living within a 10-minute walk of a park increased slightly to 70 percent.

St. Louis spent $33.6 million total on parks, or about $106 per resident, according to the report. The total spending number includes both the operating costs and capital spending of all park agencies. Parks in that number could be city park systems, portions of a county park system, state park systems within city limits and even national parks. It does not include things like professional stadiums, museums, aquariums and cemeteries.

Here’s a breakdown of park spending in St. Louis:

• Public spending: $28 million
  • Public spending per resident: $88
• Private spending: $5.6 million
  • Private spending per resident: $18

The Trust For Public Land, which advocates for creating parks and protecting public land, said in its latest annual City Park Facts report that public spending on parks increased 6 percent nationwide, from $7.1 billion in 2017 to $7.5 billion this year. When accounting for $500 million in public/private park partnerships, that number totaled $8 billion in the last fiscal year.

That’s good news, Charlie McCabe, director of the organization, told Patch. It suggests cities are slowly recovering from the Great Recession, which really hit park systems hard starting in about 2008.

“Unfortunately, park systems are among the first things to be cut in a downturn,” said McCabe. “Usually it’s a struggle for cities to think about what’s most important to them, and they end up thinking fire, police and EMS are the most important. Parks become less of a priority for a number of cities.”

When it comes to an individual city, the number to pay close attention to is spending per resident, McCabe noted, acknowledging the report does not take into consideration the costs of goods and services and living, which can affect buying power. Typically cities that see a lot of growth in parks spending also see a lot of income and growing revenue from taxes, fees and services.

In St. Louis, the median park is 2.3 acres in size, according to the Trust for Public Land. The St. Louis Department of Parks, Recreation and Forestry manages 3,316 acres of parkland in St. Louis, followed by the Tower Grove Park Association (289 acres), National Park Service (91 acres), and Great Rivers Greenway (87 acres).

St. Louis boasts 212 acres of public sports fields, 86 basketball courts and 82 playgrounds. The city has 113 public parks in total. Its oldest, Gravois Park, was established in 1812. Forest Park accounts for about 40 percent of the city's public acreage. Home to the St. Louis Art Museum and Science Center, Forest Park is one of the largest city parks in the United States.

St. Louis other well known park is the recently-renovated Gateway Arch National Park, home to St. Louis' most famous landmark.

Here are the top 10 large cities for total park spending per resident:

1. San Francisco, California: $314
2. Washington, D.C.: $284
3. Seattle, Washington: $279
4. Minneapolis, Minnesota: $270
5. Irvine, California: $243
6. Plano, Texas: $237
7. Portland, Oregon: $224
8. Arlington, Virginia: $217
9. New York, New York: $216
10. New Orleans, Louisiana, $192

McCabe said there are a couple reasons that residents in some cities get more money than others. Once a city has a successful park system and is committed to keeping it alive, it will seek out other sources of funding to help grow and improve the park systems. In addition to tax revenue, this money often comes from commercial fees, such as from restaurants, events and even bond revenue. Prosperous cities generally do well. Others often struggle.

“In some cases, the cities that are doing well get better and the cities that are struggling still struggle, which is kind of a challenge for cities on the lower end of the spectrum.” McCabe lamented.

Here are the 10 cities that spend the least per resident:

100. Stockton, California: $14
99. Toledo, Ohio: $16
98. Oakland, California: $19
97. Hialeah, Florida: $25
96. Jacksonville, Florida: $30
95. Jersey City, New Jersey: $33
94. Fresno, California: $34
93. Santa Ana, California: $37
92. Indianapolis, Indiana: $37
91. El Paso, Texas: $38
90. Glendale, Arizona: $39

Cities were particularly interested in splurging on certain amenities. There were 22 percent more community gardens, 35 percent more splash pads and, perhaps most unexpectedly, 69 percent more pickleball courts for a total of 708. Pickleball is a game resembling tennis in which paddle-wielding players hit a perforated plastic ball over a net.

McCabe stressed that a big challenge is to make sure cities understand that parks are essential to people’s overall well-being. They serve as a place where people can recreate, have fun and get together with families outside. They also allow people to get from their neighborhoods to school or to the grocery store without having to drive.

“If you have little kids, it's a lot harder to get them in a car or on a bus than it is to just pop them in the stroller or have them get on their little bikes,” said McCabe.

Correction: Data for this story was provided by The Trust for Public Land, a highly regarded non-profit group that advocates for parks creation and land protection. Following publication of this story, the trust contacted Patch to correct data that it had been provided by Portland, Oregon. Corrected, Portland moved from first in overall spending per resident to eighth among large cities A separate data error regarding Tampa, Florida, moved it out of the top 10 large cities for total park spending per resident. This version of the story reflects those changes

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

Photo: A statue of the city's namesake, King Louis IX of France, in Forest Park. (J. Ryne Danielson/Patch)