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Neighborhood parks and The neighborhoods in Cleveland with the highest property values are those communities with ready access to the lakefront, riverfront, vibrant community parks and other areas enhanced by nature. The day-to-day quality of life, which is a direct result of these amenities, is enabling these communities to attract and retain residents with the financial means to live elsewhere. As reinforced by 2000 Census results, quality of life enhancements can no longer be viewed as non-essential. In fact, such civic investments are being increasingly shown to directly translate into economic development benefits. Community development practitioners throughout the country - and especially those from cities such as Chicago and New York - have demonstrated that investment in parks, gardens, school playgrounds, boulevards, and other greening and beautification amenities yield tangible payoffs in improved property values, a stable or increasing residency base, improved school test scores and greatly heightened civic pride. According to Inside City Park published last year by the Trust for Public Land and the Urban Land Institute, Clevelands parks of all types (city-owned, State and Cleveland Metroparks) accounted for 5.9 percent of the citys total land area. This compared very unfavorably to the 11 percent of total land area devoted to parks, on average, among other mid-sized cities surveyed (or 21st of 25 cities). Cleveland also ranked last among the mid-sized cities in terms of the number of acres of parks per 1,000 residents, offering less than half as many park acres/per 1000 residents as such cities as Detroit, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Seattle, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Portland. By comparison, Cleveland offers just 5.8 acres/per 1,000 residents versus a 13-acre average/per 1,000 residents among all mid-sized cities surveyed.
EcoCity Cleveland
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