Minneapolis Park Watch

In 1883, the Minnesota Legislature authorized the citizens of Minneapolis to create an independently elected Park Board for the city of Minneapolis.

The citizens elected its first commissioners; and within a few years, the Legislature authorized the Park Board to expand its boundaries to include land outside the corporate limits of the city.

In the last 120 years, the nine elected commissioners and the staff of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board with the support of Minneapolis citizens have created, expanded and maintained one of the best urban park systems in the country.

In fact, the park system is one of the attributes that defines the Twin Cities region and makes it score consistently at the top of all quality-of-life surveys for urban centers across the nation.

The extraordinary quality of the Minneapolis park system has developed with leadership from the independent Park Board - particularly in recent decades. We strongly disagree with the opinion expressed on these pages on Dec. 5 that the Park Board be folded into the Minneapolis city government. Park needs cannot be left unattended no matter who the mayor is and how streamlined city government becomes.

Minneapolis' exemplary park system serves residents but also is a magnet for visitors. More than 5.5 million people a year visit the larger regional parks (Chain of Lakes, including Cedar/Lake of the Isles/Calhoun/Harriet, and the 55 miles of parkways like Nokomis and Victory Memorial) within the Minneapolis park system.

The Chain of Lakes development in south Minneapolis in the early 1900s left a huge imprint on the city and was achieved by visionary urban planning.

The presence of the parks in the heart of the city played a key role in keeping Minneapolis from facing major urban declines that other cities faced in the '60s, '70s and '80s. Wherever there are parks, there are higher-valued properties with people choosing to live near the downtown of the city.

Developing and maintaining parks and special features is no small matter to be relegated to a city department. It costs millions of dollars and requires strategic long-range planning. The most recent area of development to keep Minneapolis high on the livability rankings is the Mississippi riverfront.

As in the past, the stellar development of the new downtown Mill Ruins Park and the continued leadership on the Upper Mississippi River Master Plan demonstrate the ability of the Park Board commissioners and staff to develop a metropolitan-wide coalition of park-implementing agencies to preserve and develop land for the benefit of Minneapolis residents and visitors.

The riverfront development is a good example of the power of the independent Park Board. In the early 1980s when budgetary pressures were enormous, funding to begin redevelopment of the Mississippi riverfront was stalled. At the Legislature, lobbyists for the city of Minneapolis were unable to get funding for that project.

In 1983 the Park Board retained its own lobbyist and broke the logjam. In the last 20 years, the Park Board's lobbying efforts have secured more than $100 million from the Legislature for projects at popular park properties such as Minnehaha Falls Park, Lake Harriet Bandshell and Theodore Wirth Park.

The independent Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board works closely and directly with citizens and partners for the benefit of residents and visitors alike. This powerful and professional advocate for the preservation and development of parkland should retain its independent leadership.

Jon Olson is president of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.

Jon Olson, Star Tribune, December 18, 2004

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