Wichita parks system ranks in the bottom half of major US cities. Here’s why

Wichita ranks in the bottom half of public park systems in the 100 largest U.S. cities, according to the latest ParkScore rankings from the nonprofit Trust for Public Land.

Wichita is the 50th largest city by population. The Sunflower State’s largest city slipped in the rankings by one spot by for the third year in a row, placing 66th out of 100. Wichita’s park system ranks just below Lexington, Kentucky, and just above El Paso, Texas.

Kansas City, Missouri, ranked 27th.

Wichita’s relatively low ranking comes as the city is developing its 2024 budget amid continued discussions about developing Clapp Park and potentially putting Sleepy Hollow Park up for sale, among other park projects.

Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit that advocates for more park access across the country, rates cities by assigning points in five categories: acreage, investment, amenities, access and equity. Washington D.C. captured the top spot in the ParkScore rankings for the second year in a row, edging out St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Wichita received the highest possible score on median park size (11.3 acres), parkland in close proximity to neighborhoods of color and splash pads per capita.

“The city also scored well on ParkScore’s park equity metrics, offering similar amounts of park space in low-income, high-income, and racially diverse neighborhoods,” Trust for Public Land said in a news release about the ranking.

“However, Wichita’s ParkScore rating was limited by below-average marks for park investment and park access.”

Wichita’s investment in public parks is $80 per resident, according to the ParkScore, ranking 73rd. Trust for Public Land calculates investment based on a three-year average that includes public spending, nonprofit spending and volunteer hours.

San Francisco ranked first in investment, at $480 a resident. Fifty-eight of the largest cities in the U.S. invest more than $100 a person on parks, a measure that includes federal, state, local and park foundation funding.

Wichita’s overall score was also hurt by low marks on park amenities — aside from splash pads — which includes playgrounds, park restrooms, dog parks, basketball hoops, recreation and senior centers.

Some of the city’s lowest scores are the percentage of the city that is parkland and park access, which is measured by the percentage of residents who live within a 10-minute walk of a park. Wichita ranked 81st in that category at 52%.

Wichita ranked 88th in parkland as a percentage of city geographical area, at 4.3%. Forty-eight cities have set aside more than 10% of their city for parkland. Cities like Washington D.C., New Orleans, New York, San Francisco and Albuquerque are around 20% parkland.

“Wichita Park and Recreation works to provide a robust offering of classes, programming and services while maintaining 144 parks consisting of over 5,000 acres, greenways throughout the city, maintains our city-owned tree canopy, serves the community at eight recreation centers, six swimming pools, 12 splash pads and 53 athletics fields,” said Megan Lovely, city of Wichita spokesperson, in a written statement.

“We would also love to do more and expand our reach within Wichita,” Lovely said. “We are proud of the work we do to serve the community and are always looking to do more even with a limited budget.”

Lovely said the city has received high marks from other places.

“We are also encouraged that scientific polling has showed the Park department has a high satisfaction level among residents and are also proud of being named a two-time gold medal finalist for the National Gold Medal Awards for Excellence in Park and Recreation Management and of being CAPRA accredited.”

The National Research Center’s recent National Community Survey of Wichita residents found 65% of people ranked city parks as “excellent” or “good,” which was at least 10 percentage points below the national benchmark for satisfaction among residents surveyed in over 600 communities.

This story was originally published May 25, 2023 at 5:23 AM.