BYLINE: ARTHUR M. BLANK, KASIM REED
Great cities have great parks. They have great arts. They provide
education and opportunity to all of their residents. They are
blessed with visionary leaders. They protect the assets entrusted
to their care.
Have we been worthy stewards of Atlanta's assets? Have we been
diligent enough about preserving Atlanta's greatest asset, our
quality of life?
Not when it comes to our city's parks. The truth is, we're falling
short and we're falling behind.
Parks are the green heart of Atlanta. They are our most inclusive
and diverse gathering spots, providing opportunities to connect
people too often separated by social and income barriers. They
give us space for recreation, protection for wildlife, relief
from air pollution and control for flood waters. They even increase
property values and attract investment.
But Atlanta's parks are suffering.
Our city ranks near last in the amount of park acres for its residents
-- 7.8 acres per 1,000 residents compared to the national average
of 19.3. Even more stunning, every day we lose 50 acres of trees
in metro Atlanta to development. And we spend just $58 per resident
to maintain parks, vs. the $130 average spent in Seattle, Minneapolis
or Chicago. Obesity rates, especially in children, continue to
climb. Having adequate space for recreation, places to run and
play, would certainly help.
Something must change, and thanks to Mayor Shirley Franklin, something
has.
Franklin has made parks a priority. She has acted swiftly, creating
a task force that made a bold recommendation: Create an Atlanta
Park District, with direct responsibility for transforming and
caring for the city's parks and green spaces. The park district
model has had tremendous success in other cities nationwide.
Franklin has moved us closer to this recommendation by appointing
a diverse Parks Commission, with members from the public, nonprofit
and private sectors to oversee implementation of the dream. An
Atlanta Park District would ensure stewardship of parks and help
preserve the quality of life that we consider to be our most precious
asset.
It would ensure we maintain parks as a priority and do it most
efficiently. It would be governed by a board controlled by the
mayor and the Atlanta City Council and would allow for innovative
funding approaches that are not currently available to parks.
Not only will the parks be open and well-run, but also we will
have the capacity to create more of them.
Look around your neighborhood -- do you have a beautiful, safe,
well-maintained and accessible park in which your children can
play and neighbors can connect with nature and each other?
The Atlanta City Council has been faced with many tough choices
this year, and we applaud its leadership. We ask the council to
continue that leadership by working collectively to support the
proposal to create an Atlanta Park District. We must remember
that Atlanta works best when it works together.
We owe our children and grandchildren the fulfillment of our promise
to be a great city.
Arthur M. Blank, co-founder of Home Depot and owner of the Atlanta
Falcons, chairs the city of Atlanta Parks Commission. Kasim Reed,
a Democrat, is a state senator from Atlanta.
