List,

The real bummer about the general lack of coverage the Park issues get is this: the park system is an amenity at least as important to Minneapolitans (and the visitors to our city) as garbage pick up, roads, entertainment, and other government concerns. Our green spaces, walking paths, lakes, river, park centers and playing fields are integral to the identity of the city. The MPRB has a budget of something like 65 million dollars a year. It employs hundreds (thousands?) of people (union folk, part timers, teenagers), and is basically a REALLY GOOD thing. There are interesting, positive things that happen every day in our parks and I think, in general, those working to protect it - not just commissioners, but Park Board staff, planners, environmentalists, recreationalists, historians, and, oh yeah, USERS - provide vital stories that may even rise above "human interest" stuff that newspapers relegate to the 6th page of the metro or neighborhood sections. Very little ever gets covered about the park board (except by the SW Journal and Scott Russell), and when it receives some mention, it's usually over controversy.

The current uproar is justified, and I wish the press (and not just the STrib and SW Journal, but the City Pages, and local TV stations) were covering even more angles and citizens' responses to the whole flap. But I wish that the park board, the parks, the entirety of the system, received more press all the time, especially covering really great things like water quality efforts, native plantings, rec center success stories, the legacy of our parks, its history and future, odd trivia or noteworthy features. Call me provincial, but I have as much, if not more, need to know what's happening in the parks as I do regarding City Hall and beyond.

Because of the media's lack of concerted and sustained attention to our parks, and our public's general satisfaction of an amenity most use or look at daily, the park board and it's dealings tend to operate under the radar.

And that's a shame.

Tracy Nordstrom
East Calhoun

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