June 02, 2007

Looking forward to seeing (and enjoying) first hand the outdoor activites available in Minneapolis.

Here are the recent headlines in Jacksonville regarding parks:
Inaction on city parks is typical of mayor's style
Parks director falls victim to cost-cutting

Here is the Wikipedia entry regarding the Minneapolis parks system.
Key points:

• The Minneapolis park system has been called the best-designed, best-financed and best-maintained in America. Foresight, donations and effort by community leaders enabled Horace Cleveland to create some of his best landscape architecture, preserving geographical landmarks and linking them with boulevards and parkways. The city's Chain of Lakes is connected by bike, running, and walking paths and used for swimming, fishing, picnics, boating, and ice skating. A parkway for cars, a bikeway for riders, and a walkway for pedestrians run parallel paths along the 52 mile (83 km) route of the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway.


• Runner's World ranks Minneapolis America's 6th best city for runners.


• Ten thousand cyclists use the bike lanes in the city each day, and many ride in the winter. The Public Works Department expanded the bicycle trail system from the Grand Rounds to 56 miles (90 km) of off-street commuter trails including the Midtown Greenway, the Light Rail Trail, Kenilworth Trail, Cedar Lake Trail and the West River Parkway Trail along the Mississippi. Minneapolis also has 34 miles (54 km) of dedicated bike lanes on city streets. (That cop in Baldwin on Monday would wet his pants if he saw 10,000 cyclists on the road)

I don't like being down on my hometown, and I know with the property tax furor going on in Tallahassee there are more important things to be concerned about, primarily public safety. At the same time, would it be too much to ask for drivers to demonstrate greater awareness for folks that are running, walking or cycling on the roads?