The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) is an independent park district that owns, maintains, and programs activities in public parks in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It has 500 full-time and 1,300 part-time employees and an $111 million operating and capital budget.[2][3]
The Minneapolis park system has been called the best-designed, best-financed, and best-maintained in America.[4] Minneapolis was rated the #1 park system in the country for the sixth year in a row by The Trust for Public Land in 2018 and again in 2020.[5][6]
History
Minnehaha Falls is part of Minnehaha Park, a 167-acre (68 ha) jewel of the Minneapolis park system.[7]
Theodore Wirth was superintendent from 1906 to 1936 and managed the expansion of Minneapolis parks from 1,810 to 5,241 acres (732 to 2,121 ha).[12] Wirth was an advocate of active recreation in all city parks and put up signs saying "Please Walk on the Grass." Wirth also promoted neighborhood parks for the whole city, his plans called for a playground within one-quarter mile (400 m) of every child and a recreation center within one-half mile (800 m) of all residents,[13] however Wirth never built them.[14][15] In was from 1966 to 1978, during the tenure of superintendent Robert W. Ruhe, when the board built the city's neighborhood parks and recreation centers in underserved areas.[16] In 2020, 98% of all residents lived within a 10-minute walk of a park, compared to the national median of 55%.[17]
In July 2020, the park board voted to allow encampments for people experiencing homelessness at up to 20 city parks with 25 tents each. The change in policy came after several hundred people took up residence in Powderhorn Park in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. However, the Powderhorn situation became untenable after numerous sexual assaults, fights, and drug use reported at the encampment generated alarm for nearby residents, leading to the eviction of many people in tents.[18] Four people died in encampments in city parks in 2020,[19][20] including a 38-year-old man who was stabbed to death on January 3, 2021, at an encampment in Minnehaha Park.[20][21]
On November 18, 2020, the board legalized female topfreedom in the parks.[22]
Description
The park system's 6,084 acres (24.62 km2) make up 15% of the total area of Minneapolis, equal to the national median.[17]
Among the board's youth work programs, Teen Teamworks[24] has provided on-the-job training for green careers to ages 14 to 24, since 1986.[25] In 2022, the program recruited 500 participants.[26] Other youth programs are Recreation Plus and the Youthline Outreach Mentorship Program, founded in the 1980s and 1991.[25] The board is the city's largest employer of youth.[27]
The country's oldest public wildflower garden, the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary, is located within Theodore Wirth Park. Wirth Park extends into Golden Valley and is almost 90% the size of Central Park in New York City.[28] Site of the 53-foot (16 m) Minnehaha Falls, Minnehaha Park is one of the city's oldest and most popular parks, receiving over 850,000 visitors each year.[7]Henry Wadsworth Longfellow named Hiawatha's wife Minnehaha for the Minneapolis waterfall in The Song of Hiawatha, a bestselling and often-parodied 19th century poem.[29]
The first natural swimming pool in the United States opened in Webber Park in 2015. The outdoor pool does not use any chemicals, rather it uses natural filters and plants in several container ponds to keep the water clean.[30]
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board facilities include 6,804 acres (27.53 km2) of land and water, 179 properties, 102 miles (164 km) of biking and walking paths, 49 recreation centers, 22 lakes, 12 formal gardens, and seven golf courses.[31]
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board is an independently elected, semi-autonomous park district responsible for governing, maintaining, and developing the Minneapolis park system.[2] The jurisdiction of the park board is contiguous with the City of Minneapolis borders, although it owns four golf courses, Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport,[32] and its largest park, Theodore Wirth Park outside the city limits.
Minneapolis voters elect nine commissioners every four years: one from each of the six park districts, and three that serve at-large.[33] The district and at-large members are elected using ranked choice voting.[34] The Board of Commissioners appoints the superintendent and sets policy for the park board.[2]
Police
The Superintendent of the Parks has oversight of the Minneapolis Park Police Department—the law enforcement authority of the park board. Led by a park police chief, the force consists of 30 sworn officers and 20 part-time park patrol agents. The park police is a separate entity from the Minneapolis Police Department, but the two forces have shared training, support services, and authority to police in both parks and throughout the city.[35] The park board voted unanimously on June 3, 2020, to end its relationship with the Minneapolis Police Department following the murder of George Floyd by a city police officer.[36] The decision prohibited Minneapolis police officers from staffing park events and prohibited park police form assisting the Minneapolis Police Department. Nearly two years later, on May 4, 2022, the park board restored its relationship with the Minneapolis Police Department to allow the return of large events in parks that had been disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[37]
^Smith 2008, p. 73, "Today, many Minneapolitans think of Wirth as the man who created the Minneapolis park system. In fact, he did not—but he greatly improved it".
^Smith 2008, p. 74, "He was always an advocate of more playgrounds and recreation facilities, but judging him by his accomplishments instead of his words, it is evident that those facilities were not his highest priority".
^Smith 2008, p. 139, "As much as Wirth deserves credit for developing many outstanding features of the Minneapolis park system, especially in its finer neighborhoods, he must also bear some responsibility for neglecting to provide for the city's burgeoning recreational needs, especially in its poorer neighborhoods".
^Smith 2008, p. 175, "In the twelve years, from 1966 to 1978, the park board built thirty-seven recreation centers and developed fourteen new parks....The new parks were all acquired in neighborhoods that Weir and Brightbill had targeted as underserved, mostly in the central city".
