Atlanta’s public parks have nourished me and my family for decades. When I need fresh air, sunshine, and a nature fix, I can choose from several city-owned and managed parks—each just a five-minute walk from my house. For four-plus decades, I’ve lived in the Ansley Park neighborhood in three different houses: the first near McClatchey Park where my sons hunted Easter eggs, played with friends, and rode Big Wheels.
Winn Park, once a fairly steep ravine with a flowing stream, was a quick walk across the street from our second home. Beloved by dog walkers and cared for by the city and Ansley Park Beautification Foundation, the park has a multi-purpose field and a playground. Both Charles and Rob say that Winn Park holds a special place in their childhood memories: playing with our family dog; practicing T-ball and baseball; biking the grassy slopes; attending neighborhood barbecues; and learning to sled (back when we had snow).
With friends, Charles made a Frisbee golf course in Winn Park and roller-bladed down a playground slide (“But, mom, I didn’t fall and break a bone the first time I did it…”). For Rob, the park was a place to explore and play: “an intermediate zone between our backyard and the wider world.” His memories include fireflies, the big white oaks, and long summer evenings. They both rendezvoused with various girlfriends under the park’s impressive tree canopy. Although their homes are now a fifteen-minute drive from Winn Park, they often bring their dogs to play and reminisce.
For more than half of my years in Ansley Park, I’ve lived in the third house, my favorite, located between Winn Park and the city’s spectacular Piedmont Park. During COVID, I walked many miles on the park’s Active Oval, admiring the sycamores and oaks beside the sports fields that were often filled with teams playing soccer, volleyball, and softball. In the park’s natural areas, I continue to find solitude, native plant and tree species, and birdsong—all in the heart of the city. Like rivers and streams, parks help define our cultural and natural landscapes.
Parks for all
Atlanta’s first Parks Commission was established in 1882 to plan for and manage parks and playgrounds. Today, the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) provides basic maintenance services for more than 3,000 acres of land in 445 public parks—from sports fields to pocket greenspaces, nature preserves, and formal gardens. DPR is also responsible for street trees on city rights-of-way.
Celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, Park Pride was created to engage communities in enhancing parks and greenspace through advocacy, volunteerism, and capital improvements. As the voice for parks in the city of Atlanta (later expanded to DeKalb County), the organization is the primary nonprofit working with communities in the city and DeKalb to improve their parks.
Trust for Public Land—a national park and greenspace advocate—annually publishes a ParkScore index that compares park systems across the 100 most populous cities in the country in five categories: access, investment, acreage, amenities, and equity. Atlanta is currently 28th on this list with 78 percent of city residents living within a ten-minute walk from a public park.
Michael Halicki—Park Pride’s energetic and conservation-minded executive director for the past decade-plus—proudly notes that the city’s score is up from a ranking of 49th just three years ago. At the same time, he says there is more work to be accomplished. Residents in low-income and non-white neighborhoods have less access to park space per person than those in white neighborhoods.
Support groups for city parks—such as Piedmont Park Conservancy, Friends of Lionel Hampton Beecher Hills Nature Preserve, Olmstead Linear Park Alliance, Chastain Park Conservancy, and 100 similar park nonprofits—help restore natural areas and provide other services. Park Pride supports these initiatives with training, grants, and an annual conference.
In 2022, Mayor Andre Dickens appointed Justin Cutler, formerly the director of recreation services in Seattle, to serve as Atlanta’s DPR commissioner. In Seattle, Cutler worked to improve parks and recreation opportunities for historically underserved communities. In addition to overseeing the Atlanta Parks Department, he is responsible for helping create long-term plans with input from elected officials, parks advocates, and residents. By all accounts, Cutler is an enthusiastic and competent park leader.
Natural areas need help
Now that Atlanta’s Tree Trust Fund can legally be used to purchase forested property—in addition to planting trees—the city has begun to invest more heavily in new parks. In the past four years, it purchased 580 acres, 80 percent of which is forested and/or considered a nature preserve requiring special maintenance skills.
While DPR is deeply appreciated by park groups, it has become clear that the department does not have the knowledge, expertise, or sufficient resources to manage the tree canopy and natural areas within the park system. Park Pride and partners are urging the city to create and fund a natural areas team within DPR; it would include a director of natural resources and additional maintenance workers with expertise in tree care and removal of invasive species: a serious problem.
In early March, the Atlanta City Council adopted a list of priorities for the fiscal year 2025 budget, including support for a new DPR natural areas team. A final budget will be approved in June after an interagency review and a public hearing.
WHAT YOU CAN DO: Contact your council member and urge them to fund a natural areas team for the Atlanta Department of Parks and Recreation. Support Park Pride and Friends groups for specific parks. Get outside and enjoy our city’s parks this spring!
