Louisville is home to more than 120 parks, including some designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of American landscape architecture.
Louisville’s Olmsted Parks Conservancy was formed in 1989 and works with Louisville Metro Parks to protect the city’s 17 Olmsted-designed parks. New parkland has also been developed in recent years through the nonprofit 21st Century Parks initiative, which has built the Parklands of Floyds Forkin eastern and southeastern Jefferson County.
According to the latest report by the Trust For Public Land, Louisville’s park system ranked 81 out of the 100 largest cities in the U.S. That’s an improvement over Louisville’s rank the previous year. Some residents have complained in recent years that Louisville’s score may be lower than other cities because of the city/county merger, which incorporates suburban and rural areas with less access to parks.
The city's looming budget deficit will affect some areas of the Louisville Metro Parks system as officials look for ways to trim down the budget. On this week’s In Conversation, we’ll talk about the state of Louisville’s parks, their challenges and how the city budget cuts could affect some park facilities.
Join us as we talk with representatives from Metro Parks, the Olmsted Conservancy and the Parklands of Floyds Fork about those issues and what’s ahead this summer and beyond.
Listen to In Conversation live on 89.3 WFPL Friday at 11 a.m. or follow along with our live Tweets at @WFPLnews. Call with your questions or comments at 502-814-TALK or tweet us with the hashtag #WFPLconversation. We’re also on Facebook.
