- Skate Parks More Popular Than Ever
July 2 - ABC News - With new, specially-designed parks cropping up all over the country, skateboarders are no longer the bane of America's public spaces.
- Fate of County's Parks Lies in Sales Tax Proposal
July 1 - St. Petersburg Times - Pasco County commissioners will try to sell residents on a yearly $22 million sales tax in preparation for a November referendum.
- Defeat of Parks Tax Bodes Poorly for Davis, CA
July 2 - Sacramento Bee - Residents may face declining quality in their parks and other public services if similar tax measures do not gain public support.
- Patterson Park Ready for Long-Awaited Renovation
June 27 - SunSpot.net - This Baltimore park is set to enjoy $4 million in improvements - seven years after the first funds were appropriated.
- Audubon Takes Flight in Urban Centers
July 3 - Christian Science Monitor - On both coasts and everywhere in between, the Audubon Society is working in partnership with urban parks to expand its educational mission.
- Montreal Park Gets Whole New Look
July 2 - Montreal Gazette - Sun Yat-Sen Park, a notable Chinatown destination, will benefit from $800,000 in renovations - promising more trees, more benches, and bigger crowds.
- Parks at the Heart of San Jose's Identity
July 10 - San Jose Mercury News - A columnist urges readers to nominate "Very San Jose" places and events - and offers the urban Alum Rock Park as a prime example.
- Park Cost No Fun
July 9 - Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Due to an obscure law, a small town must pay to maintain a 144-acre park it says it cannot afford.
- Parks Authority Proposed
July 8 - Detroit News - With overcrowding in Howell's city parks due to patronage from outlying areas, a parks authority is proposed to help develop and maintain new parks.
- Park Under Siege From Vehicles
July 9 - Salt Lake Tribune - A Salt Lake City park designated as open space and teeming with children is again the target of automobile encroachment.
- Parks, Profits, & the Public
July 10 - Detroit News - A neighborhood park amps up its amphitheater from ethnic festivals to rock concerts - to the great displeasure of locals.
- Water Pollution Increases - And So Does Popularity of "Spraygrounds"
July 5 - Detroit News - In one example of a growing trend, water parks provide an alternative for beachgoers wary of bacteria in a lakefront Michigan community.
- Conflicting Park Uses Spark Controversy
July 10 - Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel - The battle continues between developers proposing a community center in a park, and opponents who see it as a sign of "creeping commercialism" in scarce green space.
- Tax Cut Windfall: Patio Furniture or Public Parks?
July 12 - Christian Science Monitor - While polls show Americans putting their tax rebate into umbrella tables, this writer suggests using it to bolster dwindling funds for parks and other public places.
- "Field of Dreams" Opens on Oahu
July 16 - Honolulu Star-Bulletin - With 269 acres and 11 playing fields, the island's largest park will ease the chronic demand for both passive and recreational green space.
- Greening Up South Lake Union
July 16 - Seattle Times - Can a new park - and Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen - revitalize a long-dormant district in central Seattle?
- Tourists Drawn to Stanley Park
July 15 - Seattle Times - A Vancouver's 1,000-acre flagship park is lush and loaded with activities, according to this travel profile.
- Vision of a New (Re)public Square
July 13 - Austin Chronicle - How downtown businesses joined with the Austin's Parks & Recreation Department, a parks nonprofit, and Project for Public Spaces to revitalize a historic square with art, people, and commerce.
- Proposed Garden An Experience For The Senses
July 17 - Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel - Park People, a Milwaukee nonprofit, wants to enhance a local park with a garden designed for people with visual and hearing impairments and wheelchair-users.
- If Only All Parks Were Central
July 23 - New York Times - Along with its crown jewel, Central Park - mostly maintained with private dollars - New York has an abundance of neglected parks "left behind despite years of prosperity."
- Mighty Mud Mania
July 21 - Arizona Republic - Over 26 years, this free day of muck and mirth, which includes adobe wall-building and a mud obstace course, has become a favorite event in Scottsdale, AZ parks.
- Parks Too Popular For Their Own Good
July 30 - Chicago Sun-Times - City officials in a Chicago suburb are experimenting with ways to strike a balance between nonresidents and residents in their parks.
- Milwaukee Pools To Close In Favor Of Water Parks
July 30 - Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel The County's parks department wants to replace up to eight under-utilized swimming pools with water parks - but is facing a price tag of some $33.5 million.
- Public Space Investment Dwarfed By Private Stadium Deals
July 29 - Washington Post Writers Group - Columnist Neal Peirce wonders how the public dollars funneled into sports complexes could be spent on neighborhood improvements and services cities really need to prosper.
