Boom Times for New Orleans Park Construction

Included among the new and under-construction parks in today's New Orleans:

• The "broad, 3.1-mile Lafitte Greenway, currently under construction," 
• "Crescent Park, a stunning new riverfront area that will eventually connect to the French Quarter,"
• "and City Park, the huge 1,300-acre green space that was underwater for weeks, which has not only reopened, but added a Great Lawn, a lake area with paddle boats and a pedestrian-bike path, 5,000 trees, a fishing pier and four more miles of sidewalks and paths, not to mention the city’s first official dog run and its only mini-golf course."

"In fact," reports Rechdahl, "since Katrina, New Orleans has built out its parks-and-rec infrastructure at the speed of Robert Moses, spending $134 million on such projects since 2010. In four years, the city has doubled the number of pools, and this year will triple the number of recreation centers. And though it didn’t have a single dedicated on-street bike lane until 2008, this year it hopes to stripe its 100th mile."

The article also includes questions about how the maintenance of the parks will funded, which has yet to be resolved.