CLEVELAND — The city of Cleveland is asking for input from the community as they look to plan the future of parks and recreation in the city.
The Mayor's Office of Capital Projects is hosting a series of open houses on the east and west sides of Cleveland in order to gather information from residents.
The open houses are taking place on the following days:
- Thursday, July 27 at Zelma Watson George Recreation Center, 12-2 p.m.
- Thursday, July 27 at Thurgood Marshall Recreation Center, 6-8 p.m.
- Saturday, July 29 at South Branch Public Library, 10 a.m. -12 p.m.
"This plan will provide a playbook for the City to follow over the coming decade," said OLIN CEO Lucinda Sanders. "For that playbook to be responsive to the needs of Clevelanders, we are hosting these open houses as one way to hear directly from residents what they would like parks and recreation in the City to look like in the future."
OLIN, a Philadelphia-based landscape architecture firm is holding open houses as well as local community partners ThirdSpace Action Lab, Neighborhood Connections, designExplorr, OHM Advisors and others.
A pop-up engagement will also be held in Public Square on Friday, Jul 28, at noon.
"This is an incredible opportunity to revitalize public spaces in every neighborhood across our city," said Mayor Justin M. Bibb. "This plan is all about access and equity, removing barriers, building community, and creating places and experiences that enrich peoples' lives."
Currently, the City of Cleveland operates 179 unique parks and recreation sites, including 155 city parks, 23 recreation centers and one golf course. These sites include 111 baseball fields, 108 playgrounds, 88 basketball courts, 70 tennis courts, 40 indoor or outdoor swimming pools, and hundreds of other public amenities and programs.
The three-phase planning process is expected to take 18 months, with the first phase working to identify the current and future parks and recreation needs of Clevelanders.
