Convenient, safe access to recreational facilities is directly correlated to an increase in the amount that people exercise. 
How can implementation of the recommendations of the Parks and Open Space Plan and Area Plans be facilitated, in particular, land banking for proposed parks and funding for facilities? Give us your thoughts -- click "comments" below:
13 comments:
There should be more funding for green spaces, they have many health benefits in and of themselves. Greenways also support the environment and improve air quality. Parks should be available and close to each neighborhood, and these need public protection as well to make people feel safe in using them. Greenways need to be connected to each other so people can bike or walk as transportation. (Most trips are short and if we could funnel these to a greenway system, helping to decrease air pollution and improve physical and mental health from being active and outside.
We need more green space and safe places for play for children. Make neighborhood school facilities available to families whose children attend these schools.
I imagine money plays a big role in this. However promoting this, so that the public supports it, and applies pressure to city/county officials to support this as well.
We need downtown parkland - next to Nissen Bldg & more.
Winston-Salem has very limited downtown open space compared to other places. If you want people to live downtown, you need to give them open spaces & recreation alternatives.
We need to develop parkland in NW, NE, & SE parts of County - this is a viable alternative to residential & commercial development of open farm land. Seek donors, conservation easements, grant for purchase. Perhaps more could be done in the Winston Lakes Corridor as well & proceed with greenway connection to Salem Lake.
It is always easier to plan than to repurpose existing development.
Require developers to contribute to open space as a condition of getting permission to build.
Cut the red tape which slows down the development and completion of greenway projects. It shouldn't take 15 years to build a greenway (Brushy Fork).
Stop selling off pieces of existing city parks!
People are drawn to these types of places. It is not a question of how can they be implemented but where. Since people are drawn to these spaces, then planning that is done smartly by maximizing on the opportunities of these areas should be done.
Bond referendum
Put "park" or "greenway" rangers or police on segways to improve safety in these areas
bonds?
Many of our existing parks and greenways are so heavily used! Maybe we should allow voters to support a specific greenspace expansion fund. Maybe start by having a $5 "check off" when people pay their taxes - along with a well-publicized campaign supporting the option? If that's fairly successful, move to a bond referendum to make financing more equitable.
The simplest and most efficient way would be to adopt ordinances that protect and reserve streams, wetlands and their buffers. Permanently protecting forested stream buffers is essential to the maintenance of aquatic habitats. According to US Army Corps policy, the establishment and maintenance of riparian areas can be required by the district engineer as compensatory mitigation to ensure that activities result in minimal individual and cumulative adverse effects on the aquatic environment. Compensatory mitigation projects can include areas that are not waters of the United States, as long as the mitigation is directly related to the impacts of the proposed work on such waters and appropriate to the scope and degree of those impacts. Riparian areas are integral components of streams and other open waters, and are essential for their ecological integrity and function. The establishment and maintenance of riparian areas as compensatory mitigation for activities authorized by Corps permits and other types of permits also advances the objective of the Clean Water Act, which is to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters.” Our local municipalities and the county should recognize the severe degradation that has occurred in the last century to our air and water resources and try to mitigate those debilitating impacts to our landscape, our environment, our aesthetics and our health.
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