New Orleans has reinvented or created several new, fantastic parks and community green spaces since Katrina.   Among the new parks are the 3.1 mile linear Lafitte Greenway, the riverfront Crescent Park in the Bywater, a revamping of City Park, and the city’s first official dog run and its only mini-golf course.

Our friends at Next City have done a great job highlighting this boom in a recent article, pointing out that since 2010 New Orleans has spent over $134 million on park projects.

Next City notes that “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.”

And how do we pay for all of this?

Apparently the city foots the bill for almost the entire thing out of its general fund (except for City Park which is covered by the state):

Crescent Park and the Lafitte Greenway alone will add roughly $1 million more to a maintenance budget that tops $7 million.

Parks and Parkways now swallows up $3.3 million per year.

The New Orleans Recreation Department Commission is up to $3.1 million, and operating and maintenance for Crescent Park is $659,000.

The Lafitte Greenway is still under construction, but the city estimates it will add $300,000 to the yearly maintenance tab.

You can read the entire story from Next City here.

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