Florida's best public park system is in this Tampa Bay city

Fellow St. Pete residents: It's finally our turn to brag.

State of play: The Sunshine City has the best public park system among large cities in Florida, per a new report from the pro-park nonprofit Trust for Public Land.

• And it's not close. St. Pete ranked 11th nationwide, up from 15th last year .
• The next Florida city on the parks list is Miami at 36. Tampa fell three spots from last year to land at 49.

Why it matters: Residents in high-scoring cities are more socially connected with their neighbors, per the report — including those from other socioeconomic groups, with whom they might not otherwise commingle.

How it works: The Trust for Public Land annually scores major cities' park systems based on access, acreage, amenities, equity and investment.

• Each city is awarded points based on those factors and is then given an overall " ParkScore " of up to 100.

The big picture: St. Pete's 193 parks spanning nearly 4,700 acres received a score of 71. (The top-ranked city, Washington, D.C., had a score of 84.8.)

• The highest-scoring categories were equity and investment. Acreage got the lowest marks.
• Tampa's score was 55.8, with high marks for amenities and equity and, like St. Pete, low marks for acreage.

By the numbers: 78% of St. Pete residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park.

• That percentage is even higher for low-income (79%) and Black (89%) residents, according to the report.

Zoom out: The report also pointed out areas around the city that could benefit from more park space.

• Those pockets were mainly in the northern part of the city west of Interstate 275 — including Clearvista, Live Oak and Tyrone.

Fun fact: Among park amenities, St. Pete got a perfect score for bathrooms.

💭 Kathryn's thought bubble: Whoever came up with that hasn't had to pee in a bush at Lassing Park.

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