Page 66 - KCMO Parks Master Plan 2032
P. 66
ALTERNATIVE RECREATION
AL TERNA TIVE RECREA TION
CE
A
SP
& OPEN SPACE
OPEN
&
PROVIDER SUMMARY
Recreation and open space may be deemed not schools, the State, or even the local counties.
a public good, but because they are in great Neighboring cities was the choice of 50% of
demand, they are also a commodity or respondents. It is true that just on the Missouri
consumer good. In any given market, a municipal side of the State line cities like Grandview, Lee’s
department is just one of several providers of Summit, Blue Springs, Liberty, Raytown, and
recreation and open space services, effectively Gladstone all have park systems which attract
in competition with other public agencies like Kansas City residents with their parks and indoor
school districts or counties as well as private recreation centers.
providers like YMCAs, fitness centers, and sport
clubs. It behooves an agency like the Kansas City PRIVATE
Parks and Recreation Department to know its
competition as it plans for capital improvements Private fitness centers, sport clubs, climbing
to its system. gyms, and yoga studios are numerous across
KCMO. The Greater YMCA of Kansas City
Public also has no fewer than 5 locations in Kansas
City proper. These types of facilities certainly
Often one of the largest alternative providers compete with the city’s 10 community centers
of recreation and open space in any city are for users and memberships. When asked in the
the public schools. KCMO is served by over 10 survey, 30% of respondents indicated they use
separate school districts and has hundreds of private fitness centers, 28% indicated the YMCA,
school sites within its city limits. The map on page and another 14% indicated private sport clubs.
61 depicts all the KCMO park properties in green, The City must be mindful of such competition as
the 10 community centers as gray dots and public it prepares to upgrade their existing community
schools as orange dots. One can imagine how centers.
many playgrounds, basketball courts, and walking
tracks these dots might represent. However, TakeAways
public schools are only semi-public as they are
not available to the general population but for a Alternative options are plentiful for indoor
fraction of any given day. In fact, when asked as recreation, both among private providers in the
part of the statistically valid community survey city limits, and public providers just over the city
what organizations KCMO household used for limit line. KCMO Parks and Recreation needs to
recreation programs and facilities, only 18% of know its core constituencies, seek them out, and
respondents indicated local schools, colleges, listen to them as it considers improvements to
and universities. KCMO Parks and Recreation the 10 community centers. Reactivating these
was the runaway winner in this question at 72%. buildings cannot be done in a vacuum. The local
The runner up was a public competitor, but it was recreation market is much too fluid.
60 KANSAS CITY PARKS MASTER PLAN
