Greensboro Plan2Play Parks and Recreation Master Plan 2019

52 - FEBRUARY 2019

only 9% of respondents gave a “fair” rating, and less than 1% of respondents gave a “poor” rating. Forty-four percent (44%) of respondents indicated they could safely walk to a nearby park, greenway or recreation center, 35% of respondents indicated they could safely bike to a nearby park, greenway, or recreation center. Parks are the most common facilities that respondents will walk or bike to followed by greenways. Program Participation Only 20% of households indicated that they had participated in a program offered by the Department during the past year. This is notably below the national average response of 34%. But, ninety-two percent (92%) of those who did use a program indicated the quality of the programs they have participated in were either “excellent” (49%) or “good” (42%) while only 8% gave a “fair” rating. Respondents were asked to indicate the reasons that their household uses parks, recreation centers, lakes, gardens, spraygrounds, golf courses, trails, greenways, or programs offered by the

Figure 31. Local residents play basketball at the Sportsplex. Seventy-two percent of respondents indicated they use facilities and programs offered by the City of Greensboro because they are close to their home.

Department. Seventy-two percent of respondents indicated they use facilities and programs offered by the City of Greensboro because they are close to their home or they enjoy the outdoors, 50% indicated it is because the facilities are well maintained, and 49% indicated it was because of improved physical fitness and health or the availability or parking. Survey respondents were asked to identify what prevents them from participating in Department recreation programs more often, based on a list of 14 potential reasons. The top four reasons selected

were: not knowing what is offered (48%), too busy/not interested (33%), program not offered (19%), and use programs of other agencies (17%). As noted above, people noting lack of knowledge of parks and recreation offerings in Greensboro is a much higher number than across the country. The use of programs by other providers also ranked higher than averages: 17% in Greensboro is higher than the national average of only 10% selecting this as a reason.