Index: Mpls. Narrowly Beats St. Paul For Nation's Best Park System

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Minneapolis has the best park system in the country for the fourth year in a row.

Minneapolis and St. Paul tied for first last year, but this year the larger of the Twin Cities won. St. Paul came in a close second.

Minneapolis parks received a five-bench rating, the highest rating possible from the Trust for Public Land, making it the best in the country.

The trust ranked 100 cities this year, where only 75 cities were ranked in the past.

"No matter how many cities are on the list, one thing remains the same: Minneapolis is number one," said Susan Schmidt from The Trust For Public Land.

The park index looks at park access, the size of the park and facilities.

Related: Black Lives Matter Says Park Board Has Work To Do In North Mpls.

This is four wins in a row for Minneapolis. It edged out St. Paul because of the size of its parks, access to green space and number of dog parks.

"Today, 95 percent of Minneapolis residents live within an half mile or a ten-minute walk of a park, and today more than 22 million visits are made each year to this amazing park system," said Minneapolis Parks Superintendent Jayne Miller.

She says the park system in "The City of Lakes" has been innovative from the very beginning.

"Thinking about creating park land and a parkway system that has green space, that isn't private property … that was innovative back in the late 1800s," Miller said. "In fact, there isn't another city in the country that has parks along all these bodies of water that are free to the public and not privately owned. Weber Pool is another example of that innovation."

Miller says she is proud of the first natural swimming pool in North America at Weber Park in north Minneapolis. But she is also as proud of an agreement with the city that puts aside half a billion dollars for parks.

"We are moving forward with a monumental 20-year neighborhood plan that will provide an additional $11 million annually into our neighborhood parks," Miller said.

She says the money will be invested in the most racially-diverse and economically-challenged areas of the city, and residents will begin to see a big difference in the park system in less than a year.

Crews will begin by replacing playground equipment and revamping athletic fields.