INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — Independence Mayor Eileen Weir is the latest Kansas City metro leader to sign on to a national campaign to ensure all people have parks within a 10-minute walk of their homes.
The 10-Minute Walk Campaign is an initiative of the Trust for Public Land, the National Recreation and Park Association, and the Urban Land Institute. According to the campaign, one in three Americans does not have a green space within a half-mile of home.
Independence has more than 40 parks and green spaces throughout the city.
"Really our goal is to have an accessible park for every citizen in the city, regardless of what neighborhood they live in," Weir said. "We aren't quite there yet, but that's one of our goals."
The idea was endorsed by both the parents and kids 41 Action News interviewed at McCoy Park.
"People with kids, people like me, we need parks that are in close range," Staci Jackson, who brings her four kids to the park every weekday, said.
"Some kids just live somewhere far away from places. They have to play with toys inside, and it gets boring sometimes. I feel like those kids deserve to come outside and play in some parks," Landon Rogers, a young park patron, said.
Weir joins Kansas City Mayor Sly James as the only other Missouri leader involved in the effort. Meanwhile, Kansas City, Kansas, Mayor David Alvey and Shawnee Mayor Michelle Distler also have made commitments to the campaign.
