A version of the following article appeared in the September 9, 2026, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with news and insights for Charlotte, N.C.
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ALMOST A BIG CITY
Charlotte has a glittering skyline, pro sports, a thriving dining scene and plenty of other big-city amenities. It's what boosters, business leaders and elected officials have long chased. But does Charlotte act urban, or more like an expanse of suburbs knit together by traffic congestion?
In this four-part series, published Sept. 8-11, 2026, longtime local journalist Mary Newsom analyzes some of the cultural, structural and historical reasons that hinder Charlotte's ability to function effectively as a big city. The series was edited by The Ledger’s Ashley Fahey.
PART 4: Decades of under-investment keep Charlotte-Mecklenburg near the bottom of national park rankings
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Despite recent improvements, decades of under-investment keep Charlotte-Mecklenburg near the bottom of national park rankings
People walk and listen to live music at Freedom Park in Dilworth, one of Charlotte’s most popular parks. (Photo by Nancy Pierce)
by Mary Newsom
In fall 1992, the locked door to the men’s room at Mason Wallace Park on Monroe Road had been kicked in. The toilet was torn from the wall, and the floor was covered with tree limbs, apparently for a campfire, a Charlotte Observer reporter found.
At Veterans Park on Central Avenue, a large indoor picnic shelter was boarded up because asbestos used in its construction was a hazard. Throughout Charlotte, restrooms in most parks were routinely locked — lock ’em, or lose ’em, according to city parks officials.
Want to know why Mecklenburg County’s parks seem each year to land at or near the bottom of the Trust for Public Land’s national ParkScore rankings? One place to start looking is the city government’s lackluster interest, for most of the 20th century, in buying or building public parks, followed by a decade and a half of insufficient funding from the county.
Other factors also come into play. The 2008 Great Recession forced county commissioners to cut spending. County parks and public libraries were hardest hit among county departments. Another factor was a nationwide belief that the newer, postwar, middle-income suburbs would have private neighborhood clubs with amenities such as swimming pools – especially, in that era of looming desegregation, swimming pools.
Charlotte’s general lack of walkability hurts the department’s ParkScore rankings as well, since the scoring metrics include the percentage of residents living within a 10-minute walk of a park.