168 Parks and 186 Miles of Trails: A Conversation with Maggie Stuckey-Ross on Lincoln's Parks

In this episode of Common Grounds, Randy Bretz and Dr. Marilyn S. Moore sit down with Maggie Stuckey-Ross, Director of the Lincoln Parks and Recreation Department, for a wide-ranging conversation about the green spaces, trails, pools, and gathering places that quietly shape daily life in Lincoln, Nebraska. Maggie shares the story of her path to leading one of the city's most visible public departments — a journey that took her from growing up near Irvingdale Park, to Boston for college, to Washington D.C. as a legislative aide, to the Arbor Day Foundation, and eventually back home to Lincoln. Along the way, the conversation moves through the scope and scale of the city's parks system, the philosophy behind neighborhood design, the new Canopy Yard skate park downtown, and what it means to provide play experiences for every kind of child and every kind of body. The conversation covers Lincoln's 168 parks, 92 playgrounds, four golf courses, and 186 miles of paved multi-use trails. Maggie explains the SPARK partnership with Lincoln Public Schools, the city's goal of placing every household within a ten-minute walk of a park facility, the role of the Lincoln Parks Foundation in funding "the delta" between basic service and exceptional amenity, and Lincoln's surprising national distinction: number one in the country for outdoor basketball hoops per capita. Recorded inside the roasting room at The Coffee Roaster in Lincoln, Nebraska.