Too much green space is never enough.

When I showed up at the first group meeting with a large map of the region highlighted with public green space and scenic rivers, Environmentalist Jim Stokes was my new best friend. “Where’d you get the map?” he wondered, eyes lighting up.

I slowly unfolded it, let him look and then folded it back up. I walked to the other side of the room and unfolded it again. This time Emory’s Betty Willis had that hungry look. She wanted one, too. It is a lovely green and blue picture of the cooperation between counties and cities here protecting the edges of rivers and lakes and linking them with greenways. This part of the country LOVES to be outside. The voters never seem to turn down a tax hike to protect and open land to the public. Where the national average is 13 acres of green space and parks per thousand people, here there’s 18.54 acres, half again more than the rest of the country. Atlanta’s green total is growing, but less than half the national average. It’s no wonder nobody had seen a map with so much land set aside.

Before long I had a dozen requests, from Yvonne Williams at the Perimeter CID to Council for Growth’s Michael Paris. so I called Arne Stefferud at the Met Council. He set aside a boxful for the group. But I took it as a point of pride to go pick them up via mass transit. We’d been hearing how great the buses are. I decided to test them. Imagine the equivalent, from Downtown Atlanta to Vinings, or Clarkston, or about a dozen miles. Plus, the taxi ride would have cost about $60.

PRICE: From downtown Minneapolis I caught an express bus to Saint Paul. Wait time: 8 minutes. Cost $2 round trip. Ride time: 18 minutes at rush hour. Return? The same.

BENEFIT: Talked with a man in a bow tie, a woman in a veil, a nun in a veil and 2 very amused bus drivers. They gave me excellent advice about the cities, the river and the hikes. And they wanted a map, too.