An analysis and comparison of the park-related facilities and per-capita expenditure on park and recreation activities between Johnson City, Tennessee and the three Tennessee cities of Jackson, Kingsport, and Murfreesboro

The area of investigation for this thesis included the parks and recreation departments of the four Tennessee cities of Jackson, Johnson City, Kingsport, and Murfreesboro. Both the inventory of available park space and budget appropriations for the four departments were observed.

The procedure used for data gathering included numerous questionnaires, citizen surveys, personal interviews, telephone interviews, and physical data gathering techniques.

A condensed summary of the findings includes the fact that my original position was disproven. The parks and recreation departmental budget appropriations and facilities inventory among the four cities are not akin and do not yield data that would make the four cities comparable in the regard outlined in Chapter One of this paper.

Conclusions that were reached included the fact that the parks departments of all four cities needed to procure additional park land in order to meet current national recommended (i.e., NRPA) standards. The actual land amounts needed (and other conclusions reached) are identified in the body of the paper.