Burnet Woods
By Olivia Resing, Alyssa Faith Allen, Shelbi Blake Arens, Kara Schuler, Abby Walz, Natalie Batch
Goals for Burnet
Burnet Woods is a natural haven within a busy urban city. It’s great for taking a break and some stressless quiet time…if you can find your way around. With four entrances and 89.3 ft², there should be plenty of room for signs, parking, and ways not to get lost. When we went to Burnet Woods to look around and start our project, one of the hardest parts was finding parking. There are sparse signs that tell visitors they may not park there, and the only area that does not require a $175 or $425 parking permit is for 2-hours only (6AM — 10 PM, Mon-Fri). This area is also on one of the highest points in the park and requires a bit of a walk to get anywhere other than the playground.
Research and Data Analysis
We began our project by researching Burnet Woods on cincinnatiparks.com. There was a lot of information as well as many discussion boards and opinions on the park. We then created a Google Forms survey to reach out to people online to get their general opinions on parks, what they like to do, and why they are drawn to certain parks. Most of the people who took the survey look for pretty scenery, clean facilities, nice trails, and a feeling of safety. After seeing these results, we went to observe the park in person. The park was very hard to navigate and we often got lost. There was little to no signage telling where things were, giving directions, or about where to park. It was very difficult to find things like the nature trail or where to begin the frisbee golf course. We had read about many of the amenities of the park online but struggled to find them. We had to pull out our smartphone to find the map. However, not everyone has that luxury. While we were there, there was a woman mowing and tending to the grass. However, many other aspects of the park were run down. The picnic tables, play ground, and shelters needed work. There was graffiti all over the shelters with inappropriate language right next to the kids’ playground. There were very few people there during our hour visit. Lastly, we interviewed locals on their opinions of the park. They felt like the park is very secluded and that makes them feel unsafe. They prefer other parks like Small Riverfront which is more open and well lit. Small is very family friendly with a lot of things to do. There are also many rumors heard by locals that the park is a hot spot for drugs and alcohol. One of the interviewees also told us about a rumor that a body had been found in the park.
We found that the use of signage around Burnet Woods would greatly improve the feeling of safety because when you know where you are, you have your wits about you and know where you can go and where you are safest. Open and well lit areas are also a significant thing that people look for in parks. While it is important to keep the nature aspect of this park, more people will visit if they know and hear that the park is safer.
Recommendations
For people to gain better access and more time at Burnet, we recommend more parking areas for those who don’t have a parking pass and more signage allowing them to more easily find these parking areas. The two-hour parking limit is understandable because the park doesn’t want students parking there all day, so we are not suggesting a huge change on the time limit. We are more suggesting the addition of small parking areas around the park closer to some of the other park landmarks.
Take Aways
People prefer open, safe parks that are easy to navigate. Not a lot of locals or students go to Burnet Woods. They would much rather drive out of their way to go to Smale Park because it is much nicer, cleaner, and safer. People have a lot of assumptions about our local parks which stop them from going to check it out. By starting small, we can give the park a better reputation and start it on the path to a better name.
