PLANO, Texas — One Texas city made it into the top 20 of best city parks in the country. Plano is located north of Dallas and came in at number 15 for the Trust for Public Land’s annual Park Score Index, which ranks parks among the 100 biggest cities. Number one on the list is Washington, D.C., followed by Saint Paul, Minneapolis; Arlington, Virginia; Chicago, then San Francisco.

If a park in Plano needs fixing, playground maintenance technician Carmelo Morales takes the call.

“I inspect, make sure there’s nothing broken at the park,” Morales explained.

He drives from his home to Haggard Park in downtown Plano.

“I’m a father of three. Three small ones,” Morales said. “And I want to go to a park where it’s safe for my kids. That’s why I take pride on doing my job because I want to make sure all the kids in Plano have safe places to play.”

It is important work to a parent concerned about safety. Every day, Morales checks every one of the 22 parks on his list, bolt by bolt, screw by screw.

“Make sure all of them are sturdy, nothing is loose. Same thing with all these platforms here,” he said.

Morales said a lot of the employees at the more than 70 parks in Plano are proud of this ranking.

“You take pride in the job you do. And the city getting recognized, that means you’re doing a good job as well,” Morales said.

Jon Coleman is the downtown caretaker. He has worked for the city for seven years. He has three children - two boys and a little girl -  a wife and a couple of dogs. Plus, he got married at Haggard Park.

“That’s the reason I like the parks,” Coleman said. “Because all my kids play sports. Every weekend, it’s at some kind of park. We don’t live here in Plano so you start seeing stuff. Like these guys didn’t weed. Who takes cares of their weeds? There’s trash everywhere. You don’t want people to see that whenever you come to your work."

The report also found significant inequities in the lower-rated parks across the country. Residents of neighborhoods where most people identify as Black, Hispanic and LatinX, Indigenous, Native American and Asian American have access to about 44% less park space than residents who are predominately white.

Here is how other cities in our viewing area ranked after Plano at 15 out of 100:

Austin is number 45.

Dallas is 50.

San Antonio is 60.

El paso is 62.

Laredo and Corpus Christi came in at 67 and 68.

Houston at 77.

Fort Worth at 89.

Lubbock and Garland are tied at 93.

Irving is 97.