lately I have been going to prairie park and noticed a tiny metal canister that was dubbed a trash can, I wanted to throw away some garbage found on the playground, but i couldn't stuff it in because the ''can'' was full. it came up to my knees! And what happened to working water fountains and rest rooms at the parks that do have pavillions?

Yes, so I can drive to your town to enjoy them.

Anyone ever use Jeffris Park?

we need to improve what we now have on all fronts, (highways are a good example) more new stuff means higher taxes and more money needed for maintenance down the road. (see above highway comment.)

Why the "editorial comment" in the question? Why not just "yes" or "no". The fact that "yes" is followed by and married to the phrase "improve the quality of life in our city" makes the question a statement.

The nicest park by far in Janesville in terms of beautiful wooded trail acreage is Rockport Park. Nothing close to that.

Parks are real nice but in these current times of a very poor economy, there are many many other places to put the tax money!

Lions Beach COULD be a great place for kids to go in the summer - if the bird poop were a little more under control. We went there last year and it was really fun - if you could find a "poop-free" zone....kind of disgusting when you think about what you are swimming in.

Janesville has a great park system and should be proud of it. It is a legacy for the long term future, not just subject to immediate economic concerns. We can buy land now and develop it decades later, but if we don't buy it now, we probably won't be able to buy it later or will pay a premium.
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Lions Beach is obviously mothballed as a facility and has been since the pool opened. Of course, my idea was to build the water park (maybe a smaller one) there!
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Primarily I hope we continue to build our bike trail system and find better ways to use the riverfront parks including Riverside and Monterey. Rockport serves a different purpose and Palmer is already heavily improved. The most growth, though, is on the northeast side, and the city probably needs to have a major park in that area no matter what.

Why is Lion's Beach treated with such disregard?
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To my mind, Palmer, Riverside and Lion's should always be the big three for Janesville (OK, Traxler too). Prioritize those and then take measures to strengthen neighborhood groups to support the smaller neighborhood parks.
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Each and every public school also has a park-like playground, so Janesville has an abundance of quality and diversity.