Lakewood playgrounds are not being maintained

Janet Popielski · Post by **Janet Popielski** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 7:21 am

To all elected officials and city employees:

Thursday morning I took my young son to Kaufmann park behind Drug Mart to play. There were three children there playing who warned me about feces at the bottom of the slide. As I looked around I noticed that the entire playground was littered with trash. I asked a crew of young men in city vehicles working on the ball field to clean up the feces and trash and was told they were not there for the playground and therefore would not address the problem (I guess they are taught how to respond to citzens at orientation).

I have also attempted to take my son to Wagar Park only to find broken glass and other trash all around, and that was on the equipment that was not out of date. We have taken our son to local schools to play only to find thier equipment out of date and not maintained. Even though I watched very carefully he still cracked his lip on a metal bar which was exposed.

This city has a large number of young families with small children, playgrounds should be a top priorty first thing every morning including weekends. The parks department needs to start addressing these issues immediately.

We have started opting to visit playgrounds in Rocky River, Bay and even West Park which are much better maintained. I guess I should just move there, they obviously care more about young families.

dl meckes · Post by **dl meckes** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 7:58 am

Janet-

Have you tried using the Mayor's Action Center?

http://www.ci.lakewood.oh.us/mayor_action_center.htm

My thought is that having your concerns in writing at City Hall may be effective.

Jim O'Bryan · Post by **Jim O'Bryan** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 9:50 am

Janet Popielski wrote:We have started opting to visit playgrounds in Rocky River, Bay and even West Park which are much better maintained. I guess I should just move there, they obviously care more about young families.

Janet

I would also encourage you contact city hall, also many read the Observer daily. Please let us know how you call goes.

As a last resort I would love to help organize a group with you that checks parks and/or can do spot cleaning when needed.

.

Janet Popielski · Post by **Janet Popielski** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 9:22 pm

Thank you for the suggestions, I will try to contact the mayor's office in a more formal way. Unfortunately I feel the apathy of the young workers is typical of the city employees and that is were the problems stem from. I've had other recent dealings with other city divisions on a separate issues and received similar responses.

As for a separate volunteer group to help out with the playgrounds, I think it is a good idea but I already have a child and a full time job, my time with my child is precious and I would prefer to play with him at the park rather than clean up feces and broken glass. I pay the third highest property taxes in the county. Isn't the maintanence of our parks a service I'm paying for? My attempt on Thursday to have city employees who were ON SITE address the issues was more than I think most people would do. That attempt failed miserably. I am holding out some hope that the city officials will understand the needs of their hard working citzens and ensure our children have safe and clean playgrounds.

If there are any other parents of young children reading this please let me know what you think.

Ellen Malonis · Post by **Ellen Malonis** » Sun Jun 11, 2006 6:27 am

Dear Janet,

I have found that the Division of Parks and Public Property has always been cooperative and receptive to my calls (even if I've had to leave a message, I feel I can and must help give them a heads up on a particular problem at a local park) Check out this link:

http://www.ci.lakewood.oh.us/pw_parks.html

If you've ever known or loved someone who has ever worked in a maintenance job, as I have, you might sympathize with the plight of the City Workers you talked to at Fox Field. Were they there on behalf of the Recreation Department? Or the Division of Parks and Public Property. I'm not sure if a crew sent to rake and chalk Fox Field is in the same department as the ones responsible for park clean-up. I don't really know. Anyone else know? Maintenance workers have work orders - a system in place to prioritize and schedule their work for the day - set up and administered by the supervisors. That's why if I have a situation to report, I call the Division of Parks directly. Plus, if it is a matter of a dangerous situation, a call would get the attention of the appropriate responsible people pronto!

My office window at work looks out over Wagar Park, and I have responsiblilities that require me to be in the park daily. If there is ever broken equipment, trash, glass, etc., the city has been quick to respond to my call.

You wrote: "I am holding out some hope that the city officials will understand the needs of their hard working citzens and ensure our children have safe and clean playgrounds."

Please continue to hold out hope! You are obviously a concerned, active citizen. You have already done a great deal to help remedy this situation. Now, if we can just teach the teenagers to respect park property... :!:

dl meckes · Post by **dl meckes** » Sun Jun 11, 2006 9:12 am

Ellen Malonis wrote:I'm not sure if a crew sent to rake and chalk Fox Field is in the same department as the ones responsible for park clean-up.

That was my question, too.

My assumption is that there's a regular maintenence schedule for the parks, but if there's a problem, citizens need to tell the Parks Dept. about it.

However, the folks who were working on the field probably could have been a little more customer friendly and possibly could have communicated the problem to Parks.

Ryan Salo · Post by **Ryan Salo** » Sun Jun 11, 2006 5:57 pm

I have 3 children that love to go to the parks, we try to never get bored so we try to switch it up as much as possible. I have always taught my kids to pick up trash (not glass or sharp objects) and to throw them away in the closest trash can. I have to agree with this post, that it appears that recently more trash has been at most of the parks. I have also noticed that Lakewood, as a whole, has very few public garbage cans. I have noticed middle school kids with wrappers look around and not see a can in site so just drop it. I know we don't want to give in to the laziness of our new society but maybe we can get some non-profits to "adopt cans and playgrounds" to keep clean. I know that our Kiwanis club would be happy to take a couple. Anyone else want to help out?

Shawn Juris · Post by **Shawn Juris** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:34 pm

I look forward to hearing more about this. Any facts about the number of parks in Lakewood and how often they are attended to would be great. I think it's a real shame that playgrounds would look like the are untended to. Be interesting to find out if there is a problem of staffing or neglect on those on watch from the city of if it's really just that much to keep up with from our friendly neighborhood litterbugs.
Wasn't there some "Swat" Team that was supposed to be hanging out in that area? If I had known that there was so much trash to be picked up there I would have had the 8th grade hecklers from our game last night jump on the project. I'll keep that in mind for next time. What about the community service hours that kids need. This sounds like a perfect fit. Ramp of the enforcement of litter fines with the punishment of having to pick it up for an hour.
It does lead to another question though. What is the reasonable response of a concerned citizen, when they see someone else blatantly littering? What response will realistically reduce the probability of recurrence?

Danielle Masters · Post by **Danielle Masters** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 6:08 pm

Shawn Juris wrote:
It does lead to another question though. What is the reasonable response of a concerned citizen, when they see someone else blatantly littering? What response will realistically reduce the probability of recurrence?

My response is to call them on it. I have never had a kid response negatively to me, although an adult did call me some rather fowl names once. I feel it is my responsibility to call kids on their rude and destructive behavior. Often times adults don't call kids on their behavior and the kids think they can get away with stuff.

Kenneth Warren · Post by **Kenneth Warren** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:42 pm

I agree with Danielle.

We must intervene to make sure children and teens do not become litter thugs.

I suggest a simple call and roll up sleeves together response: "This is our city, buddy, and we like to keep our parks clean. Now let's pick this up."

When I do this, I bend and pick up the mess with the litterbugs and their friends, thanking them for their cooperation, saying something like: "I really appreciate you for helping keep our city clean. Thanks alot, buddy."

Also try to pick up the obnoxious piece of litter when you are walking, if at all possible, especially when children, middle schoolers and teens are present.

Model good behavior by example. We have the grand example of "The Walking Man - Mr. Bognar."

I have not seen the SWAT team in Kaufman Park. It is possible the leaders have found jobs or moved on.

Kenneth Warren

Ryan Salo · Post by **Ryan Salo** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:46 pm

Danielle Masters wrote:Often times adults don't call kids on their behavior and the kids think they can get away with stuff.

"Punishment is now unfashionable... because it creates moral distinctions among men, which, to the democratic mind, are odious. We prefer a meaningless collective guilt to a meaningful individual responsibility."
Thomas Szasz

These kids need some direction and I am glad that you are fighting the fight. Keep up the great work Danielle!

Janet Popielski · Post by **Janet Popielski** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 8:09 pm

Thank you for all the responses, it is obvious that Lakewood is full of concerned and caring citzens.

I was really hoping to hear from someone at the city on this issue. What is the maintenance schedule for the playgrounds? Have the police reported more vandalisms lately? Have police patrols been decreased at night for the playgrounds? What is the procedure for replacing broken/outdated equipment? I think it would be appropriate for someone to weigh in on this dicussion since they are responsible for the upkeep.

Ryan Salo · Post by **Ryan Salo** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 3:08 pm

I spoke with city hall today and I was told that a lot of the litter laws are not being enforced. I also found out that some offices were being moved around and that the staff that normally cleans up the city is being used as the moving staff to cut costs. So I guess that has something to do with the garbage through the city!

Ryan Patrick Demro · Post by **Ryan Patrick Demro** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 8:38 pm

Don't be fooled by the argument that we are cutting costs. The Administration is simply cutting a cost on paper. There is a social cost to having dirty parks, but at budget time it makes the bottom line look alright. This is part of an ongoing shell game the Adminstration is playing to "cut costs" and justify yet another tax increase.

Janet Popielski · Post by **Janet Popielski** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 9:15 pm

OK so what do we do? I would like to see more young families like mine move to Lakewood and more young couples stay after they have kids but it just doesn't seem to be happening. Amenities like playgrounds, rec centers and good (not just new) schools mean alot. As for a rec center, thank goodness for the the Y!

I know that calling city hall will maybe result in an area cleaned up tomorrow but how can the bigger issue be addressed?

This is typical of a city in decline. The little things start to build up and soon the citzens you want to stay and buy the more expensive 2nd home move away. Just look at the for sale and for rent signs.