Voice of the People

I attended the June 5, 2007 Chesterton Park Board meeting with the purpose of bringing to light my concerns about the safety and condition of the playground equipment at my neighborhood park, Dogwood Park. The park superintendent and the members of the park board were friendly and responsive and I look forward to working with them in the near future.

I have a two year old daughter who wants to play in the park. However, Dogwood Park’s playground equipment is neither age-appropriate nor safe for her. In fact I worry about my seven year old son climbing on that metal equipment, with nothing to fall onto other than a hard packed clay surface. Chesterton is a growing community with many small children. Isn’t it time we update all of our neighborhood play areas according to modern safety standards and age-appropriate play? I know I can get in the car and drive to another neighborhood park, but that seems a bit much considering I can walk to Dogwood Park.

I encourage others to attend Town Council meetings and speak. The Park Board is about to embark on a new effort with the implementation of park impact fees as well as updating their parks master plan. Please attend their public meetings.

If there are other taxpayers that are concerned as I am about the playground equipment at Dogwood Park, let’s work together and help the Park Board find the means to improve it. Again, I would like to thank the Park Board and park staff for the great discussion and responsiveness to my concerns.

Jenny Orsburn

Chesterton

Posted 6/19/2007