While other playgrounds in the town and village are set for improvements in the next few years, for one of them, officials say it’s just not worth it. The playground at Seamon Park, the least-used of the village’s three playgrounds, is being dismantled.
“Nothing will be put there in its place, it will just become a park,” says Mayor William Murphy.
The removal of playground equipment at Seamon Park is the result of a call by New York Municipal Insurance Reciprocal (NYMIR), the village’s liability insurer, to make the playgrounds “safer” for youngsters.
The village had ask a local hoped that lowering some of the jungle gyms and monkey bars and making the landing areas safer would be enough. But NYMIR says more is needed, and the village can’t afford to make improvements to all playgrounds.
The other two village playgrounds are the Lions Club, adjacent to Cantine Field, and the Village Beach.
The Lions Club playground is about to get a new slide, thanks to the club, according to George Terpening, Parks, Buildings and Grounds supervisor.
NYMIR’s edict forced the village and the club to remove the old wooden structure that was at the park because it had become unsafe. It has since been replaced with a NYMIR-approved large plastic structure, which will soon have a slide added to it.
Terpening and his crew just completed digging out 18 inches of sand that was the landing area at the club’s park and replaced it with “certified wood chips.”
Using chips rather than sand, which had previously been the approved material for landing areas in playgrounds, is more costly, Terpening said.
Murphy said it was a “no-brainer” fixing up the Lions Club playground since it is the busiest one in the village. Used mainly by youngsters from preschools in the neighborhood, it’s also a popular spot for middle school kids to play and talk to their friends after school.
The Beach playground is slated for a major facelift this year and next.
A local Junior Girls Scouts troop, with the help of the Parks, Buildings and Ground Department, is sprucing up the beach area, with the bathrooms building being repainted, flowers and shrubbery planted, and the beach sand cleaned up.
Murphy said he’s hoping that a company, business or group of individuals will step up and sponsor the playground like the Lions Club does.
Presently several residents are raising money for the playgrounds, but they have raised only about $2,500 for items that cost far more than that.
Any business or individuals that would like to take up the mayor’s challenge to sponsor the playground at the beach should give him a call at (845) 246-2321 ext. 1.
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