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Rubber mulch disappearing from Clintonville playground

More security measures discussed

By Bert Lehman


The city of Clintonville is encountering a problem with rubber mulch disappearing from Alex Olmsted Memorial Playground.

Clintonville Parks and Recreation Committee members were informed about the problem at its Sept. 25 meeting.

“We had a problem over on the north side of Bucholtz Park. Kids were displacing the rubber mulch and pulling the fabric up,” said Justin Mc Auly, parks and recreation director for the city of Clintonville.

Mc Auly said he thinks part of the problem is children are dragging their feet while on the swings, which is ripping the fabric under the mulch.

“But what we noticed on the Alex Olmsted Memorial Playground is they’ve been actually grabbing the mulch and throwing it in the grass, throwing it in garbage cans, spreading it throughout the south shelter,” Mc Auly said. “So we’re seeing mulch all over that area.”

Mc Auly reminded the committee that roughly $7,000 was spent on rubber mulch for that playground.

Displaced mulch has not been a problem at Pickeral Neighborhood Playground, Mc Auly said.

“You see the normal wear and tear, but I haven’t seen displacement [of mulch],” Mc Auly said. “I haven’t seen anything up at Rohrer Neighborhood Playground yet for displacement. It’s basically just been that one unit.”

Committee member Carol Metzger asked if there is a security camera in Bucholtz Park where the mulch is being displaced.

Mc Auly said there is one camera in the area, but it does not cover the entire area.

He added that he is going to look into establishing more security measures in that area, including adding lighting.

“There really isn’t a whole lot of lighting up there,” Mc Auly said. “You have ball diamonds that are only lit when they are playing and you have a couple street lights in the parking lot.”

Committee member Jim Supanich agreed that the city needs to look into adding more lighting in the area.

“If you have lights up until 11 o’clock that’s going to slow them down,” Supanich said. “The kids don’t like to be out in the bright spotlight.”

Metzger said kids are out and about past 11 p.m.

“I realize that, but we have to start somewhere,” Supanich said. “And at least if we put something out there until 11, it slows them down. At least it’s a start.”

Mc Auly told the committee he will to research how much additional lighting will cost and report back to the committee.

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