Community Corner
Does Trenton Have a Park Problem?
Readers took to Patch and Facebook to lament the state of the city's neighborhood parks and playgrounds.
Is the park near your home pristine, or does it need some serious TLC?
Many Trenton-Grosse Ile Patch readers say their neighborhood parks fall in the second category.
"In our area there are two nearby parks," Trenton resident Jennifer White wrote on Patch. "The one off Newman and West is overrun with weeds and in old/poor repair. I wish we could change this as there are not many places for my children or others to go."
In response to White's post, many readers chimed in about the state of their neighborhood parks on Facebook.
"We live by the Sycamore tot lot," Nyree Cheff wrote. "It had slowly gone downhill and there had been no improvements besides just taking out equipment ... It would be nice to get new stuff ... My kids don't even want to go anymore because it's boring!"
Wendy Pate agreed, saying that some parks in the city are in better shape than others.
"Thankfully the new park at Slocum is still in great shape," Pate wrote. "However, we've named the Mulias Elias Park, our little ghetto park...pretty bad shape... and someone even wrecked the beautiful gazebo...so sad...remember the cities have not been funded properly since Snyder decided to give a $1.8 billion tax cut."
Equal treatment?
Ronda Frank told her story about the city taking the old playground equipment out of the park near her house. She said she thinks the city invests more in some parks than others."They could have at least left the swings." Frank wrote on Facebook. "There are other parks that are older and still standing. Our kids used this park and it was one reason we bought the house we did! We have no parks down this way at all so maybe instead of spending so much on a few chosen parks maybe you could of divided it up between the ones that really needed it!"
A community solution
Patch user michelle responded to White's original board post suggesting she get in touch with the city to see if a cleanup could be scheduled."You could probably organize a clean up or check with Joann in the parks and rec dept. I know she has help park updates around the city. Yours may be on the list. I would check with her. I'm always game for lending a hand and know others around who are also willing to help. Maybe some cleanup, new paint and then just have the city commit to mowing it."
This isn't the first time Trenton residents have sounded off on the state of their parks. Back in December, many readers responded with similar comments to a post about graffiti at the playground at Anderson Elementary.
How do you think the community could help improve the state of Trenton's parks?
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