Many months ago it was announced that a young citizen in furtherance of their scouting life would be allowed once again to donate a project to the City of Wildomar that is supposed to enhance the parks for all of its citizens using donated materials and volunteer hours.
This project has been called “The Freedom Swing” and is the donation of a wheelchair accessible swing for those children unable to leave their wheelchair and enjoy swinging with the rest of the children.
On the surface this would appear a fine project that would benefit a small but important group of citizens. But due to a lack of foresight by city council members and a lack of homework by staff this project like ones before it is turning into a taxpayer nightmare with cost estimates to the taxpayer of between $10,900.00 and $28,750.00.
This project at first scheduled to be placed in the cities premier park, Marna O’Brien, on August 23rd is still without a home. The city staff is madly scrambling to locate a suitable location that will fulfil all of the goals of inclusion and safety that are required when a city installs equipment in its parks, most especially its Tot-Lots which entertain the youngest members of our community.
On Monday August 25th, two days after its initial placement date, the City of Wildomar Standing Committee for Parks will hold a meeting to determine a final resting place for this project along with an estimate of how many thousands of taxpayer dollars this project is going to cost to bring to completion.
At this meeting which will determine where and how much, city officials are already making plans (once again) for the celebration of its placement at a park that may not be finished in time, cost effective nor its final home.
Talk about the cart before the horse, this is a common theme in Wildomar. Let’s make a promise and then figure out how to fulfill it no matter what it cost the taxpayer.
Befor this is over its gonna cost the city more then just the installeration fees. some kid or some drunk is gonna get maimed on that think and Larry H Parker will be suering us for everthing in the city includering the headstones in the cemertary.
Rae Anne
You might just be right about the lawsuits. This city in its haste to control the parks did very little in the way of homework. As a result this city has very little documentation of what we have and how and when its maintained which make for easy pickings in a courtroom.
So….. are we upset that the City is installing the swing before having the park ready or because it will cost money to maintain? How much do the parks cost to maintain now? Should the City not accommodate handicapped kids? Should we tell them that they need to pay for and build their own dawn park if swinging is so important to the little cyborgs? How about we put in and pay for a swing for the kids that can’t go down the slide, huh? *Satire should be evident but based on the argument (I think) posed in the article I don’t want to assume the author caught it.
Daffy Duck
The problems are many fold starting with the fact this city approved the installation of this swing based on it feels good. No homework was done to see if the swing would fit in the current Tot-Lot area. So now 2 days after it was supposed to be installed and one month before the new date this city is going to jamb this swing into an area no matter what the expense. The option selected on Monday night was the most expensive option. The slogan of the day is “Lets Pour Some Moore” this came about when the councilwoman made the statement that if the city needs to spend some of its own money we have DIF money to spend. As to maintenance there is talk of adding sensory panels to the existing play area, one of the current sensory panel, the chimes, don’t. We can’t maintain what we have let’s add some more. As to the “handicapped kids” all three Tot-Lots in the cities parks are A.D.A compliant and accessible. Although a wheelchair swing would be a nice addition it should have been planned for not jammed for.