RUMFORD – Selectmen on Thursday charged the town’s Parks Commission with devising a plan that could improve a children’s park on Falmouth Street.
The park, known as the Drug Abuse Resistance Education park, is in disrepair and appears not to be serving the age group it was created for.
“The park is rotting away, the entire park,” said Dorie Oakes, a resident of one of the apartment houses facing the tiny park. “Kids need a place to play. We need more up-to-date equipment. There are a lot of kids there and they deserve a place to play.”
Selectmen Jolene Lovejoy agreed. “The equipment is substandard and most are wooden,” she said, questioning why a basketball court is there when the park was set up for young children. The court is often used by teenagers, an age group Selectman Jim Rinaldo said could easily go to the basketball courts in the Hosmer Field complex.
“The parks department says it’s a police issue and the police say it’s a parks issue,” said Kim Sequoia, a member of the River Valley Healthy Communities Coalition, which has planned activities at the park in the past. “We need a solution.”
The park was established at least a dozen years ago. Whether the park was established by the town, the police or the Parks Commission couldn’t be determined Thursday.
Rinaldo suggested that research be done to learn whose responsibility it is. But in the meantime, Selectman Jim Peterson, in his motion, said the Parks Commission will be charged with coming up with a solution. A report is due back to the board in mid-June.
Selectmen also wrestled with an ongoing issue of parking for tenants living in some of the town’s many multi-unit apartment houses.
Landlord Ernie Robichaud said many of his tenants are unable to find parking spots, particularly during the winter when the all-night parking ban goes into effect. He cited statistics showing that the town’s population of 6,400 residents has registered a total of 5,900 vehicles.
“We all have a problem. It’s not just me. We have to address parking,” he said.
Town officials plan to hire a consultant in the next few months to conduct a downtown revitalization study that will also consider parking, said Lovejoy.
In the meantime, selectmen agreed to ask Town Manager Steve Eldridge and Public Works Superintendent Andy Russell to meet with Robichaud to try to work out a solution for tenants living on some of the streets below Hancock Street.
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