LEWISTON – Sharon Morgan is frank when she talks about putting a new playground at River Valley apartments: A kid is going to drown in the Androscoggin River without one.
“I found two little girls a week ago Tuesday, up to their knees in the river,” Morgan said. She watches the trail outside her apartment daily and follows when she sees kids head off.
Last time, she yelled at the two little girls, took them home and talked to their parents about the danger of the river’s undertow.
That’s not the answer, however.
“If we don’t have something better for them to do, one of them is going to drown,” she said. “The river is not a place for them to play.”
Morgan and other apartment dwellers will make their case directly to the city Saturday, at a neighborhood meeting for the nearly 300 people who live in the Strawberry Avenue and Tall Pines Drive apartment buildings.
“We want to let them know what we have planned for that area and give them a chance to tell us what they expect,” said Assistant City Administrator Phil Nadeau. “We’re trying to keep it focused on the things the city has influence over – like playgrounds and recreation programming for the summer.”
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Lewiston Armory at 65 Central Ave.
The trails behind the apartments have lured children ever since a nearby city playground closed in 2003. Without swings, slides and other equipment to play on, the children wander the trails to the river. If they don’t splash in the river, they play along the train tracks or in the parking lots around the complex.
“None of those are good options,” Morgan said.
She gathered 587 signatures last summer, urging the city to create recreational options in the area.
City officials plan to refurbish at least one basketball court in the area this summer. They’ll talk about other ideas at the meeting, Nadeau said.
“But we don’t plan on limiting discussion,” he said. “If they want to talk about roads or traffic, that’s what we’re there for.”
If you go:
River Valley neighborhood meeting, 2 p.m. Saturday, May 21, at the Lewiston Armory, hosted by the city of Lewiston.
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