By Mark Wineka
Salisbury Post
Salisbury Mayor Susan Kluttz said providing city transportation for children to the Salisbury Community Park on Hurley School Road is probably doable, but having unsupervised kids in the 300-acre-plus setting might lead to significant risks.
“We don’t want children to be left out there,” Kluttz told a recent gathering of citizens at First Calvary Baptist Church on South Long Street.
She described the expansiveness of the park, which includes heavily wooded areas and an 8-acre lake. It would be irresponsible and possibly dangerous, the mayor described, to transport children to such a place and leave them unsupervised.
Another concern would be the possibility of leaving children behind on the return trip, she said.
The meeting last Thursday, which included three other City Council members, was called to discuss the future of Lincoln Park Pool.
But residents also raised the difficulty of getting lower-income children from the city to the Salisbury Community Park, located several miles outside the regular city limits.
William Peoples, who also attended Thursday’s meeting, often has reminded council of the city’s promise that transportation would be provided so underprivileged children could benefit from the park, too.
Since its establishment, the Salisbury Community Park has been developed with baseball, softball and soccer fields, which host regularly scheduled seasons such as the Rowan Little League, and weekend tournaments.
The park also includes cross-country courses, a large fishing lake, picnic areas, parking, walking trails and large open and wooded areas.
Kluttz said the park is more passive than active and doesn’t have a lot of formal, structured activities.
Kenny Roberts, program manager for the Parks and Recreation Department, said the department could provide van or city bus transportation to the park for formal activities such as its annual Fishing Derby.
When those kinds of events occur, Roberts said, providing transportation to the park would work because the Parks Department has people there to provide supervision.
But a problem now is that the passive park has little city-sponsored programming. The park’s master plan eventually calls for construction of a rec center, which would naturally lead to more organized, supervised activities, Roberts said.
Councilman William “Pete” Kennedy said he will try to challenge the Parks and Recreation Staff to have more programs at the Community Park. “That’s the next thing to do,” he said.
Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263 or mwineka@salisburypost.com.