Only 2 people attend city’s West End meeting
Only two residents from Uniontown’s West End attended a neighborhood meeting held to gather public input for a comprehensive master plan being developed for the city parks, but 150 residents have completed surveys for the plan. The city obtained a $30,000 grant to prepare the plan. Monday’s meeting at the Jewish Community Center was the second of six neighborhood meetings scheduled to gather thoughts and opinions from residents.
Another meeting is set for 7 p.m. today at Ben Franklin School.
The city hired the engineering firm Herbert, Rowland and Grubic (HRG) Inc. of Cranberry Township to prepare the plan and Fay-Penn Economic Development Council, which prepared the grant application, is the project administrator.
The two residents who attended Monday’s meeting were Tammie Miller of Oakland Avenue and Tina Wargo, who lives in the West End and works for Fay-Penn.
Fay-Penn representatives Dana Kendrick and Twila Kendall and Uniontown City Councilman Joseph Giachetti also attended.
James A. Feath of HRG and parks and recreation consultant Jim Watenpool conducted the meeting.
Miller said she would like the city to build a park for skateboards and BMX bikes somewhere in town.
She said her two teenagers like to ride skateboards, but don’t have safe places to ride them.
Wargo said there are no public parks in the West End. A playground for young children and a basketball court for older kids would be nice additions to the neighborhood, she said.
She takes her grandchild to Areford Park in South Union Township because there are other young children there and it is clean. The children’s play area at Bailey Park is usually vacant and the park needs to be cleaned up, Wargo said.
Watenpool said several of the city’s parks including Bailey and the Rotary Walk have too many trees, which prevent them from being seen from the street and makes them seem unsafe.
Feath said Rotary Walk is very popular and it could accommodate bicycles if it was widened.
He said adults might appreciate building more trails in the city. The only recreational facilities in the West End are the playground at Chestnut Ridge Christian Academy on Downer Avenue and the Jewish Community Center on Route 40.
Giachetti said Chestnut Ridge does not open the playground to the public.
Wargo said the Jewish Community Center sells memberships to its pool.
Kendall said Fay-Penn mailed out 3,085 park surveys to city residents, the Fayette Chamber distributed 625 in its newsletter and another 400 were also distributed.
She said 150 residents have completed the forms and mailed them in. Aug. 15 is the deadline to send in the surveys.