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"These give city designers the opportu- safety," Tindall says. "Previous park
<br /> nity to design equipment to meet their "Pla grounds managers have had an attitudinal prob-
<br /> needs," Atkins says. "A designer can y lem with playground safety. Play-
<br /> control the height, the type of activity grounds require continual monitoring
<br /> and the age group that will use the require continual for safety, not just in response to
<br /> equipment." Modular deck construc- panic."
<br /> tion ranges from all redwood to all monitoring for Duluth has tried a neigh*ood
<br /> steel, or a mixture of both. park-watch program to improve park
<br /> "Although the redwood used in most safety, not just in safety, similar to the neighborhood
<br /> of the platform systems can be carved, response to crime watch, where callers can anony-
<br /> it is hard to ignite," Atkins says. "Ten p mously report suspicious events. While
<br /> years ago, the natural look was popu- ,r the city has had limited success, accord-
<br /> lar. But now, steel is easier to maintain. panic. ing to McCord, the program is coupled
<br /> Vandals can carve into the paint of with improvements in park lighting and
<br /> steel, but a new coat of paint makes police patrols.
<br /> steel look new again." taming playgrounds and being sued by Atlanta also is working on improving
<br /> According to Barry Tindall, director those same people for playground inju- public perception of its parks by in-
<br /> of public research for the National Park ries. creasing security, and hopes to develop
<br /> and Recreation Association, public- "This has resulted in producing bet- a pilot Park Patrol program in 1988.
<br /> works managers are caught between ter managers, which has led to im- But replacing hazardous equipment
<br /> trying to please the public with enter- provements in playground design and increasing park security will not put
<br /> Wausau Develops Whitewater Course
<br /> On summer weekends in downtown Wausau, Wis., moving earth and rocks to narrow the chute.
<br /> cars often are stopped to let drenched kayakers with This effort was repeated in 1977, and several more times
<br /> bright-colored canoes cross the street. The city pos- after the barriers were washed out by spring floods or win-
<br /> sesses North America's only natural whitewater canoe ter ice flows.
<br /> course located in an urban setting. "It was hard," Weller recalls. "We'd repair the course in
<br /> The course, ranked among the world's best, careens 1,500 early summer, and then come back the next year and have
<br /> feet down the east channel of the Wisconsin River, smack to do it all over again. We were fortunate to get so much
<br /> through the middle of town. Flowing beneath two bridges, free help."
<br /> alongside a Chinese restaurant, the course is less than 200 The persistance paid off. In 1979-80, the consulting firm
<br /> yards from the downtown shopping mall. Within a mile of of Owen Ayres and Associates, Eau Claire, Wis., corn-
<br /> paddlers flailing against currents are 570 motel rooms, doz- pleted a feasiblity study, confirming the course had
<br /> ens of restaurants and 3,000 parking spaces. tial to become a world-class whitewater site, and could-
<br /> A new park capable of ® � ger a wider riverfront devel-
<br /> spectatng severalastesandbuilt ;� lare � opment program.
<br /> spectators has been built a=w4^'' ,r In 1984, plans were started
<br /> alongside the banks of the = w. 4-x '"a yr"` r
<br /> course. ',-"....4,_,„4,--yr ci tit �.`i! 'y� �1� "" ofor Whitewater Park, a strip
<br /> ,,w,i *_ r *.`>{ i'.,. ry' °s�1�'`` .._ '! of neglected riverbank paral-
<br /> "We're making use of the ' ., a leling the course, which then
<br /> river," says Bob Weller, .1. -.:`341-44.—t
<br /> r 1t .F "
<br /> _ was cleaned, landscaped and
<br /> head of the Wausau Canoe/ "'"�A.
<br /> - __ - - equipped with.yiewing;areas.•
<br /> Kayak Corp.,'a civic group ' -��; Coordinated"by the Mara-
<br /> - __has adopted the course. - " - z�.--- thon County Park Depart-
<br /> "We have a piece of wild _--7-••—,, . ,,., 5, --, f ',_ ment and local service clubs,
<br /> river right in the heart of ,:Y� 't -� _;; .. T the park was completed in
<br /> town. It makes kayaking a -:",-;-_;-4,:-..e..- _. '- 1986 in time for the first in-
<br /> spectator sport, and every- w‘..4 -4,- 'r- '~ -_. `_ ternational event on the
<br /> •
<br /> one — participants and the ,. m `'.* - h. " ,., - course — a leg of the presti-
<br /> public — loves it." This A new park built on the banks of the whitewater course gious Mid-American Slalom
<br /> combination of nature and Includes bleachers for spectators. Series.
<br /> civilization is the result of The Wausau races have
<br /> civic effort, buoyed by public as well as private generosity drawn as many as 25,000 viewers for a single weekend,
<br /> and hundreds of volunteers. Key to the course is a release bringing the city publicity as well as an international flavor,
<br /> dam at the head of the east channel. The channel normally since many of the competitors are from Europe and South
<br /> is dry, but during high river flows or ice jams, the dam re- America.
<br /> leases water through the channel, diverting it around the GTE has provided a timing system which employs a wand
<br /> Wausau hydroelectric plant. start and electric-eye finish, scoring competitors within split
<br /> Don Sorenson, a kayaker from Minnesota, realized the seconds of each other. GTE also is furnishing new starting
<br /> release dam could be opened at other times to let water and finishing docks.
<br /> through, creating a natural yet controllable whitewater Wausau is preparing for its biggest event yet—the World
<br /> raceway—a course with a faucet. Cup. The first leg of this event will be in June.
<br /> In 1975, with the cooperation of the dam's manager, "If whitewater canoeing ever becomes an Olym
<br /> Wisconsin Public Service Corp., water was released and a sport," says Mondy Engle, a Belgian official with the I�
<br /> small race was held. In 1976, the city's Public Works De- national Canoe Federation at the Wausau races last sum-
<br /> partment, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the local mer, "this would be a natural spot for the Olympic trials."
<br /> division of J.I. Case helped citizens improve the channel by 0
<br /> 48 American City&County/February 1988
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