FULLERTON : Residents to Choose Park Equipment
Three residents have been appointed to help the city choose new play equipment for Gilman Park to replace a 110-foot slide that will be removed next month.
At the Community Services Commission meeting Monday, Patricia Burk, Kim Housewright and Joyce Drake were selected to serve on a five-member committee that will include commissioners Richard Feuchter and Mary Sandoval.
The City Council decided in December to remove the custom-built concrete slide that was the focal point of the small park in northeast Fullerton.
The appointees have been vocal participants in the debate about whether to remove the slide. Burk was part of the design team that planned the park’s playground and fought the removal of the slide. She said she will try to get new wood play equipment, rather than gaudy metal jungle gyms.
Housewright, who lives next to the park, repeatedly complained to the city about boisterous teen-agers who he said came specifically to play on the slide at night. The Police Department has said the remoteness of the park and the lack of a road through it make patrolling hard.
Drake was unavailable for comment.
The council decided to remove the slide after hearing warnings from Paula Chu Tanguay, the city’s risk manager, about the possibility of costly lawsuits.
A contractor hired by the city will remove the slide next month and plant grass on the hillside. The slide is now posted closed.
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