The Place Where Ludington Talks
Playgrounds Next to Marinas?
Our member JMA recently opened a discussion on 'another network' concerning the wisdom of having some protection at the water's edge around the marina for children playing at the nearby marina park playground.
http://www.ludingtontalks.com/forum/topics/playgrounds-next-to-marinas
JMA was pretty much ridiculed by most posters, some insinuating she may be less than responsible herself for allowing her few kids the opportunity to get even close to the water's edge. With the three recent deaths in the area over the last month, a couple involving falls off of the breakwater, I think JMA's concerns had some validity to be researched, as unfortunately she had not the opportunity to actually detail/defend the problem pictorially. I did that on Friday.
This picture is taken looking back at the playground from the marina's peninsula. The safer to walk area nearby, has rocks to keep junior from doing his lemming act before intervention. The other areas may be nice to park your boat, but scary to have your kids nearby. Most of these areas are about 10 ft from the sidewalk, where our kids walk to and fro, and thus there is only about a second or two where a non-secured kid could bolt and find himself in the drink. This metal seawall extends for a long distance without any guardrails at all. After all, a tied-up boater would be inconvenienced by having to climb over it.
This is the view opposite of the first one. On the opposite side of the peninsula, the fencing is intermittent, so the danger is still there, only worse, because a parent may feel more safer in the fenced areas and it is usually rougher seas there.
The new transient docks, as has been noted before, feature an open 'sidewalk' on the marina's edge which is also open to the public. Notice how a single misstep can put a tourist or their kid over the edge and into the skanky water.
Along the walk loop, they have taken all the fun and danger out of enjoying a walk, by putting up inoffensive, sturdy blue railings to prevent a spill from happening. Of course, this isn't City property, this is private property where they have to be concerned about liability issues. The (former) US Coast Guard area also has this fencing about, even between them and their rescue boat.
In my opinion, JMA has a very valid point, and concern about future accidents which may happen along the marina area. The question is do we accept this risk, or do something about it?
Views: 157
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by AQUAMAN on
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Nice pics. X, this is what I was hoping for over yonder, not an advertisement for the Ludington Maritime Park I got. You and JMA make valid points, ones that make handrails a must for safety. However, I would suggest until this is somehow resolved in the future, that parents put PFD's, "life preservers", on the kids, and get them some swimming lessons to boot. Recent calamities suggest even full grown adults can and will make deadly errors, and become victims of the lake. You can't be too safe as they say.
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Permalink Reply by Edie Lindsey on
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Hey, before you guys start patting your backs all day, remember back when X put up his Sunday at the marina pictorial thread a few months back where I pointed out that the new transient marina sidewalk is an accident waiting to happen for the public. If this isn't totally blocked off in the off-season, there very well may be someone who slips on that sidewalk and falls into the freezing water. Not a problem back when the rocks were there and the sidewalk was at a respectable distance away.
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Permalink Reply by masonco on
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Sadly nothing will happen until a child falls and drowns. Then the parent will be blames.
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Permalink Reply by XLFD on
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Unfortunately, the way the city has been run recently, you are right, Masonco. The mortified parents will be cowed, cajoled, and suppressed into believing they are to blame for a moment's inattentiveness.
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Maybe they should just put up a snow fence this fall to help eliminate that pitfall to start with, then continue with a handrail next year.
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Permalink Reply by charlemagnetism on
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nice analisis. i wonder why this has only been caught recent. probly the recent deaths made us all more worried about our safty.
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Permalink Reply by Angela on
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good luck getting the city to do anything at that Marina down there. For most of the summer about 6-9 pieces of playground equipment down there was broken with a half-ass job of trying to block it off. I called the city a dozen times trying to find out when this or that was getting fixed & all I got was........ the parts are on order - blah'blah'blah - it took over 6 weeks just to get some brackets ordered & sent to fix one of the bridges that were broken and another week or 2 to get someone to fix it!! I saws numerous kids run thru that playground & fall because they thought there was a bridge - when actually it was broken & laying on the ground. All the city did was put caution tape up. I had friends write letters to the city but there was no quick actions to get anything fixed. I believe they finally had most everything fixed by labor day!!! can u believe it??? And I heard that they finally brought in some more wood chips to put in down there after I complained about that too - 3 months AFTER I complained. I told them they are lucky they havent been sued yet - do u think the city cares? no they got their lawyers up in Manistee that they think will handle everything. I think most parents down there and pretty good about keeping their kids close when they are near the water - but u see alot of grandparents down there w/ grandkids & i dont think many of them would be able to catch a running 3 or 4 year old! Sorry to say that it will happen one day & it will be a sad day when it does - cuz the city doesn't care enough to do anything - as long as they have their nice sculptures down there everything is okay to them! I stopped going down there after the big coast guard boat left - it wasnt worth it! to run down & dangerous
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how bloody pathetic. city hall captures more taxes to do less stuff. dpw is too busy out by pm hiway, i didnt see them do anything but drive along the city this whole year. clap clap they did clear the sand off the grass. bravo chaps. took them long enuff to do it. not enuff bikinis down there to get them motivated when it happened.
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“The safety of the people shall be the highest law.”
-- Marcus Tullius Cicero quotes (Ancient Roman Lawyer, Writer, Scholar, Orator and Statesman, 106 BC-43 BC
The brain (City Manager), the heart (Mayor & other elected officials) and the hands (the DPW, Police Dept) have been pretty much inactive in this respect while people have died and dangerous situations continue to exist. They put in an unwarranted stop sign and call it all good.
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