My wife and I were at a local park in Shreveport yesterday afternoon with the kids. As I was walking around the park I struck up a conversation with another dad. As we talked we got to talking about the quality of the playground equipment compared to when we were growing up (we both grew up as 80's kids). That prompted him to tell me he and his family were from Greenwood, LA which is a little township outside of Shreveport. He told me something that just floored me and if true reinforces to me how stupid government is in their "thinking".
He said they have a public park in Greenwood that has older playground equipment. However, the chute on the slide is damaged and needs repaired. There's nothing wrong with the other equipment. He said the problem is they cannot "repair" the slide because according to a federal law if a repair is made to playground equipment on an "older park" then the entire park has to be brought up to code. He said it falls under some federal disability act for making all public playgrounds (build after some point in time) wheel chair accessible along with other minimum requirements. Greenwood priced what it would take to do this and going the cheapest route would cost them over $83,000. He said their "town lawyer" said they could not repair the slide because if they did they would be required to upgrade the entire park. Which the town doesn't have the money to do. But here's the kicker, the chute of the slide is damaged to such a degree that it cannot be played on because it is a safety hazard. So he said they've had to "rope off" the slide and restrict access to it.
Has anyone else heard of this? I didn't realize there was such a "law".
He said they have a public park in Greenwood that has older playground equipment. However, the chute on the slide is damaged and needs repaired. There's nothing wrong with the other equipment. He said the problem is they cannot "repair" the slide because according to a federal law if a repair is made to playground equipment on an "older park" then the entire park has to be brought up to code. He said it falls under some federal disability act for making all public playgrounds (build after some point in time) wheel chair accessible along with other minimum requirements. Greenwood priced what it would take to do this and going the cheapest route would cost them over $83,000. He said their "town lawyer" said they could not repair the slide because if they did they would be required to upgrade the entire park. Which the town doesn't have the money to do. But here's the kicker, the chute of the slide is damaged to such a degree that it cannot be played on because it is a safety hazard. So he said they've had to "rope off" the slide and restrict access to it.
Has anyone else heard of this? I didn't realize there was such a "law".
