December 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 70

Overgrowth removal from Jordan River Parkway

Shaded bleachers encourage
onlookers at Lee's Summit
Skate Park

However, at the Lee's Summit skate park, fences were out of
the question. " We wanted the park to be open and inviting to
everyone within the community, " says Dunning. Instead, afterhours use is discouraged simply by the lack of lighting. Dunning says, " It was felt if lighting was provided, this could be
inviting to use the park beyond curfew hours. " In addition, the
park's location one-half mile from a police station means that it
is regularly passed by police patrols.

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Surveillance
Surveillance in CPTED involves designs that maximize the visibility of people and crucial areas such as parking lots and
playgrounds. In a park setting, this involves not only the placement of windows and doors on buildings, but the routes for
walkways and vehicles as well. For example, playgrounds
should always be located near the front of the park, within view
of the parking lot, according to Sczuroski. Even something as
simple as which direction a park bench faces affects surveillance. Sczuroski explains, " You may wonder why a park bench
might be facing the restrooms rather than the little brook behind it, but then you can see the traffic to and from the restrooms and that could alert you to a possible problem. "
In the case of the Jordan River Parkway, thick overgrowth
was removed from the trailheads and along the trails to provide a better line of sight. Lewd activity has significantly declined, according to Lt. Smith. " It's still going to happen but
we're making a dent in it for sure, " he says.
Lee's Summit also put surveillance to work in a very direct
way by installing bleachers with sun shades at the skate park.
" We wanted to make it inviting for observers to stay and watch
the activities rather than staying in the parking lot or dropping
off children and picking them up later, " explains Dunning.

Territorial Reinforcement
The principle of territorial reinforcement helps distinguish between public and private areas. For parks, this is most often accomplished through signage or fencing, though more subtle items
such as a row of trees can also help distinguish public areas of
the park from those that are off-limits. Signage at park entrances
is a small but often overlooked idea, Sczuroski says. Signs can
convey the rules for behavior, park hours, the route and length of
any jogging or walking trails, and the location of emergency call
boxes. For example, at the Jordan River Parkway, which will soon
be connected to many miles of other trails in the Salt Lake City
area, new signs are being installed every quarter-mile that will
provide GPS coordinates and police phone numbers.

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66 Parks & Recreation

DECEMBER 2010

5/5/2010 10:32:15 AM
www.NRPA .ORG

December 2010 - Parks & Recreation

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