By Sean Leslie

Senior on a mission to rejuvenate Kinsmen Park

Feb 5, 2013 | 10:59 AM

For several years, Patrick Boland has been trying to convince city officials that Kinsmen Park is in a state of unacceptable neglect.

He has a list of concerns and sitting atop it were several broken benches in the park. Last week, the city removed them. “They’re down in the yard, they’re repaired. We’re just waiting for an opportunity when it doesn’t snow to reinstall them,” said Community Services director Greg Zeeben.

Zeeben, who is in charge of city parks and their upkeep, said the benches have been on the city’s radar for months, “It was on our list of things to do since back in September and so it was one of those things that slipped by.”

However, Boland recently changed his tactics when it comes to contacting the city and he thinks this prompted the benches’ removal. Instead of emailing city officials, which had never produced results, he wrote a letter.

A motion to receive and file his two-page letter addressed to the Community Services Department was passed the Jan. 28 city council meeting, essentially putting it on the record.

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Days later, the benches were at the repair shop.

Whether his letter precipitated the repairs or the city followed through on its six-month-old plan to fix the benches, it’s a victory for Boland. However, he views it as a small one, “It’s a part but it’s only a small part,” he said.

He thinks other problems like drainage issues, weed patches and cracked sidewalks also need to be addressed.

He said the park contributes to how people perceive Prince Albert, “If you’re a tourist and you come to a city and you go into a park and the park is a mess, what do you think of the city?”

Other seniors are also volunteering their time to make the park look its best. Boland said some are picking up garbage and that he has seen “one of the seniors in there [the centre flower bed] picking weeds.”

Zeeben said his department has “337 hectares of open space” to cover and Kinsmen and Crescent Acres are the only two parks in the city that have a dedicated person working on their upkeep.

Maintenance of Kinsmen Park consists of a three-person facilities crew and a seven or eight person zone crew. The zone crew is responsible for other Prince Albert parks and the facilities crew, which handles issues like bench repairs, is responsible for the entire city. The dedicated, full-time worker who maintains Kinsmen Park is usually a summer student said Zeeben.

Zeeben also pointed out that the Community Services department recently lost one of their managers which left them short-staffed. “We try to do the best we can and sometimes with some staff turnover we run into difficulties and we miss the odd thing. This was the case with Pat’s [Boland’s] concern about the benches and we apologize for that and apologize to the council as well,” said Zeeben.

Boland is happy the benches are being repaired but said he is just as determined as ever to continue his quest to re-make Kinsmen park.

sleslie@panow.com

On Twitter: @_seanleslie