It was supposed to be one of the inclusive and defining features of the new playground, but the wheelchair-accessible swing at Battle of Beaverdams Park has proven to be a real headache for City Hall.
In the two years since the downtown park reopened the swing has already been out of commission at least five to six times.
“We’ve had nothing but problems with it,” said Manager of Community Services, Dave Baldoni, during Monday’s meeting of the Parks, Trails and Recreation Committee.
A contributing factor to the swing's failure is that it is often not being used properly.
“We’ve had the pipes sheared off, we had bolts sheared off — just due to vandalism,” Baldoni said. “Five, six kids get on it and they’re swinging and rocking it north and south as opposed to east and west, the motion that it is supposed to go.”
To try and make sure the swing is used properly, the city tried locking it for a while.
“We’ve tried having people call an on-duty staff member through the evening to have it unlocked,” said Baldoni. “It wasn’t really working in our favour so we unlocked it again.”
Due to the swing repeatedly breaking, it's not been a very functional feature of the park.
“We’ve had probably five or six different instances where we had to take it down and send it off to a local manufacturer here,” Baldoni said. “The last instance was a spring assist. These tension springs are supposed to support 650 pounds and this spring had failed.”
To try and remedy the situation the city has repeatedly reached out to the original manufacturer of the swing, which is a company located in Quebec.
“They won’t return my calls,” said Baldoni. “I’ve got into heated arguments when we were discussing this that this is not normal. The pipes have split completely which is unheard of. This swing is supposed to support a child within a wheelchair and it clearly hasn’t.”
Without a solution in sight, the city is looking to replace the swing altogether.
“We’re looking at options for a swing replacement unfortunately at this time,” Baldoni told committee members.
The swing set replacement is not the only project the city is working on at Battle of Beaverdams Park.
City Hall is also looking to install signs at the park, with a detailed map and short history of Lock 25. The signs will come with a QR-code that will direct visitors to a website with more history about Thorold.
“The QR-code is a brilliant idea,” said Councillor Mike De Divitiis, who sits on the committee. “You can update it with upcoming events and I think it’s just perfect.”
A timeline for when the signs will be installed was not shared.
