Matthew Brown, left, and Sean Schult take a breather while installing the fitness court at Burkhart Park today.
You’ve read here, most recently on Sept. 21, about the new fitness court at Burkhart Park in Albany. The city council authorized the parks department to buy the court in June, and now the equipment is being installed.
I met the installers today when I went past the park on a bike ride and stopped to chat with them.
Matthew Brown, of Ronan, MT, and Sean Schult, of Kansas City, MO, told me they travel around the country installing the equipment for National Fitness Campaign, the San Francisco-based firm that designed the open-air gym and sells it.
They expect to complete the Albany installation Wednesday. The parks department plans to hold an opening ceremony on Oct. 13. But unless the temporary fence around the site (at Fifth Avenue and Burkhart Street) remains in place until then, people may be able to try the equipment sooner.
Exercise routines possible on the devices range from basic and easy moves to strenuous ones of a type used in the military, according to Brown.
In a previous story about this $125,000 project, I had wondered how people would know exactly how to use each piece of equipment. The installers had the answer:
Near each piece, there will be a QR code. Users can point their phones at the codes, and instructions will pop up on their screens.
The Internet is full of videos showing fitness courts of this type being opened and used in public parks from coast to coast. Go find one of these videos and check it out so you’ll know what to expect. (hh)
The blue base being glued to the concrete pad of the fitness court may look soft, but it’s not.
Just shows how quick the city can get things done, when they want to. How about our roads and streets???
Give them money to do the work, and they’ll get it done. But no one apparently wants to pay for the work to get it done. The City Council has tried multiple times to get the money, but the answer was no.
“There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.”
That’s because the city already has a pile of our money. We don’t want to give them more, we want them to prioritize the spending of what they have collected differently.
And that is EXACTLY what they do. What you don’t understand is that the money local government gets is highly restricted in where it can be spent. Water/Sewer and other utilities money can only be spent on those utility operations. Streets gets a small slice of state Gas Tax money and some grants and miscellaneous income, but it’s never been enough to go back and make major improvements.
The only significant source of money that the City Council can spend wherever they choose is Property Tax money. Right now it is virtually all used for Police and Fire, with a small amount for Parks.
So what do you want to do to put a significant amount of money into repairing streets?
1) Cut the police force, and/or
2) Cut the fighter fighters, and/or
3) Shut down a lot of Parks
Run for Council, and you can then learn to explain it to your neighbors.
It’s simple, Bob. Privatize the police department. Then they will be able to reign in some of the rampant homeless issues in the parks and the city funding of those parks will cost less since there will be less clean up/maintenance costs.
Alternatively, the city could designate failing roadways as “parks” since, as we learned in HH’s post about the basketball hoop rule, the streets are used by non-cars for park like activities. Then use the newly saved funds to repair them.
This all is only partially said in jest.
Interesting, have lived here my entire life and had never seen that park! Had to look it up on google street view.
With all the sharp edges on the concrete blocks, who pays when some little kid cracks their skull open? We know you read this Ray K. How about an answer?
From Ray K’s post in an earlier thread-
https://nationalfitnesscampaign.com/fitness-court
If/when something occurs, then the city’s insurer will be involved. That said, I have not seen/heard of any issues to date with any place that has them installed…
And to date, how long have you been observing such places for “issues”? Twenty minutes?
Less than that to do a cursory search on the web for any problems…
Or maybe do the PRUDENT thing like asking the City’s Insurance Carrier?
Are you referring to the same Internet that says I’m 2% short of minimum lung capacity to live?
Right at the top of the website you listed: “The Fitness Court® is designed for ADULTS of all ages and abilities, fully accessible, and home to premiere outdoor fitness classes and training programs.”
And we know everybody follows the rules. That’s why our prisons are empty.
Yep, that’ll keep the kids away from them. Get real!
General observation: About 95% of the regular commenters on this blog (and the subsequent posts on Facebook) are quite the miserable bunch. Must be a heckuva way to live out the few remaining years you old white guys have.