George Rogers Park Pathways Fall Short on Accessibility

The playground at George Rogers Park has pathways with stairs that are not "stroller" nor ADA friendly

This is the entrance to the playground: wooden stairs and a gravel slope that lead to a paved path to the playground that then connects with stairs? How do you get a stroller into the playground? And in the spring, fall and winter months, this entrance is often muddy and unsafe.

This is the entrance to the playground at George Rogers from the other side: it's not "stroller friendly", nor especially in the rain. Hard to even walk there because of so much erosion from the water during the rains.

The City employs an ADA/Disability/Access Parking person:  Kelli Byrd  503-635-0282. She'd be a good person to come out for a walk about at George Rogers and to talk to parents and grandparents who bring kids to the playground and park.

Our Mayor Joe Buck is an advocate for public safety in LO. And we're grateful for that. Here's what he wrote recently in a letter to the LO Review:

Mayor Joe Buck

What Major Buck wrote in his public letter published in the LO Review

That's wonderful Mayor Buck! Thank you.

Ironically, the pathways at and through the City's George Rogers Park don’t connect to each other and/or have stairs making it unusable for strollers and wheelchairs. 

Is this a priority for Parks & Rec to improve pathways within GRP to make them “stroller” and wheelchair accessible?  

More photos below of the "unconnected" pathways throughout the park. Some start and end with stairs and others to dirt areas that are muddy after rain and not ADA compliant. If people park at GRP parking lot, there's not a pathway within the park for them to get their stroller and children up to the playground and fields. There are steps or dirt paths. The access from Ladd Street into GRP also has no ramp, only stairs or a dirt "bank". Surely the City should prioritize safety and ADA compliance for a City-owned park with a playground that hosts so many large events: The Arts Festival, The Antique Car Show, the 4th of July Pancake Breakfast.

Your thoughts?

More photos of the park entrance off of Ladd Street on the blog post about George Rogers Park needing attention: https://www.oldtownlakeoswego.org/post/it-s-time-for-a-master-plan-for-george-rogers-park

This is the entrance to the new picnic shelter off of Furnace Street. Notice this is not ADA compliant to get into the picnic shelter area. There is another way into the picnic area that is ADA compliant but it requires finding parking within the GRP lot next to the pathway. That works for people with handicap signs for their car but not for parents or grandparents with baby strollers.

This the entrance to the picnic shelter and to the right is the dirt pathway up to the playground which isn't ADA compliant and is often muddy with rain.

There are no paved walkways from lower GRP Park area to the playground and upper picnic area

This is the "access" to GRP from Ladd Street with stairs and a dirt "slope" that so many people use to get into the upper picnic area, tennis courts and the fields where the events are held

There are paved pathways that lead into the playground area but they end in steps down to the playground and there is no ramp, only the stairs shown. How are people who want to get to the playground with a stroller or wheelchair who enter this way after parking on Ladd Street to do this?