Children are our future, give them room to play
As summer whispered an inevitable departure, life offered a similar exit for older people who watched children run, ride and play on Franklin St. during National Night Out.
Children represent our future but also recover memories from our past, those days when our muscles allowed for dashes that left us breathless.
Play, whether organized or without constraint, remains a rite of youth. Most adults maintained perches on porches during NNO as kids danced, pedaled bikes, tossed footballs and voiced squealed laughter.
The First Tee of Greater Trenton introduced golf to many interested children who enjoyed the experience.
Without threats of speeding cars in this 100 block of Franklin St., children lived freely for three hours.
Their freedom required prodding as past instructions from parents told them to ride bikes on sidewalks.
“Hey, guys. You don’t have to ride your bikes on the sidewalks tonight. The street is blocked off for the next three hours,” they heard.
They made another pass and received similar information before realizing they could venture onto Franklin St. The bikers were in the wind then.
City parks should offer similar safe zones where guests can enjoy recreation, play chess and checkers or simply enjoy the wonderful art of rest.
Regular maintenance of city parks and playgrounds remains critical to the lifeblood of this city.
Safe recreation opportunities should serve as a goal for Public Works Director Merkle Cherry who continues to espouse a bi-weekly schedule for maintenance in Cadwalader Park and several other significantly used areas.
Note to New Jersey’s beleaguered rail commuters: Gov. Phil Murphy feels your pain and grants you your ire. There just isn’t a whole lot he can do about it immediately.
Murphy returned from vacation and met Thursday with New Jersey Transit officials as the state’s rail system continues to suffer rush-hour cancellations, primarily due to crew shortages. The resulting overcrowding
Jeff Hughes, executive director for The First Tee of Greater Trenton, said a fledgling local golf organization “is getting back to basics in September. We’re bringing our program back to Cadwalader Park.”
This return requires weekly grass maintenance in an area known as “The Gully” and a higher ground space near the baseball field.
Children should not spend more time looking for golf balls then hitting them during instruction and practice efforts.
As National Night Out activities neared completion, a neighbor named David made an interesting observation.
“Did you notice?,” he asked.
“The kids played for three hours and not one of them reached for a cell phone. They just played. We have to give children more opportunities to play.”
L.A. Parker is a Trentonian columnist.
combined with routine annoyances like non-functioning air conditioning has riders incensed.
“I don’t blame commuters one bit for their anger or cynicism,” Murphy said after meeting with NJ Transit’s top officials. “None of us do. Let there be no doubt that the commuter is on the pedestal now and they have every right to be upset.”
A higher than usual number of unexcused absences by engineers, combined with summer vacations, has been blamed for the crew shortages. One engineer could drive four or five trains in an average day, NJ Transit Executive Director Kevin Corbett said.
Murphy, Corbett and Transportation Commissioner Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti said Thursday they’ve had discussions with union leaders to address the problems.