Once the City's #2 Park, Altro has
been out of service since early 1999.
Now, as the year 2000 ends there is finally an end in sight for the park "improvement
project."
Here is an updated report.
One of The Lockport Parks Pages at
The
Lockport Home Page: www.Lockport-NY.com
THE PICTURE OF LOCKPORT
Once the city's #2 park, Altro Park has been effectively out of service since early1999. As 2000 ends it remains under reconstruction but the end now is in sight. The project is running over a year behind schedule. City officials decided they would move the offices of the city's Youth and Recreation Department here and were successful in getting a $187,000 grant from the New York State Environmental Bond Act to help in the costs. The historic old "warming house" (log cabin, built as a WPA project in 1940) has been used by generations of ice skaters has been drastically overhauled. Officials say the logs had deteriorated and a complete new side is being placed on the original building. Here's an overview recorded by our Lockport Page photographer on Sunday, October 8, 2000:
The wonderful children's wading pool, known to generations has been eliminated. In its place modern playground elements have been installed. The old steel and wood playground pieces used since the 40's have been disposed of. Part of the old playground has been taken over by a newly paved parking lot. Offices for the City's Youth Department will take up the addition to the old warming house and is shown above as the left most segment of the central building. Temporary fencing is up to try to restrict use of the playground equipment as attempts are made to grow grass. But the fencing is ignored by those who have been waiting a long time for this important City Park to re-open.
The City received a $187,000 state grant to provide initial funding for the make-over. An equal amount of value, in volunteer labor and donated supplies was required to match the state grant. Additionally some city money has been used but the effort from the start has been to keep new city money on this project to a minimum. The use of volunteers for much of the work, however, has been cited as a reason the project took so long. The park was planned to be closed for the summer of 1999. Instead that closing stretched through the winter of '99 and then through the entire summer season of 2000. There have been accounts of mismanagement of the project and lack of professional oversight of the work of the volunteers. The ice rink (seen in the frame below)has been made smaller and instead of the former turf base, the area has been blacktoped over. Now it can be used not only for ice skating but, sources say, also for summer play such as roller blade skating and roller hockey.
The relic shown below from WW-1 has been a feature at Willow Park since longer than any of us at the Lockport Page can remember. (And we recall back further than any other media types in Lockport.) Our recollection includes how, in the late 80's, a group from another part of town tried to get this wonderful play prop for children moved out of Willow Park to another area of the city (Veteran's Park across from the Hospital). At the time, an elderly Willow Street resident, Marguerite Boye (lovingly known as "The Willow Street Watchdog"), fought to keep it right where it remains today.
Lockport thanks all the volunteers and those who donated toward this remake of Altro Park. Their labors would have been even more appreciated if the city had provided more satisfactory management of the project so that the down time for this valuable park would have been kept to that of "only one summer season" which city officials had first promised. (10/9/00)
Lockport Owned. Lockport Operated.
The
Lockport Home Page: www.Lockport-NY.com
THE PICTURE OF LOCKPORT