Can you believe a town would do this??

That is pretty bad! Did you complain to anyone? I would have. That is ridiculous. I'm surprised they haven't had a major lawsuit or anything. You know how people are these days...

OMG, this sounds horrific!!! I do believe I'd get in touch with the closest large newspaper, a television station, Oprah, Ellen Degeneres or someone like that!!! There should be a local department in charge of hazardous chemicals. They can fine the town & make them clean the park up. Please let us know what happens!!!

I think you can complain to the government about that, it is an environmental disaster and not healthy.

Well it sure does not seem like a good park to visit for sure.I have no idea why they would open a park for people & especially children that has hazard signs all over the place .plus poison ivy....Its sounds a little silly to me...If they want visitors they should clean that place up..It was a pretty day but i am sorry your visit was so bad...You should leave them a few notes & tell them....They tryed to scare you away with all those stupid signs anyway...

Hi Deb, that is really unbelieveable. Why would they even call this a park? This place sounds like it should have been condemned not opened for people to pick apples? Did they mean poison apples? What kind of government in a town allows such an unhealthy place to be open to the public that is full of poison chemicals and poison ivy and tells people to come and pick apples? This is a serious health risk and should be closed immediately. I don't understand what the point of this supposed park was in the first place if it is unsafe for people to even walk in. I hope that the people in your community are able to get this place closed quickly before anyone gets hurt or sick or worse.

I don't have a clue why someone would open up a pake with all of that being wrong with it. I know if I owned that park and I knew that all of that I would not open it I would try to clean it up and make it as safe as I could. You should talk to someone about that and let them know this is not right and something needs to be done about it.

I think it is totally irresponsible to open a park when it is in the condition that you describe. It should be closed until the land is decontaminated and the poison ivy eradicated. As someone else suggested you should contact the city editor of your local newspaper and the television station. Also you live in the USA, so I don't know if you have a federal or state Department that is responsible for the environment. They should also be contacted. This place is not fit for human enjoyment.

This sounds like a dream of what the park would like to be, with maintenance and a few years down the road. That was a disappointment for you guys. I have Schizophrenic, and OCD, and Downs clients, I can just imagine what would happen. Of course some of mine would refuse to go. Other clients in the agency are probably a lot like yours. I am itching just thinking of this experience.

This is so sad. I hate that most cities aren't doing proper upkeep on parks these days. I've always loved going to the park and it was a weekend treat for my children when they were younger. A major park in our area used to be amazingly well and we always had a good time there. Now it is covered in trash and even furniture that people have dumped out there. The weeds are growing over the pathways and none of the garbage bins are emptied. It's just depressing. I hope the horrible shape of the parks is just a temporary reflection of the economy and the lack of employees in the park system. When things get better maybe they'll start cleaning up the parks again. We can hope right?

How awful. I would be complaining to anyone in authority who would listen. I know you packed everyone up and got out of there. Hope you found another place to enjoy the day. SInce I found this post VERY late, did anyone every clean the place up?

Hi Debs-place, No I can't believe the park is open for the public with all that in it, they should have cleared the poison ivy and let the muc settled till it was safe for people to walk there. I would have turned around and walk back. Tamara

Maybe the park is not fully develop yet. Or better it should post a sign that says if you go on hiking, danger is closed by. But I think park is something that should be cherished. Not to be avoided. A better management should prevail.

it is very dangerous to take people with such kind of disability to such places one thing you can avoid such places and the other please complain about this to the authority responsible so that they can take the necessary action

You should complain about it so they will stop the operation for a while until they can be sure that the park is safe from poision ivy or anything that is harmful for the visitor.

Where do we begin here? This sounds to me like neglegence or something. Why would they have poison ivy all over the place? If it was just opened, it sounds like that they (the poison ivy) sprung up there, & grew faster than those responsible for maintenance of the park anticipated. As for the insecticides, that may be a case that they added those chemicals, waited the proper amount of time, & then just declared the park "open to the public" without inspecting first., as what led to the said poison ivy problem. Speaking of the insecticide situation, a nearby area got sprayed county-wide to kill mosquitoes to hinder the spread of West Nile Virus. Even if the park is not in the town you live in, & since your work place was thinking of using the park for activities for these disabled people, I would think your superiors would have more resources to get something done, such as find out who's responsible for park maintenance, & then give them a nudge to get things done. That also might mean going to the local newspapers & giving them a story to write about. Last thing elected town & village officials need is bad publicity, because when re-election comes up, that bad publicity would probably bite them pretty hard.

Wow. That is messed up. Someone should definately fix that. It sounds like it could be a really nice place if someone would take care of it. I wonder who would be responsible for that. Like Public Works or something?

That's terrible. What is happening to this new park is a disaster in itself. I can understand if it is an old park that gets neglected over time that becomes a place no one wants to visit anymore. But this is a newly opened park that should boast an inviting atmosphere for visitors. I think someone should take some shots of the place and the signs, and post up up in the local newspaper forums for everyone to see. That will create some attention, and wake the authorities up and get them to do something about the state of affairs of the park. Another thing that can be effective is to call up the newspaper office, and tell them to go take a look at the place. Newspapers are always on the lookout for news-worthy events and situations to report, so you can bet they will only be too happy to write a story about this environmental issue that has a negative effect on people's lives.

debs place that is just not right for the town to have a park with all these hazards in it, and let people roam there and either get a poison ivy rash, or get sick from chemicals'in the soil. this is a very unhealthy environment for anyone let alone developementally disabled adults.

they like that

Shame on them... Don't think we need to say anything more...