PRECA 02-03-1981 - Laserfiche WebLink

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SPECIAL POPULATIONS _ A community with New Brighton's __suburban image is often perceived as being comprised of young, white, middle/upper class families with two school age children. While the exact number is difficult to ob- taro, it is evident that the City contains significant populations of Asian immigrants. and same other minority races, has it share of physically: and mentally disabled persons and has an ever increasing population of elderly persons. The Park and Recreation Department has consistently made efforts to provide recreation programs to meet the needs of these groups.. There has, however,. been no effort to provide specific facilities for any of these special groups. A survey conducted in 1975 for the Department of Natural Resources concluded that the elderly persons in the metro area were interested in gardening(65$), walking(38~}, fishing(36$), sightseeing(33$) and driving(24$). An interesting sidelight to this study is that the par-- ticipation in these activities almost exactly parallels the interest statistics. The City could, with relative ease, develop a community A gardening facility and could improve fishing dock facilities at Long Lake. Paved hiking trails at Hansen and Creekview, if tied into the City's existing sidewalk system and the proposed Ramsey County Rice Creek trail, would go a long way to satisfy the park facility needs of seniors in the City.- The mentally and physically disabled are also in need of special facilities. These persons would derive benefit from most of the facili- ties suggested for seniors. A notable deficiency exists in the gro- vision of specially designed play equipment for these persons. Again it would be relatively easy to provide these facilities by the in- stallation of specially designed equipment when the play apparatus area at Hansen Park is developed. The City is deficient in facilities for these populations and the numbers, especially of the elderly, are likely to remain constant or increase in the future. Specific recommendations will be presented later in this document.