Canastota Spencer Street Park
There is no existing park or playground in the entire Madison County region that provides full accessibility to individuals with locomotor disabilities, and one Canstota man is spearheading a project to change that.
President of the Central New York Children’s Foundation and Canastota Rotary Club project chairman Peter Finocchario explained the need for such an inclusive playground to members of the Oneidas Club at a recent luncheon.
“There is no fully handicap accessible park in the entire region,” he said. “This ADA-compliant playground will be the only one of its kind in the region and will be used by a wide range of people and groups.”
He also believes the playground can serve as an informative, educational experience through the inclusive nature of the design.
Plans for the playground are well underway. Finocchario said the location will be on Spencer Street in Canastota, directly adjacent to the community pool. The village has already provided the land for the project and will also be responsible for security, maintenance and insurance. The Town of Lenox has committed a workforce for the site preparation.
The overall theme of the playground will be a raider or pirate theme in homage to the Canastota school mascot. Items include a teeter-totter that can facilitate two individuals in wheelchairs, dragon-styled slides, an aeroglider, a platform swing, and a belt swing designed specifically for immobile or paraplegic individuals.
Keeping with the pirate theme, the central piece of equipment is called the “Jolly Voyager” and is designed in the shape of a ship, replete with slides, a bridge and climbing wall. Blue chips will cover the ground, helping alleviate danger from falls or trips.
Fencing will surround the perimeter of the park due to the close proximity to the road, Finocchario said. There will also be a pavilion for a picnic area.
Currently, organizers are seeking a 501c3 tax exempt status in order to access fur- ther grant opportunities and kick off a local fund raiser.
Finocchario said engineering studies are complete and contracts have been signed, but the CNY Children’s Foundation needs support in order to finance the project.
The projected cost of the playground is $137,806 with a budgeted cost of $150,000. The CNY Children’s Foundation has secured donations from various local organizations such as Nice N’ Easy and the Canastota Rotary Interact Club.
As of March, the foundation received nearly $22,000 in private donations, bringing them almost halfway to the private donation goal of $50,000. The goal of $10,000 to $20,000 in donations from corporate groups has already been exceeded as the CNY Children’s Foundation has received $25,000. For grant monies, the goal is to acquire between $75,000 and $100,000 in Rotary Global and district simplified grants amongst others.
Finocchario also plans to approach New York State Assemblyman William Magee, D-121, and Sen. David Valesky, D-53, to see if the politicians will match funds raised by the community for the playground.
Finocchario said his organization intends to create a gofundme account to generate donations for the project.
The CNY Children’s Foundation president wants all members of the community to be aware of and involved in the project, including local area students.
“The more kids are involved in the project, the more they patrol it and watch out for it,” he said.
He also stressed the fact that the playground will be open to the greater Cen- tral New York community as a result of its proximity to the Thruway exit. Surrounding the park are the Villages of Canastota and Wampsville, the Towns of Lenox and Lincoln and the Hamlet of Whitelaw, all of whom have no municipal park. It is the intention that this all inclusive park will service the entire re- gion. The park will be accessible to regional travelers using the inter-state and recreational trail-ways that pass within 200 yards of the facility.
“This is not just a Canastota project,” Finocchario said, explaining his goal of creating similar parks and playgrounds after this one. “It’s the first work in a larger overall project.”
If fundraising is successful, he said the “dream” would be to begin the initial phase of development for the park this Fall. Finocchario hopes for volunteers from the community to assist in assembling the playground when the time comes, saying that a fifty- person team could assemble the playground in three days.
“I want everybody in the region to be aware of it,” he said of the playground and his group’s efforts to make the dream a reality. “Every penny, without exception, will be for equipment or something involved in the park.”