[mcstumper]

I see more people complaining about the state of the beach at Washington Park. I think what is sad is that the most action you will see is the composition of letters to the editor. Is there a "friends of Washington Park" type non-profit organization that would allow interested parties to volunteer time helping with this type of work? I spent part of last weekend working with Chesterton Home Improvement Projects, a non-profit organization that allows volunteers in the community to help cleanup and improve public parks and roadways. I have never been approached for this type of thing in Michigan City. Rotary Club maybe?

[Southsider2k12]

I have never heard of anything organized myself.

[Ang]

Washington Park is my favorite place in the entire state of Indiana. If I still lived there, I would be happy to help volunteer to clean up the beach.

[Johnny Rush]

What about the Save the Dunes organization? Does anyone have any information on them and what they have done in the past? If this is something that they cover, maybe we can put something together with them and get a group out there to get this thing rolling?

www.savedunes.org

[Ang]

http://www.michigancityin.com/articles/200.../25/news/n6.txt

Park ‘much improved'

By Dave Hawk, The News-Dispatch





Park Superintendent Darrell Garbacik said Thursday that the Washington Park beach has been cleaned for the Memorial Day weekend, the traditional beginning of the summer season.

“I think people will be pleased,” Garbacik said, responding to two letters in the Anvil Chorus this week that complained about rocks reappearing in the sandy beach over the winter.



Rocks and broken concrete have been troublesome for the department since the replacement of the walkway to the lighthouse pier more than a year ago, which left some rubble behind.

Offenders from the Department of Correction gathered rocks into piles in work details some three weeks ago, Garbacik said, and those now have been removed.

“The complaints have been rectified and the beach is looking great,” he said. “It is much, much improved.”

The spring clean-up of the beach also is being assisted today by students from Krueger Middle School, who annually participate as part of the Beach Expo in which students learn about safety at the beach and Lake Michigan.

Garbacik said the beach sand has been leveled with a bulldozer, after a winter in which winds have blown it into drifts, and the beach sanitizer has been used twice to sift out debris.

“I believe we are taking very good care of the beach, and that's created a high expectation, and there's nothing wrong with that,” Garbacik said.

People often come to the beach as soon as the first warm weather arrives, and that's before park crews have finished preparations for the summer season.

This year Garbacik said, crews are clearing some 1,800 cubic yards of sand that had blown into parking lots and grassy areas, replacing a water line to a restroom, continuing to clear broken and dead limbs from trees damaged in the storm last August, along with spreading 34 yards of black dirt and seeding areas where trees were uprooted by that storm.

The park also has a new ticket booth and entryway for improved safety and security.

Park workers also painted the Jaycee Stage and lifeguard tower and the interior of the Lot 2 restrooms.

Looks like the Prisoners and Junior High kids took care of this problem. It's sad when school kids and offenders take more pride in the City than the residents do. At least knowing that the kids take pride gives me hope for the future.

[Roger Kaputnik]

Are regular folks allowed to take a bushel or two of beach sand?

[Ang]

I think you can take sand from Washington Park, but you cannot take it from the Indiana Dunes State Park. Reason being, it is a felony to remove anything from a State Park except for that which you bring in to it (personal items)