Design and Maintenance
Because the Department seeks to provide and maintain safe and secure park experiences for its users, it firmly believes in implementing principles of crime prevention and public safety through its design and maintenance efforts. The Department designs all new parks with public safety and security in mind. The Department also tries to use major repair and maintenance projects to retrofit existing parks and recreation facilities to address potential safety or security needs. The Resource Unit’s primary responsibility is implementing site-based safety and security measures, which include both design and maintenance functions. Design measures include positioning park restrooms so that public access doors are clearly visible from the adjoining public street or park driveways, constructing single-entry unisex bathrooms (rather than multiple-stall restrooms), ensuring that grading and drainage features meet safety standards, and selectively using fencing near areas with natural hazards, blind spots, traffic hazards, or potential user conflicts. Maintenance activities include ensuring that limbs of mature trees are pruned to a minimum height of 8 feet above ground level, maintaining vegetation along pathways to retain sight distances and remove sight obstructions, conducting regular safety inspections of park and recreation facilities, and scheduling regular preventative maintenance of park lighting systems, playgrounds, restrooms, and drainage features, and conducting other site improvements that could pose public safety or security risks. These measures should continue to be implemented. The Department should also provide safety and security training to all senior maintenance staff so that they recognize potential safety or security challenges.