Different improvements can be seen in Zanesville parks

ZANESVILLE – Mayor Don Mason says upgrades can be seen at locations like Cuddie Dixon Park and Goddard Park. At Cuddie Dixon, a neglected basketball court has been repaved and painted. A new roof has been put on the pavilion as well and new picnic equipment can be found there. The city purchased $45,000 in playground equipment at Goddard Park. The sidewalks were redone and other improvements were made to the space.

“The bottom line is I want to make sure kids go outside and play. We’re trying to do this year, if you go over to Cuddie Dixon Park, you know in the south end you’ll see we did it there. If you go over to Riverside, you’ll see the grass is well maintained. Our superintendent of streets and sanitation of parks and recreation and cemeteries have done a great job working with their crews to maintain this area,” Mason said.

Mason says the city invested over 200 man hours to improve the drainage system at Riverside Park. Mason hopes that these efforts don’t allow more space for children to play, but add convenience to parents’ lives as well.

“I realize it’s nice to have big parks like Riverside for big events but its important to have a neighborhood park because, you know, moms and dads can’t drive their kids twenty minutes to a park to go play at Kidsville or something like that. As nice as that is, they got to have something where they’re out taking maybe a baby in a stroller (and) they’ve got to have somewhere to be able to take their children so…there’s benches here where you can read a book, magazine, and most likely take a look at your phone and see what’s on Facebook,” Mason said.

He says the city is open to continuing making improvements to the city’s parks moving forward.