Success Thru Coordination and Cooperation

Although the problem seems large and complicated it could be solved rather simply through simple coordination and cooperation. This will be the first attempt to get the neighborhood association, the people that work in and patrol the park, certified citizen patrol under our neighborhood association, our city councilman, the City Public Works Department, the mayor, parks and planning departments involved, so that a program like SAFE can be instituted/implemented to save everyone time and money. Little to no improvements have been made to Mandan Park since the 90's. Resurfacing of the road and some minor improvements (deterrents) seem like good first steps...

We need a full complement of signage in both parks, including ‘stay off the grass,’ and speed signs. Perhaps 15 miles an hour could be painted right on the street itself after it's fixed. We also need ‘no weapons’ and ‘no hunting’ signs in the park. I'll try to provide pictures of a few problem areas where the signs might be the most effective. There is also the matter of location of trash cans. Some seem to just encourage dumping, especially at the South lookout in Mandan, that could at least be put in the corner on the North side with a small piece of snow fencing. This would keep trash gathered in one area. Ideally there shouldn't be any except at the pavilion areas, and people should go up there to throw trash away.

Small sections of cheap wood fencing could also be utilized to stop some of the people driving onto the grass, as that just makes it easier for them to access the woods for dumping. The dumping also makes it more unsafe for people walking their dogs and pedestrians. A soft surface walk behind cabled fencing would be a complement to adjeacent paved access.

There should be more trail walks with city officials interested in the park and its development, so that they are more familiar with these issues and observe some of the most peculiar things we see. Most importantly, with all of these parts of the project, we need some type of approval process. There has been so much to do in the past, although we have tried to do beautification, just keeping up with crime and trash has been difficult.

At some point there needs to be delineation of the west boundary of the park. This has been a long term issue and its history has caused a lot of the problems. In this area, good fences would make good neighbors and maybe this is an approach that needs to be applied to make Mandan Park safe.

We have concerns about the ash trees being removed as well as the honeysuckle without new plantings. Some of our cliff sides are exposed to the elements and are prone to erosion. Some replacement of the canopy needs to be taken into consideration.

Other SAFE ways to create a Sense of Security

Cameras should be utilized remotely for a time. We recommend camerass be installed and reward signs added....Mandan Park NA has lined up funding for signs. Signage would be similar to the pavilion at Brown Park .

Although many are aware of the dumping and most of the other problems described, most are unaware of the extent of activity like poaching, shooting, destruction of property. These are things we have seen happen due to lack of road maintenance.