Syracuse Sun

Mayor Billy Barlow announced today the City of Oswego will build a brand-new playground along East First Street in Downtown Oswego at Rotary Park. The $200,000 new playground will be built to give children seven years of age and younger after a review of the city parks system showed the youngest children in the community do not have a playground appropriate for their ages and abilities.

The playground will be purchased from KOMPAN, INC, a well-known playground builder and installer, in partnership with the Oswego Department of Public Works and the Oswego Morning Rotary Club. The playground will feature a train theme, along with outdoor musical instruments to allow for interactive play. The structure, first pitched to Mayor Barlow by the Oswego Morning Rotary Club, will be low in height to be friendly and safe to kids of all ages, fenced in, and easily accessible. 

“An assessment of our local parks and playgrounds identified an area in our current park system that requires attention, as our existing play areas focus on older children, generally seven years and older, limiting play options for the youngest in our community,” said Mayor Billy Barlow. “To address this, we’ll partner with Rotary Club to put this vacant lot into great use by building yet another great play structure for Oswego families to enjoy,” Barlow said.

Warren Shaw, President of Sunrise Rotary said, “it is wonderful news that Mayor Barlow is adding a musical component and a younger child activity area to Leotta Park. Over the past several years Sunrise Rotary has helped to add to and maintain parts of the park such as building the Gazebo, adding the guardhouse, landscaping, and installing and maintaining the Peace Garden. The mayor’s planned additions will serve to make this park area a delight for young children and their parents as well as further beautify the gateway into our city. Mayor Barlow continues to make improvements to the city of Oswego that enhance the lives of our residents as well as make our community a better place to live and visit.

Since taking office, the Barlow administration has aggressively renovated or built new parks. Starting in 2018, we built Oswego’s first dog park and in 2019, we introduced Oswego’s first all-inclusive, ADA accessible playground to Hamilton Park.  Also in 2019, the city partnered with Kingsford Park to upgrade the school’s playground.  In 2021, Oswego built the outdoor splash pad and minigolf course and in 2022 replaced the aging Breitbeck Park playground with an impressive new structure containing Central New York’s first wheelchair accessible merry-go-round, directly next to the newly installed outdoor fitness court, while simultaneously constructing and opening the new 8,000 square foot skatepark along the East Linear Riverwalk. 

Original source can be found here.