ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - As St. Louis County Executive Sam Page pounders extending the stay at home order, three Councilmen are proposing re-opening some County Parks.
Councilmen Ernie Trakas, Mark Harder and Tim Fitch sent a letter on Monday to Page saying the complete closure of all St. Louis County Parks is forcing people to go to City of St. Louis parks that have not closed. They contend this is causing a concentration of more people in small areas, making it harder to follow social distancing laws.
Related: St. Louis County plans temporary morgue for coronavirus outbreakRelated: Mayor Krewson won't be closing St. Louis City's 109 parks anytime soon
They want to see all parks opened by the middle of May, but in the meantime, they're proposing Creve Coeur, Greensfelder, Jefferson Barracks, Lone Elk, Queeny, Sioux Passage, St. Vincent and Tillis Parks all be opened on a limited basis.
They say playgrounds, basketball courts and shelters will still be closed and the park hours will be reduced. Also, specific uses for the parks, such as bicycling and walking would be limited to different days or hours to help keep up with social distancing guidelines.
The council will discuss the idea during Tuesday night's meeting at 6:30 p.m.
Here is the letter being sent to Page:
Letter to Page on County Parks1 by EntercomSTL on Scribd
"We are focused on saving lives and social distancing is our best prevention. We shifted our park rangers to our first responder team to deal with this crisis but suspended that temporarily when three rangers tested positive. I hope to be able to reopen the parks as soon as it is safe to do so. Our parks director has been working on a plan to implement when the time is right."
Earlier this month, all County parks, trails and facilities, and were closed through at least April 22, with the plan to be reevaluated by April 15.
Parks are still open in the City of St. Louis, as Mayor Lyda Krewson told KMOX last week that it's important for our collective mental health that residents, especially those who live in small apartments with no yard, have a park to walk in.
She also says it would be difficult to enforce the closure of city parks because many "don't have gates on them." The city has put police tape around playgrounds and blocked access to places like tennis, basketball and pickleball courts.
The city has closed all parks to vehicle traffic, except for some roads in Forest Park. Also, Tower Grove Park has closed all roads to vehicle traffic.
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