Fourteen-year-old Lauren Kindem caught the attention of the Cambridge City Council on Jan. 20 with a petition and voice for a new tennis court or two at Brown Park in the city’s Goldenwood neighborhood.
Lauren, an eighth-grader at Cambridge Middle School who plays tennis on the junior varsity and varsity teams, took advantage of the meeting’s citizens forum to address the need for another court, especially with the city planning to remove the tennis court at Cambridge City Park.
Accompanied by her father, Tor Kindem, Lauren also provided a petition with 138 signatures from people of the Cambridge area who support her idea. As it sits now, Brown Park, at 905 24th Ave. SW, is equipped with a single playground structure, covered picnic table and spacious lawn, accessible by the adjacent roadway and paved walking trails.
Mayor Marlys Palmer, who thanked Lauren for bringing her concerns forward, noted city staff will take a look at the petition and verify the names are indeed those of local citizens. Council members thanked the teenager, too, as her idea and supporting work may lead to further discussion and possible consideration of a new tennis court at Goldenwood’s Brown Park in the future.
Family gets hockey rink back
A Cambridge family can keep their homemade hockey rink, complete with boards and lights atop a city-owned retention pond that borders their property.
The City Council on Jan. 20 discussed the issue, and particularly its concern over liability in the event of injury, with residents Mark Gordon and Jamie Sherman who constructed the ice rink this winter for their kids. Gordon asked what his family could do to reopen the rink, which had been closed by the city earlier this month.
In the end, the council agreed the hockey rink could be used again but under an agreement approved by the city attorney that indemnifies the city from liability and assures the property owner obtains adequate insurance.
Prior to the action, Sherman said the family has ice skated on the rainwater retention pond before, and it continued this year with the hockey rink “to help the kids out.” People cannot access the pond without walking through homeowners’ yards, she added.
While council members voiced support of winter recreation for young people, they also stressed concern over the legal entanglements that could result from injury or worse with activity on the pond. Palmer called the issue a conundrum.
“While we want our children to have fun in the wintertime, the city has to think of the liability of it,” she said.
The issue was first made known to the council at its Jan. 5 meeting, where City Administrator Lynda Woulfe noted Isanti Mayor George Wimmer called her about an ice rink off Joe’s Lake Road that was on city property and not deemed public. He said the city of Isanti experienced a similar matter in which the city found it would be responsible for any injuries occurring on the property.
In consulting with city attorney Jay Squires, Woulfe said his initial recommendation was to have the owner remove the rink, as no one is authorized to erect such a structure on city property. Squires arrived at a second option that would require the resident who built the ice rink to supply their own insurance.