By Elana Gordon
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-979574.mp3
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Mill Creek Park, located right on the Plaza, has something you won't find at any other outdoor park in Kansas City: an elliptical and a leg press.
The city recently installed ten new pieces of outdoor exercise equipment throughout the park. All of it's manual.
11-year-old Alberto Rosales is using a stepping bike on the east side of the park. He's been coming to Mill Creek for years and is excited about the new equipment.
"I think it's good for kids cause if you go to a gym you have to be 18 or older," Rosales says. "Right here, it doesn't matter what age you are."
Steve Adams is President of the Mill Creek Park Association, which funded the nearly $30,000 project. He's also general counsel at St. Luke's Hospital, across the street. Adams says over the last three decades, the association has helped maintain the park, put in a path, and added lighting. He says the new equipment is a natural addition.
"One of the purposes of what we've tried to do, aside from beautification, is to put in with the exercise trail an environment that people could walk, run, get exercise," Adams says. "And this [equipment] was one of the ways that we thought might enhance that purpose."
Adams says the group started planning the project a couple years ago, after noticing that the park's chin-up bars and other basic equipment were getting worn down.
The city's parks department says Mill Creek is the only place in the metro to have such equipment. It cost them about $8,000 to install.
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