LAST weekend I took my granddaughters to visit the brand new Taman Tasik Ampang Hilir. I would like to thank City Hall for providing such a nice facility for residents living nearby or who come from afar to enjoy an hour or two of the open space.

Having said that, perhaps I should point out a number of areas that could be looked into to make the facility more user-friendly.

First, there is no opportunity provided at the pondok for us to make comments or suggestions.

Perhaps an email address or suggestion box can be made available so that we can contact the person in charge of the facility. Hence, I have to resort to writing to a newspaper.

The children’s playground is a long way from the car park at the pondok end. It is very demanding to have to walk two small children, aged two and four years old, to the playground which is across the pond. So I decided to drive and park on Jalan Mengkudu, walk across traffic through a small open gate to gain access to the children’s playground. From then on after all the hassle, we were able to enjoy the facilities.

I think the playground should be located nearer to the car park on the site of the current outdoor exercise facility on the right side of the entrance to Taman Tasik. This will enable parents, grandparents and maids to walk safely within the park compound to reach the playground.

During the weekends, cars were parked along Persiaran Ampang Hilir. May I suggest that City Hall mark out parking lots along one side of Jalan Mengkudu (a two-lane one-way road) to enable visitors to park without violating the law and obstructing traffic.

It would be useful for a sports minded officer to visit and use the facilities at the park. Bring along a child or two. This will enable him to discover the shortcomings of the equipment. For starters, I have observed several deficiencies which are not user-friendly.

The seats of the swings are too high for children of four to six years old to climb safely onto them.

I think they should be lowered to a level so that the small children can seat themselves comfortably while their feet are in contact with the ground. The bottom end of the slide intended for the toddler should be lowered to ground level. This is to enable a two-year-old to disembark safely.

Some of the outdoor equipment may not be suitably sized. For example, the bar for the hamstring stretch is sloping instead of being horizontal. To use even the low end you need to be more than six feet tall.

The cross bars for the “monkey” stretch may not be suited for younger children. When I do try out some of the outdoor exercise facilities, I should be able to point out other defects. Perhaps, I should leave that task to DBKL staff.

Source: The Sun – July 3, 2009