By Bill Cleary
UPDATE ON FORT NASSAU-In November we received a Tip about the poor condition of the Fort Nassau Playground, Johnson Blvd., across from Martins Lake, Gloucester City. We paid a visit to the site and just like the Tipster said the condition of the park was in shambles. At the time we reached out to several City officials to see if there were any plans to fix up the playground or to demolish it. Unfortunately we never received a response. Just recently we tried again and were able to interview City Councilman Nick Marchese (2nd Ward-D). Fort Nassau and the Martins Lake playground are in his district.
CNBNews: Because of the poor condition of the Fort I would think the City would be concerned that a child will get hurt while playing there. Also we recently discovered that the wood that was used to build it contains hazardous chemicals. Why isn’t the City acting faster on addressing this problem?
Marchese: Because of your reporting we (meaning mayor and council) have discussed the playground recently. When we first came into office (2007) some parts of the Fort were removed and the remaining wood was stained. New equipment was erected. We thought about tearing it down but a lot of people donated their time to build it. We didn’t want to upset them. In my opinion all we did in 2007 was put a \”bandaid\” on it.
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