To expand the audience for your barbecuing skills consider cooking out at a park on those durable park charcoal grills

Get the most out of the outdoors by prepping your meals on the park charcoal grills that are provided on location for your use and enjoyment.

You know what we're talking about, right? Those sturdy, steel, all-purpose permanent grills that you see installed in campgrounds and your city, state and national parks, provided for your outdoor cooking use.

They have the ability to turn any outing into a memorable event with their built-in convenience and capabilities. You can easily cook the day's meals on site, extending the amount of outside time you can enjoy at your local park or campground.

Cooking on park charcoal grills has benefits

There are many advantages to using the installed park charcoal grills while at a park or campground.

Perhaps the biggest feature of using these charcoal grills is their convenience. They are already there, installed in a safe place for your

Memorial benches have gained in popularity as a way to honor an individual. Now some towns are offering memorial picnic table programs

Memorial benches are becoming increasingly popular as a way to honor an individual and now there's a trend toward adding a commemorative message to picnic tables as well.

In fact, the City of Ravenswood in West Virginia recently received an award for a new memorial picnic table program they started.

What a great way to honor a loved one or popular public figure in a town!

Like adding park benches with a plaque or laser-cut inscription, memorial picnic tables are a fantastic way to commemorate someone's life.

Memorial benches and picnic tables have several advantages

Here are a few reasons why:

Highly Visible - unlike other donations, when families buy memorial benches or picnic tables, that donation will be seen by a continuous flow of people who use or walk by those site furnishings. Maybe some of those people will even know that individual, which will

The new Salesforce Transit Center in San Francisco features a 5-acre rooftop park, an example of the innovative way cities are now creating green spaces. (Photo by Fullmetal2887

When a city builds a giant structure, a new bus terminal for example, why not put some grass, park benches and shrubbery on the roof and create a park too?

That's exactly what the City of San Francisco did recently when they opened their new Salesforce Transit Center and added a huge rooftop park.

The innovative 5-acre park is already creating a buzz not just around town, but around the nation as well.

The Salesforce Transit Center is a monstrous structure, almost the length of five football fields, that people are now calling the "Grand Central Station of the West."

Construction of the terminal began back in 2010 and was instigated by the 1989 Loa Prietra earthquake, which damaged the previous Transbay Terminal that had served as the bus depot since 1939. Total cost will be an estimated $2.26 billion.

The

Providing clean and safe commercial site furnishings and trash receptacles at your location are the keys to avoiding poor online reviews by visitors

For any facility or park manager, online reviews can be pleasing and they can be brutal, so here's a checklist to provide the right commercial site furnishings to keep those comments positive and ratings high.

Online reviews are the new reality. Research shows that 91% of people regularly or occasionally will check out an online review before they visit a location. Not only for businesses, but you also for parks and public facilities as well.

The beauty of the internet is that this technology gives a voice to the average person. The bad thing about the internet is that technology gives a megaphone to people who are upset. Justified or not.

You may have the nicest, cleanest and most comfortable facility in the world. But if a visitor sits at a dirty picnic table, sees overflowing trash receptacles or steps in dog waste that wasn't picked up

New York City has created some interesting programs to involve citizens in keeping their 25,000 commercial trash cans from overflowing

If you think taking out the garbage is a chore, think about what New York City goes through every day with its 25,000 commercial trash cans.

All the trash from homes, businesses and institutions handled by city workers on a daily basis amounts to 12,000 tons of trash and recyclables. Every day!

This is one reason why The New York City Department of Sanitation is the largest in the world.

Think about the resources that must go into handling 25,000 commercial garbage cans. (And tons of snow in the winter).

While the New York Police Department is known as "New York's Finest," the 7000 uniformed sanitation workers are known as "New York's Strongest."

They definitely earned that moniker by disposing of more than 10,000 tons of refuse every day and lifting more than 20,000 commercial trash cans.

To mobilize an army of that size, you also need equipment.

Here's

Speaking as a builder, if you start something, you must have a vision of the thing which arises from your instinct about preserving and enhancing what is there - Christopher Alexander To be a carpenter or a builder or a home inspector, you have to have that kind of visual brain where you can sort of imagine something taken apart - Nick Petrie Look at kids playing with blocks. I think it's in everyone's DNA to want to be a builder - Dan Phillips You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality - Walt Disney Good buildings come from good people, and all problems are solved by good design. - Stephen Gardiner Either a building is part of a place or it is not. Once that kinship is there, time will only make it stronger - Willa Cather A doctor can bury his mistakes but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines - Frank Lloyd Wright We shape our buildings: thereafter, they shape us - Winston Churchill And a

A dog rests in the doggie crawl at a new dog park in Plainwell, MI

Dog park equipment should be included in any discussion about adding a dog park to a community.

Why? Because dog owners will be the first to tell you - their pets love to run, climb and jump.

That's what dogs are born to do. So it's imperative when a parks and recreation department announces plans to add a dog park, it's important that a discussion is held about what dogs will do once they get there.

Which is exactly what took place for the City of Plainwell Dog Park, in Plainview, MI recently.

The parks and recreation department there conducted some public meetings and asked citizens what they would like to see in the design.

According to Community Development Manager Denise Siegel, "Many residents spoke up about wanting to add agility equipment."

At planning meeting, public requests dog park equipment

The city then conducted a poll on their Facebook page asking for input and the type of dog agility equipment people would

 

One county decided to let its citizens decide on the choice of park benches for a redevelopment project downtown

Park benches are available in a huge variety of styles, materials, and coatings and for some people that could cause a dilemma.

That's why government planners in Montgomery County, MD, agreed to let local citizens choose the type of park benches and trash receptacles they prefer for their downtown redevelopment project.

Clever right?

There are so many options out there for park benches. Just visit the Park and Facilities Catalog website to see the hundreds of different styles we offer.

Let's start with the materials. Park benches can be manufactured with metal, concrete, wood, recycled plastic and aluminum.

That's just the beginning.

Park benches offer many options

Say for example you choose a metal park bench. There are several choices to make from there.

What size? Benches can range from 4 feet to 15 feet in length.

Do you want the metal covered with a powder-coat or

At times standard aluminum bleachers won't work for a particular location. In that case, The Park and Facilities Catalog offers free layouts for custom bleachers

Aluminum bleachers that need to be customized might the best alternative for your location instead of standard bleachers.

But don't fret, custom bleachers are not uncommon.

First of all, if you believe your project requires customized bleachers, you are not alone. At the Park and Facilities Catalog, about 20% of our projects install non-standard products.

Here's some good news. The Park and Facilities Catalog offers FREE consultations and FREE seating spec sheet layouts for custom projects.

We understand. Not every bleacher project is cookie-cutter. Many times there are extenuating circumstances. Sometimes, a major adaption of standard bleachers is required. Other times just a small revision is needed.

Don't worry. We've got you covered.

Several reasons for customized aluminum bleachers

In our experience, here are some of the most

Here's a list of Education and School Quotes to celebrate the new school year.

1. In some parts of the world, students are going to school every day. It's their normal life. But in other parts of the world, we are starving for education...it's like a precious gift. It's like a diamond - Malala Yousafzai 2. An investment in knowledge pays the best interest - Benjamin Franklin 3. You have to stay in school. You have to. You have to go to college. You have to get your degree. Because that's the one thing people can't take away from you is your education. And it is worth the investment - Michelle Obama 4. You know, nothing is more important than education, because nowhere are our stakes higher; our future depends on the quality of education of our children today - Arnold Schwarzenegger 5. Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself - John Dewey 6. The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet - Aristotle 7. The function of education is to teach one to think intensively

A double-decker bike rack at the Beau View Condominium building in Biloxi, MS provides plenty of space to keep bikes stacked orderly and secure

A double-decker bike rack in a bike storage room is becoming a more popular choice as building managers realize providing secure bicycle parking can be a great amenity to promote.

Take the Beau View Condos in Biloxi, MS, for example.

This beautiful 112-unit luxury high-rise condominium is located on the Gulf of Mexico with access to sandy white beaches, incredible sunsets, family things to do and great shopping. (And of course, "Casino Row" is nearby).

What's also appealing about this residence along the gulf, is the ability to ride bicycles throughout the area. Park and forget the car. Hop on a bike and pedal along the beach and around town.

More and more Americans today own bicycles. There are an estimated 60 million people in the US who report they have ridden a bicycle in the past 12 months.

Bicycles are becoming an important part of people's

 

 

Mike Basehart, a member of the Colville Rotary in Washington State, stands with the handy Bike Repair Station the Rotary Club installed at the local library

A Bike Repair Station can literally provide the tools a community or club might need to promote bicycling in their town.

It's the old adage, "Build it and they will come."

In the case of cycling, build a bicycle infrastructure and cyclists will use it. And local residents will tend to consider using their bikes to get around town instead of their cars.

That's why the Rotary Club of Colville, WA, decided to not only add outdoor bike racks to the local library, but they went one step further and installed a Bike Repair Station as well.

"I think the repair stand is great," said Lynn O'Connor, District 5080 secretary. "The library folks said people really use it."

Of course, they do. A Bike Repair Station offers so many items to keep bicycles tuned up and every cyclist is bound to find some tool they love and need.

__________

"I think

The Trust for Public Land uses dog parks as one of the six amenities to rate parks as nearly 40% of American households own a dog

When we think of parks we tend to think of people but since nearly 70% of the population owns pets, we should probably think of dog parks and our canine friends as well.

In fact, that's what the Trust for Public Land did when they created their popular ParkScore feature.

ParkScore is a metric that determines how well a city provides adequate parkland for their residents.

The Trust ranks cities according to a number of criteria. The metrics include total park acreage, amount of funds invested in parks and recreation, park amenities and access.

The staff created a point system and awards points based on that criteria to determine the Top 100 Cities. The research is a good way for citizens and public officials to gauge how well their government is doing in regard to parks and recreation for local residents. And where they can make improvements.

In regard to park

Here's a novel use of a vertical bike rack.

The Boathouse Cantina Restaurant in Salida, CO needed a bike rack to accommodate their bicycling customers in this mountain town.

Towns like Salida are perfect for bicyclists because most people live near the downtown and it is more fun and healthy to take a bike than a car.

The restaurant asked SIX LINE Metalworks for help with their bicycle parking.

SIX LINE Metalworks came up with the brilliant idea to create a Vertical Bike Rack that they could install on the sidewalk in front of the building, and still leave plenty of room for people to walk by.

They installed the bike rack in a "loading only" parking area ideally located in front of the popular eatery.

"This bike rack is located on a heavily trafficked sidewalk and our clients wanted to maintain as much space in front of the main entrance to the restaurant as possible," said Candice Schuller, Six Line's designer. She has a degree in interior design and an art background with more than 10-years

Vertical bicycle racks wall mounted at Ten Penn Center in Philadelphia

Vertical bicycle racks have become a more popular addition to buildings across the country as people prefer to bike to work and want extra protection for their expensive bicycles.

Take Ten Penn Center on Market Street in Philadelphia.

Penn Center is a prestigious retail and office complex in the heart of Philadelphia's business district. The buildings between 15th and 19th street provide nearly five million square feet in office and retail space.

At Ten Penn Center, General Manager Henry Glover recently had vertical bicycle racks from the Park and Facilities Catalog installed in a designated bike room.

The space was long and narrow, but Glover said by adding the DoubleUp Bike Racks, they were able to make more space for four to five more bikes. Now there is room for a total of 20 bicycles. On a day when the weather is good, there will be from 10 to 12 bike commuters who use the room.

"The design is clean and very