FROM DIRT PATH TO WALKERS' PARK
Bath Rotary Club, Lakeview Apartments cut ribbon on 'Rotary Lane'

PHOTO BY ROB PRICE Representatives of Lakeview Apartments and the Bath Rotary Club join Assemblyman James Bacalles in cutting the ribbon on the new Lakeview walkway connecting the senior citizens residence to Deal's Plaza.

BATH - Wednesday afternoon was a perfect time for a stroll, and the residents of Lakeview Apartments had a perfect area for strolling.

A 250-yard concrete walkway now extends from the housing facility for senior citizens to the nearby Deal's Plaza, replacing a rough dirt path residents used to follow. In winter and early spring, the path could be an impassable sea of mud. The alternative was walking along state Route 54.

Recognizing Lakeview residents' predicament, the Bath Rotary Club earlier this year elected to build the walkway using local volunteers and donations, plus assistance through state Sen. George Winner's shared services program. Club members cleared brush for a wider walkway, and heavy equipment students from GST BOCES graded the walkway under teachers' supervision. Additional volunteers helped pour and smooth concrete, built benches, erect a gazebo and plant flowers and trees.

"We started out with a sidewalk," joked Rotary Club President Mike Slovak Wednesday. "We moved to a walkway, we ended up with a park."

For Lakeside residents like Sharon Hellen, the walkway means a definite improvement in the quality of life. "I went to the stores along Route 54," Hellen, who gets around in a battery-power wheelchair, said Wednesday. "It made me really nervous."

Carey Muller, community manager of Lakeview Apartments, called the winding walkway "a very pleasant, safe setting. When the snow falls and the rain flies (Lakeview residents) no long will have to walk along Route 54."

Accompanied by Muller, Hellen, and numerous other visitors including Assemblyman James Bacalles, Slovak announced the newly opened walkway will be called Rotary Lane. And in a salute to Rotarian Robert "Woody" Shirley, who passed away earlier this year, Slovak announced the path from the main walkway to a gazebo will be named Woody's Way.

Then, following the actual ribbon cutting, residents of Lakeview Apartments began the first of many walks to the Deal's Plaza, using Rotary Lane.