Team forging access for all to Lynn Woods

LYNN – When city Disability Commission member Nicholas Capano proposed increasing Lynn Woods? accessibility, he did not stop at making a recommendation: He helped organize a team of volunteers and equipment capable of turning his idea into reality.More than 25 volunteers converged on the woods? Pennybrook Road entrance last Saturday with shovels as well as heavy equipment and spent the day grading trails for use by individuals with modified bicycles and wheelchairs.?The amount of trail use we will get now will be great,” Capano said.Volunteers renovated a trail stretch running from the Pennybrook entrance to Wayside Road and looping around to Camp Kiwanis.Meninno Construction Company, Inc. President Nick Meninno, and more than a dozen company volunteers, helped fill in trail ruts and pull out protruding rocks. Volunteers spread processed gravel on the path and graded the gravel to smooth out trails.?It makes it so you can navigate the trail with a wheelchair,” Meninno said. “Nick Capano took a couple of laps around it and everyone had smiles on their faces.”Capano said Lynn Woods is one of the city?s largest natural attractions and should be enjoyed by all Lynn residents. He said volunteers armed with shovels can widen and smooth out additional sections of the woods? trail network to make them accessible without using heavy equipment.Patricia Capano said her son enjoys accessible trails in Breakheart Reservation in Saugus and has talked for some time about increasing access to Lynn Woods trails. She credited Meninno and volunteer workers on Saturday with converting trail sections with “zero access” to a smooth path.?They took it from a trail with brush and rock and zero access to a quarter-mile path. It?s spectacular and overwhelming to be part of a team that accomplished what we did. Everyone walked out of the woods saying, ?That?s a great day,?” Capano said.Nick Capano said the city?s willingness to provide access to Lynn Woods proves residents want to welcome everyone to the city.?When people see what is getting done, it will help the city,” he said.