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April 02, 2006

The Future of Children's Playground

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In a 1-18-06 memo to the City Council Tom Lando sent his recommendations for near-term redevelopment (RDA) projects. This list was smaller than previous lists of proposed projects the city has published. I believe Tom's list accounts for some of the politics in Chico, and so the projects have a greater chance of being approved.

Nestled amongst multi-million dollar projects was a line item for Children's Playground. This is the little area across from Colliers that has been home to everything but children. A proposed $250,000 would be spent on this area, and stakeholders include the Chico Mothers' Club, downtown businesses, and the university. It also has the only officially placed disc golf target in Chico.

The park is owned and operated by the City of Chico and Park Department (not CARD), and therefore falls under the influence of the Bidwell Park and Playground Commission. Many park projects are listed as RDA fund candidates.

But there may be a problem with the RDA funding...


From city maps Children's Playground does not appear to fall within the merged redevelopment area. This doesn't preclude RDA funds for this project but it does contradict other city department funding decisions.

Mary Gardner (Arts Coordinator) has ruled that previous public art projects could not be funded and placed in Children's Playground because it was outside of the RDA. In particular a large wind chime art project was forced to a different locale.

To be clear, the city should fund improvements to this park. $250,000 could create a wonderful play area and attract more families to the site. The money should NOT be spent on charrettes or expanding natural planting areas.

The problems with this park are not due to a lack of infrastructure. They are social issues (more appropriately anti-social issues). I'll cover some of those later, but the main issue is that families don't feel comfortable here like they do in other playgrounds.

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A little history: A couple of years ago Park Director Dennis Beardsley brought forward the idea of banning dogs at Children's Playground. The stated purpose was to provide law enforcement with a tool to remove unwanted elements from the area. The Park Commission did not support this proposal. I think this was a bad proposal since it would restrict even law abiding citizens. But it did strike at the heart of the problem, which is how to remove a bad element from a public space.

Didn't Lando Retire?: Tom Lando, the recently retired City Manager, is still working at the city as a "Special Projects Worker" helping with the complicated issues of the redevelopment agency.
The problems in Children's Playground are threefold.

1. There just aren't that many kids in the downtown area. And parking for the site is difficult to find. However, when I lived in the "streets" side of town I did take my son there as well as my dogs.

2. Drinking, littering, and vandalism at night cause so much debris (including broken bottles) that parents don't care to visit again after a couple of bad experiences. After cleaning shards of glass and dried spit off of a slide I quit going there.

3. The city has at times turned down proposals that might have generated more positive activity in the area.

Solving these problems are difficult. They can be solved by getting more people to the area, and keeping the site clean and safe.

A specific play area should be identified and fenced. And passing an ordinance similar to Caper Acres (no one over 13 allowed unless accompanied by a child) should be enacted for that play area.

Night time lighting can be improved and clean up crews can be sent to the area on weekend mornings. If the city can afford a 3.5 million dollar Plaza Park they can afford to care for their only downtown playground. More activities should be directed to the site that are external to the play area. The City Council turned down an opportunity to allow amplified sound at the adjacent amphitheater (concerts and movies in the park).

One day my son and I arrived at Wildwood Park early on a Saturday morning to find two drunk and very loud "dudes" hanging out. No other families were there. I was pretty annoyed by their behavior. Within a half hour other families had shown up and were playing (kids can be pretty loud at play). The "dudes" were pretty annoyed by our behavior. Shortly thereafter they left, and we kept playing.

The moral of the story is that if you give a good element a reason to be in a park, the bad element will go somewhere else. The city can help make Children's Playground a place for kids. Funding improvements is a great start. But we have to be sure the money goes to solid solutions backed by a reasonable policy. This cannot become the newest high-end-art project, nor can the funding be allowed to get sucked into the consultant vortex.

Posted by Lon at April 2, 2006 10:36 AM

Comments

4-18-06 memo?

That date is in the future

Posted by: Anthony Watts at April 5, 2006 10:24 AM

Hey Anthony,

You've found the true value of my blog. Working hand-in-hand with Madame Ruby I've seen the future, and that memo is in it!

Thanks for noticing the error, I fixed it. The memo is dated 1-18-06.

Posted by: Lon at April 5, 2006 10:57 AM

There are actually two more approved disc golf basket locations in The Children's Park which were installed by me.

Our deal was that they would be periodically rotated, and for a while, they were. I also supplied a fancy lock which somehow was mysteriously cut off and replaced with a City lock by our urban forester. The basket has never moved since.

The other anchors are still there, though.

Anyone got a couple baskets?
A three hole pitch and putt would get a lot of use by kids of all ages. Even middle aged ones.

The giant wind chime project never made it to a public park,
but they are hanging in a silver maple at 1718 Palm Ave.
The general public is welcome to play them. They get more visitors than the Childrens Park playground.

Posted by: Gregg Payne at April 6, 2006 12:41 AM

Gregg,

I love the windchimes. It never seemed reasonable to me that the urban forestor wouldn't let them hang from a tree. The fact that you had to design a 40' steel pyramid to hang them is proof enough of how unreasonable officials can sometimes be.

It's odd that the city was hyper-sensitive to potential impact to the trees from hanging your public art. Shortly after disallowing it there was an urban forester "test" where out-of-town people were allowed to shimmy up the trees.

I think the wind chimes are perfect for Children's Playground. You should consider suggesting that location again as part of any improvements that might happen through RDA funding.

Oh, I also love the disc golf target. Thanks for making that happen.

Posted by: Lon at April 6, 2006 07:52 AM