Hey there, A friend of mine started her playground project 5 years ago and has hit roadblock after roadblock, can anyone help her? ------------------ we have a park in our neighborhood (a hilly area with no sidewalks) that has remained untouched by the City for over 20 years. The equipment is dilapidated and unsafe. It is the only place for kids in our community to play—few of us have back yards—and the only flat space where they can ride bikes, roller skate etc. But the pavement is so cracked and buckled that they can’t do those things, either. I’ve been organizing and lobbying for FIVE YEARS to get them to do something about it, but they won’t because it’s not “high use” (why would it be “high use” when it’s a dump????). There are tons of little kids (and grandchildren!) who have tiny back yards (if any), no sidewalks, no place to learn to ride a bike. Meanwhile, the neighborhood has gotten increasingly cohesive and, in an effort to make it a REAL neighborhood, various people host “events”: an Easter egg hunt, a mother’s day “bubble and stomp,” a summer picnic, movie night in the park after dark...We are trying hard to build a community in a place that doesn’t encourage it. So, this park. It has three levels (it’s built into the hill) and is quite steep. It hasn’t been touched since the 1970s. The equipment, what there is of it, is broken, outdated, unsafe and no fun. The top level has a decrepit little play structure that kids could easily fall off of and hurt themselves (it’s for tots). The middle level has one, lone swing and a set of single bars. It used to have a patio overhang with picnic tables and bbqs, but the city tore it down last year because it was about to collapse. So now it’s just a heap of mud and rusty nails and apparently will stay that way. The bottom level is all asphalt, but the asphalt is so buckled and cracked that a child can’t ride a bike or skate on it without taking a terrible tumble. It has basketball hoops, but it’s now impossible to play tehre. This is a GORGEOUS piece of land. The City says the park is low use, and it’s true that it will never be a hugely popular park (our neighborhood is tricky to find) but it would certainly be a moderate use park if there was anything there to use—of COURSE it’s a low use park! Who would use it in the current state! I lobbied the City to put in a new play structure. That was really all I wanted. And maybe to repave the lower level, or at least part of it, so kids could ride bikes. That was 5 years and a zillion meetings ago. I won’t bore you with every detail, but at this point the City paid to have a master plan created (about $70,000, I believe) but there is one big stumbling block: accessibility for the disabled. The city can’t upgrade the park unless it is made accessible. The thing is, because of the three levels and the steep grade, that would cost at least a million dollars. The city doesn’t have a million dollars to spend on ramping (and this would be before starting any other renovation, which, in total, would run another million, that could be divided up over a number of years). This week we were told by city officials that even if they did have that kind of money they wouldn’t allocate it to this park. So it is a catch-22. The City won’t renovate the park because it doesn’t comply with ADA. But they won’t allocate funds so it can comply with ADA in order to be renovated. The final word on this was, and I quote, “if it is unusable, at least it is equitable.” The weird thing is that there is explicit language in the law (don’t know if this is City or federal) allowing exemption from ADA standards if, because of topography (among other reasons) it would cause undue financial hardship. So the whole thing is crazy and frustrating and I don’t know why they bothered putting money into a plan they never intended to build. Finally: There is one other option, which I find far more distasteful than just admitting that the park can’t be made totally accessible. If we spend $125,000 or under, that is considered a “repair” and is not subject to ADA standards. To me, this just seems sneaky and against the spirit of the law (as opposed to granting an exemption, which at least respects the process). But that is probably what will happen, if anything at all. So. Given all of this......Got any suggestions?