Repairs coming soon to Washington Market Park playground

More than a few people have noticed the deteriorating piles supporting the “boat” playground in the northeast corner of Washington Market Park — the one with the sand underneath it. The Parks Department said help is on the way soon, and the piles, while not pretty, have been inspected and are safe — even the one in that photo from H., they said, are stable.

This from a Parks spokesperson: “We are planning to replace the play equipment in Washington Market Park as quickly as possible. The project is funded, and we are meeting with a contractor to determine the best way to replace the play equipment and install new safety surface in place of the sandbox.”

Parks should reconsider changing out the sand. Why replace a fun, basic, readily available material with a synthetic surface that deteriorates? Parks only has to look to its wildly successful Innovation Playground at the Seaport to see sand in all its playground glory.

 

8 Comments

  1. Replace the sand? Are they nuts? Have the people who run the playgrounds for the Parks Dept ever met kids? Were they ever kids once? Kids love to play in sand and dig in sand.

  2. Submitted an idea for repair at the NYC Participatory Budgeting site.
    http://ideas.pbnyc.org/place/611136

  3. What happened to the grass field? It looks almost bold now.

  4. Fix the water fountain on the south side that always creates a runoff river before coming up with the absurd scheme that no one wants of replacing the sand

Comment: