Playground Status Update

From Judy Weinberg:

I, along with several other interested park users, attended tonight’s Park & Rec Commission meeting regarding the playground. Here’s the outcome.

Over the past several years, the Town has commissioned inspection reports for all the playgrounds in Arlington. Many of the structures – ours included – were fine when they were built but unfortunately no longer conform to current safety standards. I’m sure many of you are aware of all the new playgrounds sprouting up around town.

Although we may not agree with what makes a playground safe or unsafe (e.g. the tree in the middle of the playground is a huge safety no-no), the Town has to adhere to safety standards, and now that they have a report stating ours is unsafe they have no choice but to close it off.
The Parks & Rec Department has been seeking funding for a new playground for us even before this new (last month) report was issued. It is in the cards for us to have a new playground in the near future.

There was discussion about making alterations to our current playground in the short term, but after weighing the pros and cons (mostly cons) it was deemed untenable. It was agreed that it was better to dismantle the playground than to see it with an orange caution fence around it, so sadly expect it to be removed shortly.

We were able to save the swings though!

I’ll keep you posted as this process progresses.