Karen O’Connor at the Seattle Parks Department sent over an update on the Wallingford Playfield playground equipment upgrade:
Seattle Parks and Recreation expects the new play area to be open by June 15, or earlier. Final design adjustments and severe weather slowed construction.
Due to safety concerns, minor design changes were required. The play structures are the same, but the planned mound under the play equipment needed to be removed. As a replacement for the mound additional play features have been added.
These include:
- An Oodle Swing
- Three musical equipment pieces: Cascata Bells, a Kettle Drum and a Kundu Drum
- Monkey bars beneath the bridge
- A firepole, ladder and slide
- Sandbox
New play features have been ordered and next steps include:
- Install play features
- Install a curb for the sand box and an ADA ramp into the tot-lot
- Remove and replace the rubber surfacing; this work is weather-dependent & requires dry weather
- Install engineered wood fiber safety surfacing
Our project team and contractor, L.S. Sundstrom, are working hard to open the play area as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work through final design and construction issues. We look forward to opening the play area by summer.
More information available at the Wallingford Playfield Play Area Renovation website.
Thanks, Jordan!
My kid and I hope that they kept the merry-go-round!
I believe the plan is to keep the structures at the northwest corner as is.
“Three musical equipment pieces: Cascata Bells, a Kettle Drum and a Kundu Drum”
Installing noise pollution generating equipment in a public park is frankly idiotic. I pity the neighbors of the park. Glad I don’t live in earshot of that infernal racket.
If you find yourself aligned against musical instruments, children, parks, and the confluence of the three, you may wish to reconsider your positions.
I personally have been known to annoy neighbors with my own musical instruments, and have no problem with the professional caliber drummer practicing across the street, but I think it’s easy to understand how the “confluence of the three” could be cause for concern. Easy enough, that the Parks Dept likely is aware of it, and whatever this stuff really is, we can hope the racket will be relatively subdued. If it turns out to be really obnoxious, there are likely to be easy ways to mute the “musical equipment” a little.
I’m sure if there is excess noise from these items a fix will be made, one way or the other. One hopes that these items have already been tested for noise levels but I realize that our shoot first/aim later reputation on some things offers cold comfort regarding that fact. Anyway, it sounds fun for kids and if it all works out, then great. I hope it does.
I don’t think there is a “shoot first/aim later” reputation. What I see most of the time is selected few people with low tolerance level and loud complain being very persistent in protesting and forcing things to be worse off for many others but better off for them.
The playground instrument in the rendering looks pretty ordinary, since after all they are from playground equipment makers with specifications that are normal for playgrounds.”Reasonable” is never the threshold for people who are against an idea though.
The link to the play area renovation site is busted
Still busted.
Remove the space near the end of the link before “area”.
Thanks, Rick!