Rehabs for Playgrounds in Motion

While the Georgia Avenue Playground in the West End is due for a makeover, North Park residents question when a playground in their neighborhood is scheduled for renovations.

The Long Beach City Council approved a resolution calling for a complete renovation of the Georgia Avenue playground by tapping into $400,000 in funding from the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation on Oct. 18. The application is for a matching grant, with half being covered by the state and the other half by the city, according to Kevin Mulligan, commissioner of the Long Beach Department of Public Works.

City Manager Charles Theofan said the grant would provide playground equipment, safety surfacing, fencing and other general upgrades. The West End Neighbors Civic Association has been pushing to get a bathroom for the facility, but Theofan said there’s a “faction” in the neighborhood opposed to its installation, or at least where the city wants to put it. The city manager said he must conduct more community outreach to determine whether to include a bathroom in the plans.

“Obviously, we’re going to have some community meetings to make a final determination to of whether this issues can and might be resolved,” he said.

City Councilman Len Torres said he was not happy that he was not shown the playground proposal before the meeting.

“I had not seen it,” said Torres in a phone interview last Friday. “How am I supposed to vote on something I had not seen?”

He said he voted in favor of it anyway because the deadline for applying for the state funds was approaching.

North Park residents who attended the council meeting questioned city officials about when their neighborhood facility, the Sherman Brown Memorial Playground, located at the north end of Riverside Boulevard, would be renovated. Resident Crystal Lake said that the city has neglected neighborhood teens, adding that they need a place to play, and upgrading the playground would go a long way toward keeping from roaming the streets.

Deacon Cecil Garrett, an activist for the North Park area, who also attended the meeting, said the community and city have been working on plans for Sherman Brown since March.

“My main concern at the meeting is that we did not have any assurances about funding for Sherman Brown,” he said. “We need to move forward with this project.”

But Theofan estimated that the playground in North Park will be renovated long before the Georgia Avenue Playground, since the money to pay for that project is already set aside in Community Development funds. He and Council President Thomas Sofield Jr. said the city is only waiting for community input on whether the North Park playground would be better suited for equipment for teens or young children, or a combination of both.

“We hope to make the determination sooner rather than later,” Theofan said.

Torres said there is a perception in the North Park community that their neighborhood is getting the short end of the stick, while other neighborhoods get projects handed to them because they have more community activism.

“We don’t want people to feel left out,” Torres said. “There’s a need [for a renovated playground] in both communities. So when there’s a need in two places, you have to spread out what you have.”