I'm not sure where to even start. When your wife tells you that you need to get a house before the baby comes you do your best to find one. About eleven years ago, my wife and I found a great little house in Kansas City, Missouri located up in what is referred to as the Northland. We settled in an area we call "Park Forest" which abuts Platte Woods, Missouri and in the Park Hill School District. The other "driving" factor in our home purchase was the proximity from St. Therese Parish, where my wife accepted a job as a first grade teacher.
This is exactly what you would call the American Dream. A working class neighborhood, with neighbors of all races, ages, and nationalities that are by and large single family owned homes. The average home price is around $130K. About a block or two from our house was this wonderful little playground at Park Forest Park. It looked just like this when we moved in.
Nothing extravagant. A few picnic tables, one built in grill, and a playground designed for kids aged two to seven. We could walk down the streets, pushing the kids in strollers, or shepherding them on bikes, let them burn off some energy for a little bit and walk back home. This park even had a little trail that ran along a creek where the kids could explore, get a little wet (when they fell off a rock), and climb an overturned tree or two. This is exactly the environment we wanted for our kids. Play with others instead of just in the backyard, skin your knees or get some stitches when you were learning and stretching your limits, while being close enough to home that as they grew up they could learn to do things by themselves. Yes, that meant we would like them go to the park on their own as they got older and learn a little responsibility. We don't parent as if there is a danger around every corner. In fact, we parent our kids to believe that most people are inherently good. It's our own little way of trying to fight against the tide of bubble wrap parenting and instill in our kids to get outside and live. This park one of the ways we allowed our kids to have their OWN adventures without us and then come home and tell us all about them.
Well, nearly a year ago our little jewel was vandalized.
It was a sad day at my house. My kids were having a hard time understanding why someone would want to do that to the playground. I tried to explain that most likely, some older kids were smoking or playing with lighters and it got out of hand. Look, I was no angel growing up and one of the few places we could go in Cape Girardeau, Missouri was to the park. The police generally let us "experiment" and as long as we weren't hurting anything or others so I don't begrudge middle-school kids or even high school kids hanging out at the park after the kids have all gone home. What does irritate me is the attitude of Kansas City, Missouri's Parks and Recreation Department. When they came a few days later to tear it down a neighbor asked what the timeline was for rebuilding. Their response, "why would be rebuild it? Those punks will just burn it down again."
I know that doesn't speak to the attitude of the overwhelming majority of the Parks Department because I know some of them personally but it's disappointing because I believe there must be some truth to that attitude. You know why? As of this writing, it's been 316 days since it burned down and not so much as a thing has been done to replace it. As a matter of fact, they took out the picnic tables and the grill so now there is nothing there but a rubber pad with melted plastic remains.
Pay special attention to the picture below and notice the tire tracks running through the park. There used to be protective wooden beams or posts along the side of the road, acting as a barrier in case a car tried to drive through. Now due to inaction by Kansas City cars, ATV's and other motorized vehicles have been driving around doing further damage to the park.
Well, I have finally reached my tipping point. I refuse to just complain anymore and want to do something about it. I reached out to Fox 4 News and they did this excellent story about the relative inaction of the City to get this fixed.
http://fox4kc.com/2016/09/15/northland-families-want-city-to-rebuild-playground-after-fire-burned-it-down-almost-a-year-ago/#ooid=F0ZW13NTE65sh8RN7dW1l-R6PTPljQdq
I also engaged the City on Twitter because they are pretty responsive over social media.
While I understand two weeks isn't long in bureaucratic terms, nothing has been done. The City says that a playground has been identified, they just need to negotiate with a contractor to get the work going. I know at least gfive contractors who would have this done tomorrow so alas the wheels of justice grind slowly along.
Finally, I know getting the Intercontinental Hotel designated as blighted, building a new animal shelter, and continually trying to get KCI turned into Love Field, are more pressing issues for the City than my neighborhood park but it's been nearly a year and that's not good enough.
So please share this post with your friends and stop being satisfied with inaction. It's up to us to make our neighborhoods the great places we want them to be.
I appreciate you taking the time to read this story.
This is exactly what you would call the American Dream. A working class neighborhood, with neighbors of all races, ages, and nationalities that are by and large single family owned homes. The average home price is around $130K. About a block or two from our house was this wonderful little playground at Park Forest Park. It looked just like this when we moved in.
Nothing extravagant. A few picnic tables, one built in grill, and a playground designed for kids aged two to seven. We could walk down the streets, pushing the kids in strollers, or shepherding them on bikes, let them burn off some energy for a little bit and walk back home. This park even had a little trail that ran along a creek where the kids could explore, get a little wet (when they fell off a rock), and climb an overturned tree or two. This is exactly the environment we wanted for our kids. Play with others instead of just in the backyard, skin your knees or get some stitches when you were learning and stretching your limits, while being close enough to home that as they grew up they could learn to do things by themselves. Yes, that meant we would like them go to the park on their own as they got older and learn a little responsibility. We don't parent as if there is a danger around every corner. In fact, we parent our kids to believe that most people are inherently good. It's our own little way of trying to fight against the tide of bubble wrap parenting and instill in our kids to get outside and live. This park one of the ways we allowed our kids to have their OWN adventures without us and then come home and tell us all about them.
Well, nearly a year ago our little jewel was vandalized.
It was a sad day at my house. My kids were having a hard time understanding why someone would want to do that to the playground. I tried to explain that most likely, some older kids were smoking or playing with lighters and it got out of hand. Look, I was no angel growing up and one of the few places we could go in Cape Girardeau, Missouri was to the park. The police generally let us "experiment" and as long as we weren't hurting anything or others so I don't begrudge middle-school kids or even high school kids hanging out at the park after the kids have all gone home. What does irritate me is the attitude of Kansas City, Missouri's Parks and Recreation Department. When they came a few days later to tear it down a neighbor asked what the timeline was for rebuilding. Their response, "why would be rebuild it? Those punks will just burn it down again."
I know that doesn't speak to the attitude of the overwhelming majority of the Parks Department because I know some of them personally but it's disappointing because I believe there must be some truth to that attitude. You know why? As of this writing, it's been 316 days since it burned down and not so much as a thing has been done to replace it. As a matter of fact, they took out the picnic tables and the grill so now there is nothing there but a rubber pad with melted plastic remains.
Pay special attention to the picture below and notice the tire tracks running through the park. There used to be protective wooden beams or posts along the side of the road, acting as a barrier in case a car tried to drive through. Now due to inaction by Kansas City cars, ATV's and other motorized vehicles have been driving around doing further damage to the park.
Well, I have finally reached my tipping point. I refuse to just complain anymore and want to do something about it. I reached out to Fox 4 News and they did this excellent story about the relative inaction of the City to get this fixed.
http://fox4kc.com/2016/09/15/northland-families-want-city-to-rebuild-playground-after-fire-burned-it-down-almost-a-year-ago/#ooid=F0ZW13NTE65sh8RN7dW1l-R6PTPljQdq
I also engaged the City on Twitter because they are pretty responsive over social media.
While I understand two weeks isn't long in bureaucratic terms, nothing has been done. The City says that a playground has been identified, they just need to negotiate with a contractor to get the work going. I know at least gfive contractors who would have this done tomorrow so alas the wheels of justice grind slowly along.
Finally, I know getting the Intercontinental Hotel designated as blighted, building a new animal shelter, and continually trying to get KCI turned into Love Field, are more pressing issues for the City than my neighborhood park but it's been nearly a year and that's not good enough.
So please share this post with your friends and stop being satisfied with inaction. It's up to us to make our neighborhoods the great places we want them to be.
I appreciate you taking the time to read this story.
For those of you following along, they ended up rebuilding the playground. It took about a year but it's back and still rocking.
