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Letter to the editor

Boundless playground has many cheerleaders

By SHARON TUBBS City Times Editor
Published September 14, 2007

In May 2002, construction for Freedom Playground was expected to start within the next year.

It didn't.

Three years later, organizers envisioned that crews would be finishing the final touches by December 2005.

They weren't.

And last fall, the project was to be done by March 2007.

Well, it's not.

So Stefani Busansky, the New Suburb Beautiful mom who spearheaded a push for Tampa's first "boundless" playground, doesn't like giving estimates.

What we know for sure is that construction on phase one of the long-awaited project to accommodate children with disabilities is under way.

Another thing we know is that like most successful visions, Freedom Playground at MacFarlane Park has blossomed into much more than Stefani dreamed it would.

Freedom has been the topic of news for five years, so many know the story:

Sarah Busansky, now 8, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy in 2001. As she grew older, of course, she wanted to play with the other kids at area playgrounds. But the typical equipment and setup made it impossible for a little girl in a wheelchair to join in.

Her mom did something about it, eventually creating the nonprofit Freedom Playground to raise money for equipment that makes sliding, swinging and playing in the sand feasible for kids with disabilities.

In the beginning, the goal was to raise $300,000, which Stefani laughs at now. She and other volunteers gathered around tables at Ashley's Espresso to talk about strategies. They researched boundless playgrounds across the country and learned that they usually cost between $250,000 and $300,000 at the time.

But Freedom Playground couldn't be confined to their ideas. In years to come, it morphed into a community project that will cost nearly $1-million.

More and more people wanted to get involved, Stefani says.

Because MacFarlane Park sits in a historic district, she talked to local historians and members of Northeast MacFarlane's neighborhood association. She talked with a descendant of early developer Hugh MacFarlane and read a book about MacFarlane and West Tampa.

She didn't want this to be a "charity" project for disabled kids. She wanted a community park that just happened to be accessible to everyone.

She gathered ideas from other volunteers about how to accommodate children with autism and other sensory disabilities.

She attends meetings for the West Tampa Chamber of Commerce and the community's cultural arts council. VSA Arts, an organization for disabled artists, got involved, too.

Now, artists are planning murals, and an architect is designing intricate setups to stoke childhood imaginations. A playhouse will mimic a shotgun house like those where cigar factory workers once lived.

An outdoor reading area, water misters and a sand play area are also in designs.

Freedom Playground, Stefani says, will be much more than a park swing with a slide and ramp. It's "an entire park atmosphere" with shade structures, landscaping, outdoor instruments, seats embedded in sand for kids who can't sit up.

The city soon got involved, with parks and recreation staffers giving their views. All told, Stefani estimates, Tampa has given $400,000 to the project over the years.

City Council members Mary Mulhern and John Dingfelder joined in, with Mulhern designing the organization's logo and Dingfelder becoming an advocate for city funding. (I should mention that Stefani's mother-in-law is former Hillsborough County Commissioner Phyllis Busansky.)

The Freedom Playground Foundation will sponsor its annual Wheel-A-Thon fundraiser Saturday at MacFarlane Park. Proceeds benefit the MacFarlane Park playground, as well as a second boundless project at Grady Elementary.

When the organization did raise $300,000 a few years ago, Stefani was thinking, "Why not just do this?"

Then, she thought again, there was so much more that could be done, in time. "If it's going to be the first one in the city of Tampa, why not make it the best it can be?"

Just think, none of this would have started had it not been for a sassy woman known only as "Sister Mary Watson." Stefani met her a few times at Tampa General Hospital's rehab center in 2001.

Stefani was there for an appointment with Sarah's therapist. Sister Watson, a caregiver, was there with a client. She overheard Stefani and the therapist complain a few times that the area lacked a boundless playground. Watson soon tired of their talk with no action. Finally one day, she handed Stefani her first donation - $5 - and told her to do something about it. (You can read all about Watson in Stefani's guest column on this week's Opinion Page.)

Thinking back to that day, Stefani says it's all about community and people pitching in to help someone else. When that happens, small visions can become big realities.

"Nobody gets their dream by themselves," Stefani says. "If they do, they're brilliant, or they're lying to you."

[Last modified September 13, 2007, 07:36:56]