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Letter to the editor

Playground called win-win-win deal

By ANNE LINDBERG Times Staff Writer
Published October 3, 2007

Now Pinellas Park has taken a step toward solving that problem. The city and the School Board have a deal that will benefit a school and neighborhood kids.

The city will give $25,000 to Pinellas Park Elementary School to buy a piece of playground equipment with multiple components, such as sliding boards, climbing apparatus and chutes for crawling.

In exchange, the school will keep the playground open after school, weekends and holidays to give Pinellas Park children a safe place to play.

It's a win-win-win situation, said Bob Bray, the city's community planning director. The school gets new equipment. The local kids get a place to play. And the taxpayers see public land being fully used rather than locked up when school is not in session.

The concept, Bray said, is "something that, in this county, we need to look at much more closely because we don't have land out there we can use for (recreation). Right now, land costs are more than construction costs for roads."

The city got the idea when it received a letter from the Pinellas Park Elementary PTA asking help to raise money for the playground, which had no "play apparatus" for the students.

The city talked with the PTA and set aside $25,000 for the play equipment. (This was before the budget crunch set in.) Then school and city officials met with Stephen Fairchild, who is the real property/facilities specialist for the school district.

The deal was struck. The School Board approved the joint-use agreement last month, and the City Council approved it last week.

It's unclear when the equipment will be delivered and the playground, at 7520 52nd St. N, will open.

[Last modified October 3, 2007, 06:51:12]