The Veterans Memorial Park Playground officially opened to the public on Wednesday, Jan. 17 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and several city officials in attendance, including Culver City Mayor Jeffrey Cooper and former Mayor Jim B. Clarke.
Funded with money from Proposition A Maintenance and Servicing Funds, the new playground includes a butterfly helix tower and slide as well as a Kidnetix Twirl, a climbing and spinning structure that enhances a child’s balance and coordination.
The new play equipment is suitable for children ages five through 12. The adjacent playground for children ages two through five is also open for enjoyment.
Corey Lakin, director of the Culver City Parks, Recreation & Community Services, says that at a recent commission meeting, he heard a lot of positive responses to the new playground equipment.
“The first couple of weeks, the playground was absolutely packed,” Lakin said. “If you drive by on the weekends, it’s been slammed the last few weeks, weather permitting.”
Lakin said that once the parts were delivered, it took just over a week to install the new equipment for the $160,000 project, which he says has helped add to the city’s positive reputation.
“Anytime you’re able to upgrade and replace dated equipment, one, its beautification for the park, for the neighborhood, two, hopefully more modern equipment means safer equipment and for me playgrounds are an opportunity for kids to really use their imagination and interact with other children,” Lakin said.
Patrick Reynolds, parks manager/ city landscape architect for Culver City Parks, Recreation & Community Services, has been involved in the playground equipment project since day one. He said the project began as an effort to replace equipment that was installed 10 years ago and has since become outdated and discontinued by the manufacturer.
Reynolds said that because the equipment was old, it was in frequent need of repair. After a while of having to make numerous repairs, Reynolds went to his park commissioner and said that the equipment needs to be replaced.
“We were not happy with the number of repairs we were constantly experiencing with it,” Reynolds said. “It [the playground equipment] turned out to be substandard from a durability standpoint.”
After getting the green light from park commissioners, Reynolds went to work getting the old playset and putting the new playset in, a process he says took about two weeks in total. Despite some minor setbacks involved in getting the equipment to the park, Reynolds was able to meet his goal of getting the new playground up and running before the Christmas weekend.
Reynolds said he has received numerous positive comments from community leaders, recreation staff, and the city council.
“Everyone who has driven by here has seen nothing but kids swarming on it like kids on an anthill,” Reynolds said. “They’re just all over it which is great to see. They’re stretching the limits of what they’re body can do to try to figure out ways to climb on the stuff, it’s hilarious.”
Reynolds said the next park on the equipment replacement list is Blair Hills which will be followed by Tellefson Park after that. Reynolds is optimistic that he and his staff and crew will get to Blair Hills within the next six months and then they will immediately start on Tellefson. The goal is to install new playground equipment at both parks this calendar year.
Veterans Memorial Park is located at the southwest corner of the intersection of Overland Avenue and Culver Boulevard. Free parking and the new playground are accessible via Culver Boulevard.
For more information on the new playground equipment at Veterans Memorial Park, call the Culver City Parks and Recreation Department at (310) 253-6655