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Vol. 1, No. 2
October 20, 1999
A group of seventeen neighbors gathered at Ellen Andrews home on Princess Road on Wednesday evening, October 6 to discuss the construction of a children’s climbing structure for Wellington Park. This was the first official meeting of the Play Structure Committee. At the urging of Ward Three Aldermen, Mayor Cohen has dedicated $12,500 for improvements at Wellington Park. Part of this will be the construction of a play / climbing structure in Wellington Park. It is up to the neighborhood to decide what structure we want and to oversee construction. Construction is planned for this coming spring. Many thanks to Ellen for hosting this initial meeting and for providing refreshments and goodies.
Ann Dorfman showed the notebook that she put together for the Parkfest. It gave examples from various manufacturers of what we might expect to get for the amount of money that we have to spend. She also put together a rough cost breakdown shown below.
The meeting focused on the costs of the project. A review of possible costs suggested that the money provided by the city could just barely cover the cost for the structure, but nothing more. Additional benches and replacement of the existing swing set (which can now only hold two swings due to changes in the safety code), suggests the need for additional funds. The early cost breakdown looks as follows (note that all costs are estimates, we are only in the early information gathering stages of this project):
Play Structure
Play Structure
$ 7,500
Shipping
$ 1,000
Excavation and post hole digging** $
2,000
Installation/supervision
$ 1,000
Timbers around structure
$ 400
Surface below structure
$ 1,000
Total
$12,900
Benches
2 benches (including installation)
$ 1,400
Swing set
4 person swing set**
$ 1,200
shipping
$ 300
Excavation*
$ 1,500
Installation
$ 750
Timbers
$ 300
Surface below swing set
$ 1,000
Total
$
4,000
* Excavation is not required, but otherwise the play structure and swing area will have to be elevated one foot above the level of the rest of the playground. Safety code requires 12" of soft surface, such as wood chips. To meet code, ground can be excavated or retaining timbers can be built around the elevated area. Excavating the park would be one of the most costly aspects of constructing a new play structure or swing set. If anyone knows someone (perhaps someone from this neighborhood) who has excavating experience and equipment (a back hoe, bobcat, etc.), or an auger for digging post holes, equipment for moving timbers, or who might like to help with this project, please contact one of the committee members below.
** Another option discussed was to put a small kiddy swing beside the play structure and a bigger kids swing set further away.
Ted Kuklinski provided a rough dimensioned drawing of Wellington Park, derived from the aerial map from the city engineering department. It shows the existing placement of play equipmentand is available on our web site. GameTime provided a supply of their catalogs and several copies of government safety specifications for playgrounds, detailing such factors as the amount of clearance around swings that is required.
The meeting focused on what needs to be done and who would do it. Lorraine Miller, from Waltham Street volunteered to chair the structure selection committee. A new Kilburn Road resident, Nancy Davis, who has recently moved from Nashville, Tennessee, volunteered to lead a fundraising committee to solicit additional funds and Ted Kuklinski, from Henshaw Terrace, volunteered to continue to serve as liaison to the City. Jane Quinn will head up a general park beautification committee which may plant bulbs, shrubs, etc. to make our park look more inviting. For more information or to volunteer to help on any of the committees, please contact the chair (*) for that committee. Here's the list of volunteers for the groups from the meeting:
Playground Design:
Lorraine Miller (*)
969-8651
atrain@tiac.net
Eleanor Ambrosio
Ellen Andrews
Deedee Antonelli
Kelly Brown
Mary Bullwinkle
Jane & Don Quinn
Cindy Mapes
Diane McCarthy
Lisa Mobilia
Chris Southgate
Fundraising:
Nancy Davis (*) 558-5387
princessned@yahoo.com
Ellen Andrews
Deedee Antonelli
Jane & Don Quinn
Chris Southgate
Coordination w/City:
Ted Kuklinski (*) 969-6222
tkuklinski@aol.com
Nancy Davis
Project Construction:
Brian Gallagher (*) 969-3297
briangallagher1@msn.com
Bob Mobilia
Beautification:
Jane Quinn (*)
332-3191
Deedee Antonelli
Since the meeting, Lorraine Miller and Eleanor Ambrosio have been out looking at playgrounds all over the city, noting the features, manufacturer, and condition of each. Lorraine has a large set of equipment catalogs gathered by Ann Dorfman previously and supplemented by a collection from Tim McHale (a friend of Ted's who last year oversaw a $12000 playground installation in Brighton at St. Anthony's school). Lorraine has been talking with various manufacturers’ representatives. It may be possible for some of them to do an interactive computer design session with our committee to help visualize what our structure would look like and how it would fit into the site.
Lorraine has been looking into the possibility of having our playground build date in conjunction with a general volunteer day in Newton as part of Newton 2000. This is coordinated by Newton Serves and would be on April 9, 2000. We may be able to get more volunteers, resources, and publicity if we have our build in conjunction with Newton Serves.
Nancy Davis, a newcomer to the area, has experience in fundraising for Toys for Tots. In addition, her father is a parks director in Phoenix, Arizona, and she has been tapping him for suggestions as well. One of his suggestions was to consider using rubber matting instead of Fibar, or at least to use it at the base of slides and swings. We are in the process of working out an arrangement with Mr. Bibbo, director of the Newton Community Service Centers, Inc. to be able to accept tax deductible donations for the park. Checks would be made to NCSC. We could disburse from this fund (aside from the city grant) to vendors directly for such things as benches, buying Fibar, etc. Otherwise, if these extra funds went through the city, anything over $1000 would have to go out to bid. Watch for more details on our fundraising campaign.
In speaking with Bob DeRubeis and Dave Mandatori of Newton Parks and Rec., we have gotten some more insight and specific suggestions. The city recommends a green and beige color scheme (e.g. the Webster Common playground). They have adequate paint in these colors (for graffiti removal and upkeep). They claim there are more complaints with bright colors and that this color scheme blends in better. For less noise in our structure, they recommend against including a tire swing or a track ride. Lastly, they suggest that a raised bed is the preferred method of building a playground. This involves placing timbers around the edge and filling the surface with Fibar, an engineered wood fiber material for fall protection. The construction is much simpler since it can be done after the playground is assembled and constructed. There is not the expense of excavation and the hauling away of the excavated material. They claim that this method holds in the Fibar material better, gets less damp, and that trash and leaves don't collect in the play area and tend to blow off. Children also tend to use the edge timbers for seating. The Fibar material does provide handicapped access to the equipment. A section or sections would be left free of timbers to provide wheelchair access as required. They suggest seeing how it’s done at Webster Common. As a side note, there was also a suggestion (by Tim McHale) that the edge timbers not be at right angles for aesthetic purposes.
The whole process might unfold like this. Once we have selected a design for our play structure and some potential manufacturers, and after obtaining neighborhood consensus, we review the plan with Parks and Rec. From this point, they may take about a week to come up with an official specification. The purchasing Department would take about 2 weeks to put together a request for bids and send them out. We would get back bids within a few weeks and one would be accepted and an order placed. Delivery would take 6-8 weeks. Delivery would be made to Parks and Recreation and they would store the equipment before the build. A day or two before the build day, we would have the holes drilled by auger for the vertical supports (so we don't have dangerous holes for too long a period). An onsite supervisor from the manufacturer would be hired to supervise the volunteer group. We would assemble the equipment under their direction on the build day. If we went with the above ground method, the timbers would be placed around the structure (possibly by the city) and filled with Fibar a short time after the build day (perhaps we would help with spreading the material). Then we will have a party and a ceremonial ribbon cutting!
You may have noticed that the water fountain is now missing its head. The city usually goes around and removes the heads in October. It will be back in the spring. The field was re-seeded last spring. However the dry summer pretty much killed off any new grass and there are lots of dead patches currently. In September, the field was aerated under contract. Despite numerous requests, the field apparently was never re-seeded this fall as it should have been done to take advantage of the more plentiful rains and dew conditions which would insure adequate moisture Parks and Rec. has told us that, if there is still time, they will attempt a re-seeding shortly. If not, they will do it next season (and we will hope that there is not a drought again).
Our web site, http://wellingtonpark.8m.com, is a repository for much of the information relevant to Wellington Park. Please check it for latest developments. This newsletter is posted on the web site as well. We may be adding a section for neighborhood notices like yard sales, lost kittens, guitar lessons, lost and found, etc. We tried to pick an easy to remember web address. Some have mentioned that they did a web search for Wellington Park and did not find us. We have registered with a number of search engines and directories (such as Yahoo). There is often a backlog before they will show up in these engines. Thanks to William Whalen who helped to bump us up in the queue for the locally based Northern Light search engine http://www.northernlight.com where we can now be found. Email is the most cost effective way to distribute this newsletter. If you have an email address please let us know by sending an email to info@wellingtonpark.8m.com. Please use the guest book on the web site to register any of your thoughts on any of the issues with the new playground such as location, vendors, features, or any other Wellington Park issues. The guest book can act as a public forum for our discussions.
Our park bulletin board also serves as a vehicle of communication (especially for those not on the web or with email). Check it when you visit the park. Try to make sure the outer cover is pinned down so rain doesn’t get on the notices. Contributions to the web site or newsletter are always welcome. Please mail to Citizens for Wellington Park, 24 Henshaw Terrace, West Newton, MA 02465, or phone (617) 969-6222 or email to either WellingtonPark@aol.com or news@wellingtonpark.8m.com. Ted Kuklinski (969-6222) and Ann Dorfman (244-9321), co-chairs of Citizens for Wellington Park.