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Jul 14, 2008 6:01 pm US/Central
Play Equipment Removed From Richardson Park
RICHARDSON (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
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Andrew Laska, Richardson Echo
It's the end of an era for Heights Park in Richardson. Some of the 40-year-old playground equipment at the park is being removed for safety reasons.
Many of the playground pieces were built at the height of the Apollo Moon program, when rockets, planets and space technology were all the rage.
A 'radar' jungle gym was one of the first pieces to be removed from the park. The landmark icon at the park is still the 25-foot tall rocket that stood for some 40 years – that's double the expected lifespan of playground equipment .
Under current day safety standards many of the bumps were considered too hard and there were fears of head entrapment, impaling and entanglement. The equipment also did not meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.
Simmons Builders is tearing out the old equipment and reconstructing a safer playground. "Statistically they tell us in class that there are, in the range of, 17 children a year killed in the United States on playgrounds," Carl Simmons said.
"As a mother I've taken my children here and it's kinda a scary playground. Ya know, you're kinda biting your fingernails, but I'm sad to see it go," mother Anne Howard explained. "I was just so anxious when my kids would play on it… so it's kinda time. It's a lot more dangerous than the playgrounds that they make now."
Hardliners hope the rocket and other pieces, will be put together and re-displayed as artwork celebrating Richardson history of technological achievement.
Visitors to the park were certainly nostalgic remembering that three generations of residents have played there.
Toddlers may only have a vague recollection of playground equipment like the 'climber', but lots of adults have vivid remembrances. "It was a place where you sort of I don't want to say, cut your teeth literally, but it was a lot of great fun and great memories," said Andrew Laska, who played at the park decades ago.
Bob Kerstetter brought his four sons to the park. They climbed and slid down the slide together.
"We'd come down here with wax paper and sit on wax paper and you'd get a pretty quick run [down the slide]. A short run and you'd get a pretty hard bump at the end," Kerstetter explained.
The city will modernize some playground pieces like the 'buck-a-bouts' and the 'swing sets.'
Officials with the City of Richardson said the Heights Park equipment was by far the oldest in the city, but emotional attachment had kept it in use.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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