Astute park watchers may have noticed that the Wallingford Park playground renovation seems to have stalled. Honestly, given the chain-link dismal state of things, even the somewhat dull-witted park watcher would be hard-pressed to miss it.
We originally reported the plans for the renovation back in May and then Jack posted an update back in November that the renovation was underway. At the time, we understood that the renovations would be completed in December or January, but as the above photo suggests, that timeline was … optimistic.
We reached out to Karen O’Connor in the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation for an update:
We anticipate the play area opening in late spring. Here is the website http://www.seattle.gov/parks/about-us/current-projects/wallingford-playfield-play-area-renovation. We will post any updates for the play area on the site.
She said she would check on the “why’s” of the delay (nothing much has changed there beyond accumulating rainwater since late November / early December), but haven’t heard anything more as of press time.
On the other hand, if you haven’t been down to the rebooted Gas Works playground, I highly recommend it (if you have children.) They did a great job of creating a varied, challenging arrangement of equipment, and when we wandered down there one sunny Sunday and it was bustling with shouts and joy. With the sparkling lake and epic view of downtown, all that was missing was a coffee stand to complete the European community vibe.
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I had reached out to Shannon Glasser earlier in January, and was clearly told that installation was scheduled to begin before the end of the month (i.e., yesterday… “A contractor is already scheduled to start the installation phase of construction before the end of this month.”). Sadly, it has not. Heck, it doesn’t even appear that demolition has been completed, still…
Shannon also stated that “Work will be complete by the end of March,” a statement that would now appear to directly contradict what Karen O’Connor is saying. End of March vs. late Spring. Let’s be honest, late Spring could be June, which is basically summer, and a wildly different timeline.
Any ideas on possible recourse with the city, to speed things along? A petition / formal complaint filed with the city? A team of volunteers to rapidly complete the project, akin to Habit for Humanity? My main concern is that the progress to-date has me fearing it’ll take as long as the Gas Works playground took, which seemingly had a year+ delay, based on the initial project plan.