Thank you so much to everyone who has signed the petition so far. With your support, I’m hoping we will convince the city to make Russell Park playground a top priority in their next round of playground renovations. Below, I provide a few additional steps you can take to help convince the city. If you’re interested in knowing a little more about me and getting caught up on the Russell Park Playground Renovation Project, I included some information at the bottom of this note.
Steps You Can Take to Help:
- Share the petition link with anyone you know who lives in Five Parks or nearby. Get your husband, wife, kids, etc. to sign if they live in the community. The more signatures we have, the more seriously the city will take our request.
- Report an issue to Ask Arvada complaining about Russell Park’s playground and asking for them to prioritize the playground for renovation. I have a template you can reference here, but the more personal you make it the better.
- Send me a comment about the playground, either via email or (preferably) video. Keep the comment short and answer these two questions: 1. What is your experience with the Russell Park Playground? 2. Why do you think the playground should be renovated? Submit comments from your kids as well (video is powerful), because the parks department puts a premium on what kids in the community think.
I will be attending a Park Advisory Committee meeting on Tuesday, February 27 and will mention this project to them and ask about their process for selecting playgrounds for improvement. Sometime in the next month or so I plan to attend a City Council Meeting to present the petition, highlighting the large number of signatures it has, and share all of the comments I get from you.
Thank you again for your support. I’ll keep you posted with any progress I make. Feel free to reach out to me with questions and comments. My email is longjeremy@ymail.com and my phone number is 310-709-7101.
Jeremy
More about me and the project.
My name is Jeremy Long. I moved to Five Parks a little over two years ago with my wife and two sons, currently 4 & 6. We live on Coors St. a few houses down from Russell Park. Ever since we moved in, I’ve been frustrated that my kids do not want to play at a playground so close to our house, simply because, to put it in their words, “the playground is boring.” The play structure is so small that any kids over the age of two don’t really enjoy it. And both swings are baby swings. The playground sign says it’s designed for kids 5-12, which is laughable.
In August 2023, I reached out to our then city council member, David Jones, about my concerns with the playground and to get his advice on how to do something about it. After I followed up a couple of times, he got back to me and connected me with representatives from the City Manager's office.
Soon after, I heard back from Enessa Janes, Director, Department of Vibrant Community and Neighborhoods for City of Arvada. She explained that the city upgrades 2-3 playgrounds per year as part of its capital maintenance program. She said playground renovation priority is determined by assessing the age of the playground and changing neighborhood needs.
Earlier this year, I posted some signs in the neighborhood asking others to email the city asking for Russell Park’s playground to be prioritized for renovation. All of us who reached out received an email from the city similar to the one from Enessa I mentioned above, this time from Darin DeLay, Parks & Urban Design Manager.
Over the last two weeks, I replaced the neighborhood signs with a “Phase 2” sign asking people to sign this petition and started sharing it via text message with some of you more well-connected neighbors. I sent an email last week to Bob Fifer, our new city council member, letting him know about the issue with the playground, this project and the petition.
Again, my next step is to present the petition to the city and get it in front of as many stakeholders as possible.