Enhance community offerings with a town funded natural playscape
Enhance community offerings with a town funded natural playscape
Why this petition matters
**Petition only; any donation requested is from change.org and does not contribute to the playground in Redding**
Petition: Enhance community offerings with a town funded natural playscape
Redding is a small town with great outdoor space suitable for hiking, exploration and discovery for many ages, but lacks infrastructure to support early childhood play, discovery and community building. There is no natural playscape suitable for pre-school children in Redding. The existing structure at Topstone was a hand me down, is not compliant for children with special needs, and has exceeded its useful life, currently designated closed due to safety concerns. School based play structures are not available to the public during school hours, and have been predominantly privately funded ventures, these locations do not allow for parents, grandparents and small children to meet and play on the frequent basis at the center of community activity - the community center - from September to June. Redding needs a playground.
Community members prioritized communal playgrounds as an important need in the 10-year plan survey and subsequent report. Families have spent years urging the Parks and Recreation Department as well as the Selectman requesting space and funding for a playground suitable for the youngest and often newest family members of our community. Parents and grandparents actively leave our community to find places to play during school hours for children not yet enrolled in formal education. Isn't it time we appropriated funds for a 2021 playground?
A small community, like Redding, is often faced with challenges of budget allocation to keep our excellent and conservative town fund balance. 2020 was an unprecedented year of cancellation for the majority of family based activities and programs. The town held off hiring new positions, canceled the majority of programs and saved countless pre-approved dollars due to the severity and recommendation of the Department of Health guidelines. Isn't now the perfect time to allocate those dollars to a space we can come back together as a community?
What we need more than ever are areas and opportunities for laughter and outdoor play within our safe community -- at times, at a distance.
Julia Pemberton, we urge you and your leadership team to lead infrastructure improvement to the community center. Create an exploratory committee composed of 50% of parents with young children and 50% of town leadership including the offices of Parks and Recreation, Zoning and Selectman. Recommend the allocation of 2020 unspent funds to a playground project to be approved by town vote in May, 2021.
Respectfully seeking action,
The Caes Family
The Ferris Family
The Doyle Family
The Jimenez Family
The Sarrasin Family
The Gibbons Family
The Schuchard Family
The Wallick Family
The Verses Family
The Sanderson Family
The Patts Family
The Hsu Family
The Friedman Family
The Patrick Family
The O’Dell Burgess Family
The Vallance Family
The Whittle Family
The Theder Family
The Garavito Family
The DeSantis Family
The Parker Family
The Kaplan Family
The Street Family
The Lyons Family
The Huszagh Family
The Bedard Family
The Baker Family
Resources for further reading
“Community Investment Collaborative for Kids-Resource Guide”