To the Editor:
The Niantic Park Playground Project, in collaboration with the Oak Bluffs Department of Parks and Recreation and the Friends of Oak Bluffs, is working to create a community-built playground for our youth in Niantic Park. Oak Bluffs has developed a plan and secured funding to revitalize and rebuild the entire park. This is very exciting news for the town and the community at large.
Over the course of the summer members of the community had the opportunity to participate in the design process and learn about the complex issues the park project will need to address, including parking, pedestrian pathways, fencing, lighting, public restrooms, new basketball courts and of course, a new playground. This process has helped create a new park design that will be safe, beautiful, and fully accessible for all members of our community.
As we learned more about the overall project, it became clear that only a small portion of the budget had been set aside for the actual playground. In fact, the playground portion of the overall project only included the replacement of the five pieces of surface equipment that are currently in use at Niantic Park, leaving a large gap in the potential play experience for different age groups within the playground. The Niantic Park Playground Project believes we can and should do more. We need your help!
Our group has worked to create a vision for a new playground that reflects the character of our community. Specifically, we have designed the play spaces to integrate within the natural park setting, in and amongst the aged oak trees. The design calls for custom-built features in combination with traditional playground equipment. To bring this vision to fruition, we must raise $46,000 by January 31, 2015. The monies raised, together with the original playground funding, will be used to purchase equipment and materials. This coming spring we will come together for a “community build” with an anticipated completion date in June of 2015.
While we have seen the support of so many friends, colleagues and businesses over the last two months, we would like to send a special thank-you to Mark Hutker of Hutker Architects who pledged $5,000 to the playground initiative with the stipulation that matching funds must be secured. It did not take long for Gary BenDavid of Gary BenDavid Builders and Chris Dias of Specialty Builders’ Supply to step up to the plate. This combined donation of $10,000 has put us close to 50 percent of our overall goal.
Please visit the Niantic Park Playground Project on Facebook to learn more about this exciting project and keep an eye out for our next fundraising event. Tax-deductible donations can be sent to The Friends of Oak Bluffs, PO Box 1281, Oak Bluffs, MA 02557. Please reference “Niantic Park Playground Project” in the memo.
Greg Ehrman
Niantic Park Playground Project
