Landscape Architect Articles

LASN Stewardship February 2010: Kids Now Have A New Place to Play01-28-10 | News

Kids Now Have A New Place to Play

By Eric Mears, R.G., vice president, Brown and Caldwell

In August 2008, the Montecito School playground rebuilt and replaced their outdated play equipment. The several hundred kids at this inner city Phoenix grade school only got to play on the new equipment for less than two weeks before the playground was set aflame, a fire so intense it took the Phoenix Fire Department nearly three hours to
extinguish it.
Photos courtesy of The Real Gift Foundation

Brown and Caldwell and the Real Gift Foundation (TRGF) teamed up to improve conditions at another inner-city grade school in Phoenix, Arizona. Working at the Montecito School, Brown and Caldwell and the TRGF finished a fast-track project to replace their playground that had been previously destroyed by arson. Working with a talented group of contractors and volunteers, the burned equipment was removed, disposed and replaced with new and upgraded structures in less than a week. Over half of the students attending the Montecito School live at or below the poverty line and it was very important to show the kids that the community cares about them.

The staff and students were devastated by the deliberate destruction of their new playground. ?EUR??,,????'?????<

Over 100 volunteers begin sorting and assembling the multitude of pieces for the new Montecito School playground, then organized into teams for the weekend installation. Tight conditions required manual placement of nearly 20 cubic yards of
ready mix.

Ms. Conde Rogers at the TRGF, Eric Mears and Ron Ablin of Brown and Caldwell visited the school and inspected the burned playground. Pools of hardened plastic lay where the slides had melted and the scorched and twisted metal infrastructure was a complete loss. ?EUR??,,????'?????<

Brown and Caldwell and the TRGF reached out to local contractors to remove and dispose of the existing equipment and prepare the site for construction. Dave Bang and Associates provided the Playworld Systems at cost and the new equipment was purchased with another generous donation from Brown and Caldwell. Again, an army of Brown and Caldwell employees, local residents, volunteers and teachers installed the new equipment in one weekend.

rom rock walls to jungle gyms and slides, the new playground offers the kids diverse and
interactive play.

A Safe And Clean Route To School

Additionally, Brown and Caldwell and members of the Arizona Rock Products Association provided the labor and materials to improve a vacant lot across from the school. The district had previously purchased the land and students frequently crossed the empty dirt lot to get to and from school. Based on landscape plans provided by the school, ARPA members built block walls, poured a sidewalk and provided landscape boulders to limit vehicle access to the property. The students now enjoy a safe and clean route to school.

The children rush to see their new tower, about three times larger than the previous system, courtesy of Dave Bang and Associates.

Thanks To The Amazing Generosity

The new playground was only possible with the amazing generosity of the following companies: Brown & Caldwell, Arizona Rock Products Association, Dave Bang and Associates, Allied Waste, the Rogers Group, Concord General Contractors, Progressive Roofing, Rainbow Rentals, Heritage Trucking, Arizona Materials, Felix Construction, CEMEX, CalPortland, Opus West Corporation, KDM Contracting, Nina Construction Supply, Philip Services and Superlite Block.