BUILDING THE MILL RIVER PLAYGROUND
TheMondayGarden.com, Eco-gardening at its best
May 26, 2005, Issue 207-208
Why cover the building of a river-side playground by community volunteers on a site dedicated to the urban wilderness? Isn't it just another playground in another park?
May be but it is our park, and it is part of the comprehensive plan for re-development of the riverside "green space". The playground is part of the City's decision on the balancing of human and non-human uses of the riparian space and the devolvement of the surrounding neighborhoods. The desired vision seems to be happy children growing up along a sparkling river with herons, geese, ducks, and osprey, squirrels overhead, and songbirds in the bushes. Meanwhile, the adjacent lower- and middle-income housing and small businesses of the West Side get spruced-up but remain intact. (The new, "luxury" (i.e. high-income) residential development is planned to be farther north and east; and, years from now, to the south.) In other words, the same neighborhood, only better, for humans and non-humans alike, plus a world-class playground for all the children of the City to visit.
Picture: On Day 5, the skies open once again. Later, I was surprised to find out that the rainfall total for the week was "only" 3 to 4 inches. May 19, 2006.
The plan was for community volunteers to dedicate 5,000 hours in one week (three shifts working 7:30 A.M. to 9:00 P.M., May 15-21, 2006) to raise a playground from a design created by outside consultants with input from area children, using mostly donated materials. By the end of the week, somewhere over a 1000 individuals who live or work in Stamford had invested a good 8000 to 9000 hours on the site, most of it in rain and mud. The people came from the international corporations headquartered in town, the local businesses both large and small, the schools, the religion organizations, the city government, and the neighborhood, including the men's shelter. Many others contributed from off site. Indeed, special thanks goes to those unseen hands who prepared our meals. (Speaking of small, local businesses, TheMondayGarden.com didn't publish last week because I was helping in the tool shed).