By Charlene Gowers Santa Monica
I am a local Pico neighborhood resident and my 2-year-old grandson and I were so excited at the opening of the new Virginia Park. We go every Saturday and Sunday to play in the toddler park and run on the grass. Although the play equipment for both toddlers and older children is severely lacking in its design and enthusiasm, it is beautiful to have, firstly, a park we can walk to and, secondly, so much green open space.
Speaking of playground equipment: I was extremely embarrassed for the city of Santa Monica when we stopped at Mar Vista Park to play in their newly renovated playground. The playground equipment is amazing — like Disneyland, with three plastic structures with slides and hiding places and bridges. My little grandson was ecstatic as were the 15 or 20 other children playing there. What happened, Santa Monica? Did you run out of money for playground equipment or is it just because it is the Pico neighborhood and we will do with what we get?
Three requests for Virginia Park: 1. Could we get a trash container in the toddler area so that we don’t have to leave the little ones unattended to throw away the trash? 2. Could you please clean the sand once in a while? It is getting really yucky now. 3. The ground under the swings is made of soft plastic so that kids won’t fall and hurt themselves, but last Saturday under hazy skies, the surface had heated to scalding level. I cannot imagine what it will be like in the summer.
Thank you from the Pico neighborhood.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 30, 2006. Read the original PDF.