Council, School Board Unanimously Approve School Playground Plan, Residents Do Not

Hannah Heineman
Mirror staff writer

   Unanimous approval was given to the Elementary School Playground Access Program plan at an unprecedented joint meeting of the Santa Monica City Council and the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District’s (SMMUSD) Board of Education on August 7.
   Originally proposed at the May 17 Board of Education meeting, it had been in the works for 2 years. The joint School District-City of Santa Monica program will permit limited community access to elementary playfields and other facilities during predetermined hours throughout the District as soon as the current playground renovation is complete. The goals of the plan include “safe, clean, kid-friendly playgrounds, more monitored youth sports and free play opportunities at elementary school playgrounds, improving children’s health and fitness, promoting SMMUSD-City of Santa Monica partnership and improving elementary school security and facilities maintenance.”
   The program will be put into place at Grant, Franklin, McKinley, Muir, Will Rodgers, and Roosevelt elementary schools as well as at SMASH (Santa Monica Alternative School House) for children 18 and under [with those 12 and under given preference], their families and friends.
   The monitored playgrounds will be open daily, including holidays, except Christmas and New Year’s Days. The School District will provide the playgrounds and custodial assistance and the City will provide playground monitors, ground maintenance and signage.
   Mayor Michael Feinstein described the plan as “a living, evolving program” and said it acknowledged the City’s Open Space Element’s view that “the (playgrounds were) the easiest place and some of the most accessible places to gain new open space and recreational opportunities for our community.”
   Mayor Pro Tem Richard Bloom added, “This is a program that began with the passage of the bond measure that was supported by a majority of the community” to improve the playgrounds. “It’s an exemplary program.”
   But many of the residents who spoke during the public hearing opposed the program because, as Franklin Elementary School neighbor Ted Nugent said, they anticipate parking, trash, noise, supervision and bathroom problems.
Other Franklin School neighbors as well as some school administrators told the Council and Board members that they had initially supported the program, but could no longer support it because of two key changes: the doubling of the access hours and the increase in the age limit for participating children from 12 to 18.
   A letter from Franklin neighbors Adam and Florence Kutz stated, “the proposed hours of operation are far too long…noise, traffic and trash that will be generated is more than our neighborhood can stand.” They also were concerned about nearby residents having to clean up the areas the monitors are not responsible for.
   Abby Klein, who teaches at Franklin and is the co-chair of the Site Governance Council, alleged that the expanded hours and increased age limits would increase “safety violations, theft, and vandalism” and the “availability of bathrooms…opens up the possibility of loitering and potential use by child predators.”
   Franklin School Principal Pat Samarge predicted that, “People will be parking on residential streets” because her campus has inadequate parking to serve the number of people who will turn out for team sports events such as soccer.
   In contrast, residents from around the City who are members of Save Our Playgrounds (SOP) and had lobbied for longer hours were enthusiastic about the program. One SOP spokesman, John Petz, said, “You won’t see a lot of us here tonight because everyone we polled thinks this is a great plan.”
   The City’s Director of Cultural and Community Services Barbara Stinchfield said, “This is a work in progress…we’re proposing a 12-month pilot program from January 2002 to December 2002 and we’ve delineated the responsibilities of the District and the City throughout the year to ensure we have enough input” to refine the program.
   Council members Bloom and Robert Holbrook moved to open playgrounds on Saturdays and Sundays an hour and half later than was proposed because of school neighbors’ expressed concerns about noise. Ultimately, both Council and School Board members agreed to push weekend opening hours back a half-hour — on Saturdays from 8:30 to 9 a.m. and on Sundays from 9:30 to 10 a.m.
   The two bodies ended their historic session by giving School District Superintendent John Deasy and the City Manger Susan McCarthy the go ahead to implement the contract to move the program forward.