PARK IMPROVEMENTS
If you are a parent reading this, I have every belief that you will be able to relate to this. As a mother, my first instinct is to always protect my children and encourage their growth But in these unprecedented times, being confined to our homes isn’t easy, and it makes our jobs 10 times harder. The odds are against us, but we need to teach our children that creativity is of the utmost importance in these times.
With only an hour up our sleeves to go out and allow our children to experience the world, we need to use every minute of it wisely. Play is crucial to a child’s development. But when it can take up to 15 minutes (or more!) to find a parking space at a park, it can be a problem. Although the City of Stonnington is home to 27 parks, I find that I sometimes need to travel to other local government areas to play with my little boys.
Here are some problems that we can work on:
- The playground equipment hasn’t been updated.
- Improvements haven’t been made consistently over the years (The parks in my suburb have seemingly remained the same since my kids were born).
- Little to no spaces for older children to prosper in our parks.
While our council certainly tries, I worry that it’s just not focused in the right area. Last year, the Stonnington Council put $3.9 million into our “parks, open space and recreation renewal and improvement works” (Stonnington Budget, 2018/19). However, a large percentage of the investment went into “arboriculture” and “horticulture” services specialising in “tree pruning, planting, removal, planning and street tree strategists” as well as “parks and sports ground mowing and maintenance” (Stonnington Budget, 2018/19). In short, while significant investments were made into park maintenance, equipment upgrades and improvements are still largely lacking.
I don’t believe that Stonnington’s maintenance on our parks is enough. I think that on top of gardening maintenance, we need improvements made to the equipment and overall experience of our parks that will appeal to and attract a broader spectrum of people.
As a busy, working mother, I want to be able to nip around the corner to take my kids to the park for some old school play, away from their screens. Instead, I need to drive suburbs away to find a park that’s up to scratch.
Be the change.
