Playgrounds

The city's Public Works Department has been awarded a $20,000 Tire Recycling Grant from the California Integrated Waste Management Board for its 1997 Rubberized Playground Cover Project. Through the project, city workers in early September will install rubberized material--from more than 4,000 recycled tires--in the Jardins de los Ninos and Atlantis Play Center playgrounds.

The nearly 650 youngsters at the San Fernando Gardens public-housing development in Pacoima no longer have to play in the street. The Los Angeles Housing Authority, which runs the 448-unit complex, recently completed construction of two new playgrounds, paid for with a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. "There was practically nothing, recreationally, for kids and parents to do before," said Mario Matute, senior case manager at the complex's community service center.

The Los Angeles City Council has provided the Los Angeles Unified School District with $50,500 to keep playgrounds open longer at five elementary campuses in downtown areas where gang activity is increasing. The new hours, which took effect Monday, are from the close of school until 6 p.m. on weekdays, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and from noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays. The schools are Norwood Street, Plasencia, Rosemont Avenue, 10th Street and Union Avenue.

Restoration of a neglected baseball diamond and playgrounds at the Jordan Downs housing project in Watts began Monday with $204,000 from the city Housing Authority, city Department of Recreation and Parks and a federal grant.

Children will soon find new playground equipment at 25 city parks, thanks to a $750,000 improvement program. The slides, swings and other equipment should be in place by September, Deputy Community Services Director Jim Engle said. The equipment is geared for 5- to 12-year-olds. Last fall, the City Council adopted a policy to bring play equipment in compliance with the American Disabilities Act and safety guidelines.

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to extend after-school playground programs two hours, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., for thousands of students citywide. The unanimous vote, coming after two hours of debate, would affect 301 elementary and junior high schools that are more than three blocks from a recreational facility that offers similar programs.

The kindergarten yard at Point Fermin School is poised to get a zigzag ladder, chain climber, tube slide and monkey bars with a $25,0000 grant the school recently received from the Anne and Kirk Douglas Playground Enhancement Awards. The elementary school was one of 30 campuses in the Los Angeles Unified School District that received the grant. Actor Douglas and his wife donated $1 million to establish a three-year, $2.

New play equipment in a city park usually doesn't prompt such ceremony and celebration. But for residents near Costeau Park and Knotty Pine Park, whose children have been without anything to climb and crawl and slide on for a year and a half, today is a special day. City officials and neighbors will gather at the two parks this afternoon for ceremonies to celebrate the installation of "state of the art" play equipment that replaces the outdated and unsafe equipment removed in August, 1992.

It began with the second-grade teacher's simple suggestion that, for a treat, his students could romp on play equipment at the core of a nearby public housing project. When their reaction was less than positive--to wit: "Eeew no. Not there !"--Compton Avenue Elementary School teacher John Gust took a closer look.