Hey kids, come on out to play at Hart Park
MMSD ponying up cash to restore community 'tot lot'
Aug. 25, 2010 | 3 comments
Hart Park offers athletic facilities, bike paths, a senior center and a performance stage. But one of the hallmarks of a traditional park is missing.
The playground - referred to in the city as a "tot lot" even though it would be meant to serve kids up to age 12 - was moved to Eisenhower Elementary School about five years ago so flood management work could be completed at the park. Now, the work's done and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District is ready to pay for the city to re-establish its play area, possibly this fall.
Tosa officials are looking for a new and improved version of a tot lot that incorporates local history and environmental features.
City Engineer Bill Wehrley proposes the tot lot have a theme that plays off the state's name. Wisconsin is a Chippewa word meaning "gathering of waters," which also could describe Wauwatosa. The Menomonee River, Schoonmaker Reef and Honey and Underwood creeks all help make up Tosa's geography.
The playground could have slides that pay tribute to each of the waterways by featuring life-size imprints of fish indigenous to the area on their sides and paw prints representing local wildlife could be stamped into sidewalks and paths, he told the Parks and Forestry Board last week. Trees like those found in the days before Charles Hart came to Wauwatosa could be planted, and plaques installed to explain the ways early settlers used them.
"It's not direct, in-your-face education," Wehrley said. "It's a more subtle education."
It's the toys that count
While board member Steve Berg is a fan of the theme, he said it's the climbing, swinging, jumping and sliding equipment that will make the playground popular with the kids.
"The kids aren't going to care about the education part," he said. "Who's your audience, the kids or their parents?"
But Wehrley said playground equipment vendors have struggled to come up with unique features that will draw families from throughout the city, like the prior tot lot did. Since the old playground was moved, just about every private and public elementary school has replicated the set-up on a smaller scale. It was the latest in equipment at the time and vendors are telling him not much has changed.
"The only thing that's left is thematic," Wehrley said.
He was pitched a concept for a pirate playground complete with a high-flying flag with a skull and crossbones on it. It came across as a bit campy.
"We're on the river, but I don't think that's a good fit for us," Wehrley said.
Berg isn't ready to accept that there isn't some cool, new play equipment out there. He plans to seek some out and let city staff members know what he finds.
Restrooms possible
Construction is expected to begin this fall, but no specific start date has been set.
An emergency repair of the Harwood bridge this spring and two floods this summer have put the project on the backburner, Wehrley said.
The playground could be done in conjunction with another anticipated park project. The city's 2011 capital budget includes money to construct a restroom between 68th and 70th streets that could be accessed by users of the playground and nearby Rotary Park Performance Pavilion.
Those dollars are not definite until the city goes through budget discussions that are set to begin in September.
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