“Play is the brain’s favorite way of learning”
~ poet and naturalist Diane Ackerman
I am a member of the Play Well Focus Group. It is a group of volunteers and City of Kingston staff who think about play and access to public spaces. Imagine that! This message is to announce that the Play Well Focus Group is conducting a parks assessment survey.
In preparation for this project, I volunteered to gauge the City of Kingston’s Parks and Recreation Department’s likely reception to an assessment of the parks. I did it by watching three past meetings of Kingston’s Parks and Recreation Commission on YouTube and by reading sections of the 2013 City of Kingston Parks and Recreation Master Plan.
I already knew that Kingston has 14 parks, a pool, a nature center, basketball courts, walking and biking trails, a beach, and a stadium. But I learned, almost as importantly, that we have a Parks and Recreation Department and Recreation Commission. Thankfully, they were receptive when we presented our plan to the Commission, and then we started the assessment at Block Park, followed by Cornell and Hutton.
We’re conducting our survey on paper in groups of twos and threes. It has questions under eight categories: accessibility, amenities, habitat, water, plants, trails, nature play, and culture. There’s also a place on the survey for improvement suggestions. Our goal is to identify what can be improved and then decide on at least one project to advance. In addition, our assessment could be used for the Parks and Recreation Department to make improvements when they have the capacity and it may support a future update to the Parks Master Plan.
Our Parks Assessments has led to interesting conversations. They include lofty goals and wish lists, which are often correctly tempered by saner minds in our group who point to safety and budget considerations. For example, when we were assessing Hutton Park, we discussed its boulders and whether they are an opportunity for play. “Yes,” I said emphatically! “No,” said someone else concerned with liability. This shows how differently people can interpret how spaces can be used and how complicated it can be to create rules in public spaces.
We have conversations about trees, about the definition of “Natural Play,” about surfaces that would perhaps be better served by native plants and flowers rather than grass. We have conversations about playing with water and about play equipment made from natural resources as opposed to plastic.
We’d like you to join us. We’d like your thoughts on play. Imagine that!
If you are interested, visit our events page to find out when the next Play Well meeting will be or email our coordinator, Emily at eflynn@kingston-ny.gov.
Arlene Puentes, Kingston, NY
