Community builds playground at 47th & Sansom in one day

University City Review: Community builds playground at 47th & Sansom in one day

Written by Nicole Contosta, University City Review:

What Walnut Hill residents lacked for years, was remedied in one day. That’s when 373 volunteers assembled at 47th and Sansom to construct a state of the art playground, Thursday, August 6th.

The site’s original playground, designed in the 1970’s, was used by neighborhood children as well as by local elementary schools and daycare centers, explained Suet Lim, Chair of the Publicity Committee for the Walnut Hill Community Association (WHCA). Over the years, continued Lim, the playground experienced significant wear and tear. The state of its decline grew urgent enough that it received a few face-lifts, such as the one in 1996. Old structures were repainted, missing slats of benches replaced, overgrown trees pruned and broken swings removed.

Yet despite those alterations the site never really improved and this spring, playground safety inspector, Bill Boyce of Boyce Associates deemed it unsafe, recommending its immediate closure, effective May 30th.

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