Speaker 1: And importantly.
Speaker 0: Communication from Councilwoman Allen, Councilmember Arango, Councilwoman Price, Councilman Austin Recommendation to request city attorney to draft an ordinance to enact kid's zones to find a safe spaces for children at local parks, playgrounds, beaches, and other areas intended for use by children.
Speaker 1: Councilwoman Allen.
Speaker 0: Yes. I thank you, Vice Mayor. And also I want to thank Councilmember Ranga for his partnership on this item. I heard from many of my residents and folks that are concerned about adults misusing public playgrounds and spaces. Recently throughout the city, we've seen spaces designed for children vandalized and misused. Parks in my district as Miracle on Fourth and Promenade Square Park are impacted by ongoing loitering issues which discourage park usage by children or their guardians. Given these trends, I think it's necessary that we look at ways to create safe spaces for our children at our parks. By establishing kid's zones, we can assure the city, playground equipment and play areas specifically designed for children remain safe and remain available spaces for use by children. So we have to take steps to protect these children. And so they also can enjoy the parks and the playgrounds. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Councilman Price.
Speaker 0: I want to thank Councilwoman Allen for asking me to sign on to this item. We I think it's imperative that we have spaces that are designed for children and used by children. Just recently on our one apparel playground structure, we've had to do numerous repairs because it's such a great structure that adults have been also using it and trying to to be on the equipment. And it's impacted the equipment and it's used by the children because of the damage that has resulted. Additionally, I think it's sometimes intimidating for children when they see adults in a play space and just the way that they're trained to be wary of adults, strangers, makes them not feel as comfortable in those spaces. And I think it's important that we create areas where children feel safe to play and have equipment that's appropriate size and designed for their ages. We've put a lot of effort and care into designing age appropriate play equipment in our parks and recreational areas. And and so I think this item is a really good one to address some of those concerns. I do have a question for the city manager. When this policy goes into effect, would there be any opportunity to do a period of targeted enforcement just to make sure that people are getting education and outreach regarding the new policy and some of the limitations of adult use of those play structures.
Speaker 1: So before you bring back an ordinance and then vote on it, we do want to bring you back some information in a memo about just resources, capacity, enforcement options that we can certainly look at, that we do see this as kind of dealing with some of the more a one off occurrences where we have some some real issues where there's permanent, you know, restrictive use of of an area, you know, that is within our resources kind of looking at every every area all the time is going to stretch us a little thin. But we can certainly look at informing people. We're going to look at signage as well so we can bring that back as part of the memo.
Speaker 0: Yeah, I mean, I think about some really hot areas that are both being used by adults and children right now, but perhaps designed for children like some of the playgrounds on the beach, some of the widget activities that we have. Certainly they were not designed for the size and weight pressures that they're getting. So that would be great. Thanks.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Council member Urunga. Thank you. And I want to thank all of my colleagues for drawing on this. I have a couple of parts of my in my district that were have recently been damaged. And I think that it's incredibly important to have a zone where kids can play and be kids and not adults being kids . I have a question for I guess, is Mr. Brant available for parks?
Speaker 3: No. Yes.
Speaker 1: Okay. Yeah. Can you give a brief summary as to the cost that we have incurred over the last two years or so of damage caused by adults on our playgrounds?
Speaker 3: Yeah, certainly I can think of probably a half dozen of the instances I know of. Councilwoman Price cited one of the more recent ones that was disappointing once the one apparel playground had been opened, I think within a matter of several days due to some adult misuse of the playground equipment that was obviously designed for children, that caused us to secure the whole area, take it out of community enjoyment, and then have some of the components re-engineered. I think that was probably probably around $50,000, I'm guessing, for the re-engineering for fortifying of the supports. And then as as you know, in CD seven, we've had some unfortunate, very significant losses of playgrounds. And again, from my perspective, I think, you know, with the best of intentions, we do want our playgrounds to be safe and welcoming for our young families and our kids to have healthy, creative play areas. And I think, you know, the kids zone in particular would be a very wise move. But I do know it's going to take a lot of coordinated effort across inter-departmental teams to make it effective. So and we'll do our part to contribute to that. But in terms of an overall dollar figure, I know Admiral Kidd playground in particular was probably going to be about half a million dollars in cost. And that's, again, the loss of access for play, too. But we've had, I know, combined park, Craftsman Village Park and just quite a number of them that have had a lot of abuse and misuse that do cost considerable amount of dollars to bring back into a safe condition. But thank you for the question.
Speaker 1: Thank you. And just to add, also, while I like to zip line, I mean, my first time ever zip line in the summer, there was a zip line at least from this part that was damaged because adults were using that line there. So I think it's very important that we protect our playgrounds and that we make sure that they ensure that children are the ones that are taking advantage of it. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Arthur. Thank you. And I want to thank Councilmember Allen for taking the lead in bringing this item forward. I think it's something that I certainly a sentiment that I share and I hope the rest of our colleagues share as well here today. I believe that playgrounds should always be a safe spaces for our children to play. And there should never, never be a deterrent for a family or child to use. Utilize the playground. Um, we should also understand that these playgrounds, particularly now, you know, we are investing in playgrounds in our city. These are public investments and we need to protect these investments, ensure that they are being utilized for the population that they are meant to. Meet. Millions have been invested in a new playground in our city. I can think of four new playground, brand new playgrounds in my district alone. Jackson Park. Marina Park. Well, there's lots of lidos where kids are now enjoying park space and enjoying time with family and looking forward to that. I was walking my dog a few weeks ago, a couple of weeks ago, and encountered a gentleman sitting on the top of a slide at one of these parks. And I encountered him and asked, What are you doing? Because I'm just hanging out. It looked like he was involved in maybe smoking or whatever. And and it struck me that this is very timely and necessary because. We know the damage has been done. And again, this individual with smoking and who knows what could have happened while he was there. I may not have I may I should probably not have engaged him. But it was okay, was a fair dialog. But it opened my eyes to the fact that we need to we need to pay closer attention to our playgrounds. And these playgrounds are designed for children and not adults. So I'm happy to support this item and look forward to something coming back with that. That can be enforced, but it's also fair. Thanks. Thank you, Councilwoman. And they have.
Speaker 2: Been nice, Mayor. And thank you, Councilwoman Allen, for bringing this item forward, along with my colleagues to sign on to this very important item. I think that the health and safety of our children has to continue to be a top priority for our city. I think this is a really great item that provides an opportunity to establish safe spaces for our children, and that really tells the family that our children continued to come first. So I'm really excited for this and for the city to be able to explore possibilities for kids throughout the city. I know that being a recipient of a playground that combined a park like Director Dennis shared was not very good. I, you know, was negatively impacted, and therefore the children were not able to use that playground. And, you know, because of all the reconstruction that needed to be done. And like Director Dennis also shared, it's not it's an expensive process. And we could be using those those funds for other things. But but I'm glad that this item is coming forward and that we really are intentionally making kids sound more friendly and welcoming to our children and our families.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Councilman Mongo.
Speaker 0: Thank you. I spent a considerable amount of time in our city's parks. My daughter's favorite park rotates. Spent a lot of time. At least three of us have spent a lot of time in Stearns Park and sent a lot of time in Eldorado Park. Spent a lot of time. I can't think of the name of it A Butterfly Park, because butterflies are my daughter's favorite. But one of the other things that I do see and I get kids on them, they're really important. And I think that it's it's critical. I think that all park equipment that is put into our city, I've seen in other cities that they say the age appropriate there. So this park equipment is intended for children under the age of 12. This park equipment is intended for participants under the weight of £225. And I think that that helps because you talk about adults and adults want to help their kids try playground equipment. And I've had a broken slide for a considerable amount of time and we have some amenities adjacent to one another that are intended for older kids and then amenities that are intended for younger kids. And occasionally when the older kids that weigh more and might be in high school or they're with their younger siblings, then they're climbing up a slide and they put their foot through it. And that's a dangerous situation all of a sudden with broken plastic. So I think that weight and age is a great tool and I see parks that have been doing that a lot in the region. I've been to Parks in Colorado and other states, and age and weight I think are really critical on all park equipment.
Speaker 1: So thank you very much. Thank you, Councilman Hooper, now. Thank you. I'd like to thank Councilmember Allen for bringing this item forward. Director Dennis did not mention it, but Rotary Centennial Park in the fourth District has had challenges for years, and this ordinance would certainly help that. But beyond protecting our existing assets, I see some potential here where with this in place we can look at properties that would not have been considered in the past, and we could build top lights in areas that might have been challenged without this ordinance. So thank you again. Thank you. I'll add my comments here. As the dad of two kids under 12, I'm happy to support kids. I think it adds a level of comfort to parent, to know that, you know, there's there's kid activity and kids in the kids own and and it makes us feel good. And, you know, I would also say that, you know, I want to make sure that we have that if you establish kids own, let's make sure the equipment inside the kids own. We're proud to let our kids play on because we still have a lot of areas where our playgrounds are just not in great shape. And so, in general, happy to support this item on any public comment on this. Okay. No matter.
Speaker 0: Motion is carried.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Two more requests to move up items. Item number 19, please.
Recommendation to request City Attorney to draft an ordinance to enact “Kid Zones,” defined as safe spaces for children at local parks, playgrounds, beaches and other areas intended for use by children. “Kid Zones” would prohibit adults from entering or remaining within these designated areas without the accompaniment of a child under the age of 12.