By Dana Williams
"I think the park looks beautiful, and it is very safe for our young ones," said Malverne resident Danielle Hanley-McCarren, a member of the Mothers of Malverne, or MOM, which spearheaded the effort to refurbish the toddler park earlier this year.
The small playground suffered from a variety of problems. The Jungle Gym was tagged with graffiti, and there were large sand divots under the swing sets, which led many residents to complain that the park was unsafe for children. Sand was also the park's "safety surface," and many parents believed that it did not do a good job of absorbing the impact when kids fell in the park, especially after a rain.
Members of MOM, which comprises mothers from a number of communities and supports a variety of civic initiatives, lobbied for the installation of new and safer equipment in Carbone Park in January. Hanley-McCarren pushed to replace the sand with a rubber bonding material, which, she said, would do a better job of shock absorption and make the park more accessible to the disabled.
Former Malverne Mayor Anthony Panzarella advanced the concerned mothers' initiative by estimating the cost of the restoration project at $60,000, and submitting that figure to Albany in his request for state aid. Malverne was awarded a $60,000 grant by Sen. Dean Skelos's office to fund the project. In July, village officials unveiled a highly anticipated architectural rendering of what the new park would look like.
The project was completed under the guidance of GameTime, a leading manufacturer of playground equipment. It is now a safer, more attractive and more handicapped-accessible playground for children ages 2 to 5, and features a new rainbow-colored Jungle Gym and a red swing set. Instead of bonded rubber, village officials decided on wood chips as the new surface, because the rubber would have prevented the eight trees in the park from getting water and nutrients, according to Jason Baldessari, a GameTime design consultant.
Members of MOM helped pay for one of the new benches in the park, and a new water fountain will be installed in the spring, Mayor Patricia Ann McDonald said.
Parents showed up with their children for the opening ceremony, and it seemed as if the sounds of the kids' laughter might be heard miles away. While children ran inside the new Jungle Gym with smiles on their faces, parents stood nearby, snapping pictures. The children were also entertained with free balloons as well as an appearance by Nickelodeon's Spongebob Squarepants.
"It's great to see this park upgraded with new playground equipment, and it's really a beautiful park," Malverne resident Alice Hongthong said. She came to the reopening with her 5-year-old daughter Ann, who said the park's new monkey bars were her favorite attraction to play on with her friends.
Many residents also said the park's rebirth shows what people can do when they work together. "It was a beautiful day, and it was just so nice to see all the people come out to help celebrate the ceremony," McDonald said. "The park is beautiful, and it was refurbished for the kids in our community ... and our village thanks Senator Skelos for giving us the funding to be able to make this all happen."
Comments about this story? DWilliams@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 282.
Photos courtesy Stephen Canzoneri
