New York City Launches “Schoolyards to Playgrounds” Initiative – What Is Your Community Doing with Locked-up Playgrounds? 

NYC Mayor Bloomberg has opened city schoolyards on the weekends, beginning a long-term initiative for every New Yorker to be within a 10-minute walk of a park or playground 

The KaBOOM! vision is to see a playground within walking distance of every child in America. With such a vision, we have been really pleased by what we see going on in New York City, and our hats off to Mayor Bloomberg and his administration. 

Earlier this week, as the launch of the Mayor's “Schoolyards to Playgrounds Initiative,” New York threw open the gates to 69 school playgrounds throughout the city for access during weekends and other non-school hours.  An estimated 100,000 children will now have extended access to these playgrounds from 8 a.m. to dusk, seven days a week.  The initiative is part of the PlaNYC agenda which, among other things, has a goal of having a park or playground available within a 10-minute walk of every New Yorker by the year 2030.  The plan includes a $111 million investment from the Bloomberg administration towards the improvement of schoolyards – in addition to the 69 that are fit and open for the extended hours now, planning and design has begun for the eventual installation and refurbishment of additional recreational facilities for the remaining 221 schoolyards across the city. 

New York is being very bold in its approach to the issue of unlocked playgrounds on public school grounds.  Living in the Washington, DC area, I am constantly amazed when I drive by schools on the weekends and see some really nice playgrounds behind tall chain-linked fences with gates bound with heavy lock and chain.  A recent study appearing in the May issue of the journal Preventive Medicine reported that one-third of schools with outdoor recreational facilities in its study closed off those facilities during non-school hours – and that this percentage was much, much higher in densely populated urban areas. 

Often with no other off-street outdoor places to play, opening up these facilities with their playgrounds and basketball courts and playing fields can be at least one step in the right direction of giving kids in heavily populated urban areas an alternative to strictly indoor activities and provide a venue for healthy outdoor exercise any time of day.  

We’d love to hear what other communities are doing.  Do the schools, churches, and other institutions in you communities have open playspaces that are available to neighborhood kids on weekends and after school?  If not, has anyone tried to persuade their local officials to open them up, and what has been the response?  Has anyone experienced a down side to this?   Share your experiences and insights by commenting below!