odi et amo

So our activity of the week was to pick a place in a neighborhood we care about and rethink the area.

El dorado park is huge.  There is a golf course with a restaurant, park offices, 6 baseball diamonds, several picnic areas, two playgrounds, a tennis center, two basketball courts and a skate park.  There are also two community centers, the senior center and the teen center, also known as the ram shack.  I live right across the street from El Dorado Park.  I spend almost everyday of the summer there as a camp counselor.  I  love this park but there are a few things I would fix to make it better.

I took a few pictures of the area I will be focusing on.

I drew a picture of the area.  The two spots I do not like are the skate park and the play area that just consists of a play car and a giant rock.

The skate park is probably the worst aspect of the park.  Rowdy teenagers and even older creeps tend to hang out around there.  There is always bad stuff going on such as fights.  Last summer there was a gun scare and the entire camp was on lock down and then just last week there were people setting fireworks off in the skate park.  I feel like it is unsafe for the children since all the play equipment is nearby.  I feel like it is in the best interest for everyone who wants to have a fun safe time at the park to replace the skate park with something else.  I think a public pool would be a fantastic idea (lets pretend we aren’t in a drought).  It’s family friendly and would be a nice place for people in the neighborhood to come and cool off at.

The play area with the big rock and fake car is also something I would replace.  I never see anyone playing on those objects.  The rock is pretty dangerous because it’s so tall.  I’ve seen many kids fall off and hurt themselves.  The car is so old that it has been around since I was 5 years old! It’s pretty much falling apart.

Recently I went to Harriett M. Weider Park in Huntington Beach and they had this~

This playground seems like a fun hang out as well as like a full obstacle course and just generally seems like a fun place for teens, even adults.  I think this addition would be great to add instead of the play area I described before because then there would be a playground for toddlers, kids and adults.  I think by these additions the park will create a much more fun atmosphere than it is now since there will be something for people of all ages.

The teen center is also something I would completely tear down and rebuild.  It is so old and everything is falling apart inside.  The bathroom stalls don’t have doors, the paint is peeling and the floor is warped.  Just the other day a tile fell straight out of the ceiling!  I think a brand new teen center would attract more people to come to day camp and other events that they hold there.