69 Playgrounds to Open City-Wide in Next Few Weeks

I’m off to attend my son’s kindergarten closing ceremony this AM (it bugs me when people refer to kindergarten children "graduating") so I thought this story from The New York Sun (via The Real Deal) was appropriate for the occasion.

…the city’s green plan to open up school playgrounds as public parks is quietly moving forward behind the scenes. Sixty-nine school playgrounds scattered throughout the five boroughs are expected to open within weeks, the Parks Commissioner, Adrian Benepe, said in an interview. The initiative would be the first phase of the city’s goal to have every New Yorker live within a 10-minute walk of a park by 2030.

About 81% of schoolyards are currently closed to the public after school hours, and the city has targeted 290 public school playgrounds and high school athletic fields currently open for only a few hours a day that the Parks Department, in partnership with the Department of Education, could open up for public use.

I have a 6 year old son and a 3 year old daughter who make great use of the public parks scattered throughout the Upper West Side.  The city’s goal to have every New Yorker within a 10 minute walk of a park is an admirable one and one that will only continue to improve the quality of life that we all have grown accustomed too raising our families in this great city!