Still Waiting for a New Playground at Greenacres

The Neighborhood Association solicited their own bids for a replacement of the playground equipment at Greenacres.Though the renovation of the Greenacres Elementary School has attracted many young families to Scarsdale, they don’t have an adequate playground for their young children. The current playground outside the school has not been renovated since 1994 and the baby swings broke five years ago and were never replaced. Moms and caregivers make do with a few worn benches, a dirty sandbox and old and rusted equipment.

Each year funds are allocated by the Village to fix the park, but the seasons go by and nothing changes. In the 2022-23 the Village allocated $40,000 to install a new playground. But when the bids came in the costs were much higher and the project was abandoned. In 2023-24 those funds disappeared all together and we were told the monies were being allocated to building pickleball courts. Then the pickleball project was tabled due to opposition from neighbors and here we are in 2024 still awaiting a playground for Greenacres.

At a budget work session of the Village Board on February 6, 2024 representatives from the Greenacres Neighborhood Association came by to plead for new equipment. They were told that $115,000 has been allocated for the replacement in the 2024-25 budget, as compared to $200,000 for the renovation of Willow Park and another $200,000 for Aspen Playground. Why the shortfall for Greenacres? Rec Superintendent Brian Gray says the footprint of the Village owned portion of the playground is small and not suitable for a larger installation.

Gray had previously presented the neighborhood association with some plans based on a $70,000 budget but Greenacres Neighborhood Association President Kristen Zakierski said, “there is simply not enough apparatus to accommodate the number of children that use this playground both during and outside of school hours.”

There have been no baby swings at Greenacres for years.

She reached out to representatives of a few playground companies and got proposals from them. After reviewing their plans she asked the Village for an increase in the budget and asked them to either remove the sandbox or maintain it. See her letter here.

At the end of the hearing, the trustees agreed to speak to the school district about the remaining portion of the park to see how they could work together to design a park with equipment for children 0-5 and 5-12 years of age who play on it during school hours.

More to come.