My kids are having a terrific time with the new park near us.
I wish we could have municipal elections every year!

Yes, the election campaig has started, yet the state of the existing parks is disgusting, and there are so many things which need to be taken care of. If I make a list, can someone pass on to the mayor?

Titchadshu! I've always wondered how they put in that rubbery stuff, thanks for giving us the play by play :)

While it seems mean-spirited to complain when the iriyah finally gets round to doing something in the area, we have several complaints:
- The area that they put the park equipment on was a great, flat, soccer pitch that was enjoyed by many neighbourhood kids, the equipment could have gone to the other side of the park.
- Sticking the same (ugly) huge equipment in every park lacks imagination and understanding of kids. Modiin has some lovely parks with creative, interesting toys for all different ages.
- The toys are not suitable for bored teenagers, who are wrecking them by playing on them at night - with a bit of effort, the iriyah could have designed something suitable for older kids - such as a skateboard area.
- Many kids are terrified by the high slides, which require all the kids pushing and shoving their way up a main stairwell. My daughter is too scared to go up, so we won't be going to most of the local parks any more.
- the nasty plastic will get very hot in the summer and will be unpleasant for the kids - interesting toys can be made from many materials, such as wood and recycled tyres etc.
So that's my grouchy response to the iriyah: Nice try, but so much more could have been done with a bit more effort and goodwill. I feel that we were fobbed off with cheap toys and now we can't complain.

Meanwhile, here in Jersey (Channel Islands) where we have an inordinately high percentage of multi-millionaire ex-patriates living cheek by jowl with some appallingly poor local residents, the States (our parliament)is having serious problems financing a play area similar to the one portrayed in Rafi G's article.

The area designated in downtown St Helier (our capital) is the site of a long disused gas works. The fact that it will be known as "Millennium Park" shows exactly how long its period of gestation has been. With G-d's help it might even be ready for the advent of the 22nd century!

Agreed! "One size fits all" is not the way to run a city. My heart goes out to the boys who liked to play soccer on that area in the Timna Park where that monstrosity was erected. Replace our mayor ASAP

I just noticed on Shabbos, when it was empty at 2 am, that they did not put any garbage cans in the park. it was filthy with candy wrappers, chips bags, posicle wrappers and other papers. The nearby small park bin that has been there for years and is way too small to handle all this traffic was overflowing. garbage was everywhere.

Our park (Dolev / Habesor) has been filthy for a while. I've been complaining regularly to the iriyah that the tiny garbage can is not sufficient for the type of population they're trying to attract (lots of little kids... what did you think I meant), but so far, nothing.