Playground equipment-Columbia may restrict access to park playgrounds
Playground equipment-Columbia may restrict access to park playgrounds
COLUMBIA, SC — The city of Columbia might try to keep anyone older than 12 away from children in selected city park playgrounds unless they are supervising the kids.
The penalty for those who would not leave after notification could be a fine of up to $500 or 30 days in jail.
It appears that such “minor child play zones” would be the first attempt in South Carolina at protecting children at city parks this way.
“We would not likely designate an area for this purpose unless we’re sure there’s a concern for child safety and that the neighborhood would agree,” Columbia parks director Jeff Caton said Thursday.
The entire park would not be off limits. A draft law would require fences and signs around a park’s playground area, announcing the ban. Police would be called only after a public education campaign and when violators do not leave after parks workers warn them, Caton said.
City Council discussed the idea this week and asked for some changes. The first of two required votes might be on council’s agenda for Tuesday.
The park likely to have a restricted playground first is Roy Lynch Park, which abuts Logan Elementary School in the Elmwood-Park neighborhood off Elmwood Avenue.
City workers routinely find beer bottles, beer cans, liquor bottles, condoms and illicit items at Roy Lynch, Caton said. Alcohol is banned from all city parks unless the city issues a permit for certain events.
Used hypodermic needles are not uncommon, said Chuck Archie, president of the Elmwood-Park Neighborhood Association. In addition, two weeks ago, neighbors called the city when two people were having sex in the park, Archie said.
Most of the problems occur after school hours, but offenders leave behind things that can be dangerous to Logan’s first- through fifth-graders who use the playground during recess, Archie and Caton said.
Sometimes recess is halted because adults that appear to be homeless are in the park or near the playground.
“My child has come home and said, ‘They had to cut recess because a man was sleeping there that did not have a home,’” Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine said of an incident that happened a few years ago. “I have not heard anything recently.”
Logan secretary Sheila Washington said there have been no confrontations with offenders during her 14 years at the school. She characterized problems as “vagrancy every now and then.” Usually, people leave when a school resource officer asks them, Washington said.
Archie said Elmwood-Park residents requested help because after-school offenses expose school children to danger. “I don’t know that there is another neighborhood or school that has this predicament,” he said of a city school that uses a city park for recess.
The school’s parent-teacher organization is trying to raise money to buy playground equipment to be placed on school property, Archie and Devine said.
That’s because Logan parents want newer equipment than what’s available at the park – not because of safety concerns, Devine said.
City Council wants the proposal refined, including a requirement that the city work with adjoining neighborhoods before a playground would become restricted. Council also killed a provision that would have banned anyone older than 12 from using playground equipment in those safety zones.
Parks director Caton said enforcement will be a challenge, especially how park workers will determine if anyone older than 12 is legitimately supervising a child.
“We’ll ask the child,” he said. “An adult will lie.”
Caton said he’s unaware of any hard evidence about the frequency of adults misusing parks, including to be near the children of others.
Reba Campbell, a deputy director of the South Carolina Municipal Association, said she checked with several veterans in the organization. None knew of any municipality in the Palmetto State with such a law.
COLUMBIA, SC — The city of Columbia might try to keep anyone older than 12 away from children in selected city park playgrounds unless they are supervising the kids.
The penalty for those who would not leave after notification could be a fine of up to $500 or 30 days in jail.
It appears that such “minor child play zones” would be the first attempt in South Carolina at protecting children at city parks this way.
“We would not likely designate an area for this purpose unless we’re sure there’s a concern for child safety and that the neighborhood would agree,” Columbia parks director Jeff Caton said Thursday.
The entire park would not be off limits. A draft law would require fences and signs around a park’s playground area, announcing the ban. Police would be called only after a public education campaign and when violators do not leave after parks workers warn them, Caton said.
City Council discussed the idea this week and asked for some changes. The first of two required votes might be on council’s agenda for Tuesday.
The park likely to have a restricted playground first is Roy Lynch Park, which abuts Logan Elementary School in the Elmwood-Park neighborhood off Elmwood Avenue.
City workers routinely find beer bottles, beer cans, liquor bottles, condoms and illicit items at Roy Lynch, Caton said. Alcohol is banned from all city parks unless the city issues a permit for certain events.
Used hypodermic needles are not uncommon, said Chuck Archie, president of the Elmwood-Park Neighborhood Association. In addition, two weeks ago, neighbors called the city when two people were having sex in the park, Archie said.
Most of the problems occur after school hours, but offenders leave behind things that can be dangerous to Logan’s first- through fifth-graders who use the playground during recess, Archie and Caton said.
Sometimes recess is halted because adults that appear to be homeless are in the park or near the playground.
“My child has come home and said, ‘They had to cut recess because a man was sleeping there that did not have a home,’” Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine said of an incident that happened a few years ago. “I have not heard anything recently.”
Logan secretary Sheila Washington said there have been no confrontations with offenders during her 14 years at the school. She characterized problems as “vagrancy every now and then.” Usually, people leave when a school resource officer asks them, Washington said.
Archie said Elmwood-Park residents requested help because after-school offenses expose school children to danger. “I don’t know that there is another neighborhood or school that has this predicament,” he said of a city school that uses a city park for recess.
The school’s parent-teacher organization is trying to raise money to buy playground equipment to be placed on school property, Archie and Devine said.
That’s because Logan parents want newer equipment than what’s available at the park – not because of safety concerns, Devine said.
City Council wants the proposal refined, including a requirement that the city work with adjoining neighborhoods before a playground would become restricted. Council also killed a provision that would have banned anyone older than 12 from using playground equipment in those safety zones.
Parks director Caton said enforcement will be a challenge, especially how park workers will determine if anyone older than 12 is legitimately supervising a child.
“We’ll ask the child,” he said. “An adult will lie.”
Caton said he’s unaware of any hard evidence about the frequency of adults misusing parks, including to be near the children of others.
Reba Campbell, a deputy director of the South Carolina Municipal Association, said she checked with several veterans in the organization. None knew of any municipality in the Palmetto State with such a law.
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