As a parent, I know how precious the time is we spend with ourchildren. Our schedules are full of other important things, like work, school and commuting, which draw attention away fromour families. But this city was founded by families, and the San Fernando Valley has blossomed because of families living in, working in and playing in our communities.One of the best parts of my job as your City Councilmember is doing things to strengthen the bond between our families by creating more public spaces for children to congregate and feel safe. I recently had the pleasure of opening a new playground in North Hollywood Park.
The park is already a community park. More than 15,000 people live within walking distance of North Hollywood Park. Of those, close to 1,600 are kids below the age of 12, all of whom will benefit from this new and improved playground. It will give these kids and so many more a high-quality place to spend the day.
The playground is made up of fun, new equipment with a nature-inspired theme. It replaces an older, much smaller and more dilapidated structure that was encased in sand and without shade.
The new equipment is surrounded by a state-of-the-art rubberized safety surface to increase accessibility for the disabled and protect kids who use the playground. I know that when kids play, they play hard. This new surface gives them a comfortable surface to explore and even take a tumble on.
When my office started the playground renovation with the Dept. of Recreation and Parks, I heard from families in the neighborhood that the area was too hot without some sort of shade. So, we added multiple shade canopies to keep the temperatures down and ensure the playground can be used comfortably during the hottest weeks of the year.
This is one more improvement to an ever-improving park. In addition to this playground, it houses a public pool, a skate park, a preschool, a rec center, a library, a popular pedestrian path, and basketball, baseball and soccer fields. In the coming months, my office will begin making a number of additional improvements to the park, including new lights on the south side and upgrades to the soccer fields.
North Hollywood Park is a wonderful resource for a dynamic and diverse community, a community that has become a destination for families to play outside the park as well. Just a few blocks away are countless restaurants and shops, live theaters and the Laemmle's NoHo 7, the Orange Line bus and Red Line rail stops, schools, NoHo Plaza, the Chandler bike path and my own district office - all of which add to this growing community's undeniable allure.
I urge you to take your kids to check out the new playground in the park, and after that, explore the community nearby. Whether it's your home or your daytrip, North Hollywood is a great place to play.