FIFTH OPENING – The Sitka seine boats Hukilau and Rose Lee pump herring aboard this afternoon at the end of Deep Inlet during the fifth opening in the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery. The opening was being held in two locations beginning at 11 a.m. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson) 

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Daily Sitka Sentinel

Playground Promoters Report Fund Progress

By SHANNON HAUGLAND

Sentinel Staff Writer

A goal of raising $732,000 to build a new playground once seemed out of reach.

But organizers say they’re about halfway to their fund-raising goal, and need everyone to pitch in for the local match of $75,000.

So far more than $31,000 has been raised through donations and such efforts as a Thanksgiving pie sale and the Turkey Trot. A lasagne fundraising dinner has been scheduled for 5 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 29, at the Elks Lodge, and the Sitka Shrine Club is selling raffle tickets for the playground.

A letter went out last month to every mail customer in Sitka asking for donations to help build a playground accessible to all. The new playground would be built on the current site of the 1972 city playground at the end of Crescent Harbor Park, and expanded into one of the tennis courts, which would be converted into new play space.

Organizers said the donation request to all in Sitka is a chance for everyone to be involved.

“We saw (the letter) as everyone’s invitation to be part of the playground,” said David Nuetzel, Sitka program director for Southeast Alaska Independent Living. “We want everyone in town to do their little part on the playground. Whether it’s $5 or $500, everyone in town in one way or another will use the playground.”

Although Sitka already has playgrounds, none fits into the definition of “safe and inclusive” and none meets Americans with Disabilities Act standards, supporters say.

“Safe and inclusive – that’s the big important factor,” said Lynne Brandon, who was director of the city Parks and Recreation Department when the idea first came up. “We don’t have a playground that provides children with special needs play opportunities.”

The public playgrounds in Crescent Harbor Park and at Moller field, as well as the playgrounds at the schools, are not fully ADA compliant Brandon said, and the school playgrounds are not for public use during school hours.

“It’s harder to renovate a playground – you have to do the whole thing, you can’t do one piece of equipment or it will trigger ADA and other safety requirements,” Brandon said.

Nuetzel said ADA covers all public spaces. For playgrounds, 30 percent has to be accessible, and all playgrounds are far from meeting that goal. One of the city playgrounds has been locked closed because of unsafe conditions: the swings get close to a fence, she said.

Grants have been received from the Sitka Health Summit, SEARHC, Sitka Rotary Club, Douglas-Dornan Foundation Fund and the Crossett Fund. In all, 14 businesses and 47 individuals have contributed so far. 

But the $75,000 local match will be key to attracting funds from other large foundations.

“What that does is show community support to our larger donors,” Nuetzel said. “If the community doesn’t support it, no one else is going to give us money.”

“It leverages our bigger grants,” Brandon said.

Other organizations are pledging hours to help with construction, shipping, in-kind services and labor. The city has $40,000 set aside for playground improvements, which has been rolled over during the past few years. The U.S. Coast Guard and the Girl Scouts, who raised money for a shopping cart for children with special needs, also have been inspired to help.

The idea for the playground came from the late Sandra Gelber, a longtime pediatric physical therapist, who wanted a playground to use as a therapeutic tool for kids with physical limitations.

“That’s what Sandra was all about – getting kids moving,” Brandon said.

The effort has been ongoing for years, with landscape architects, consultants, playground planners and the city all involved. Several public meetings have been held to brainstorm the creation of an Alaskan-theme playground customized for Sitka’s 1,669 children under 13 and their families, as well as visiting families.

A description of the project said: “A universally inclusive playground will provide accessible surfacing with routes of travel to the play equipment, a way to get onto the play equipment, either by ramp or transfer point, plus access to elevated play structures from those locations. Engaging and imaginative interactive and skill appropriate ground level play activities of different types will also be available.”

But organizers are making an effort to make sure everyone feels included. To that end, the letters are asking them all to join in on helping raise the $339,000 for playground structures.

 

 

 

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20 YEARS AGO

March 2004

Matthew C. Hunter of Sitka recently returned from Cuba as part of a St. Olaf College International and Off-Campus Studies program. Hunter, a junior physics major at St. Olaf College, is the son of Robert and Kim Hunter of Sitka.


50 YEARS AGO

March 1974

Eighth graders have returned from a visit to Juneau to see the Legislature. They had worked for it since Christmas vacation ... Clarice Johnson’s idea of a “White Elephant” sales was chosen as the best money-maker; Joe Roth won the political cartoon assignment; highest government test scorers were Ken Armstrong, Joanna Hearn, Linda Montgomery, Lisa Henry, Calvin Taylor and David Licari .....

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