Local moms team up to create a place for all kids to play

It’s a grassroots effort to make sure all kids have a place to play in Santa Cruz County. Local moms are teaming up with the County Parks Department to build a universally accessible playground at Chanticleer Park.

It’s a playground that 4-year-old Oliver Potts will be able to play at with his sisters. Up until now, he’s been forced off to the side.

“He was stuck on the side,” his mom, Tricia Potts said. “He was having a hard time playing.”

Drawing inspiration from Tatum’s Garden in Salinas, his mom, Tricia, decided something had to be done. That’s when she and her husband decided to create the Santa Cruz Playground Project.

“I decided I could be stuck on the side with my child and be sad and be frustrated or I can do something,” Potts said.

She’s teamed up with Mariah Roberts, the director of the volunteer-run Chanticleer Park.

“We have regular work days in the park where people come out,” Roberts explained, “take their shovels, they’ll clean out weeds, maintain the dog area. We built a beautiful pump track. This was all done because the community wants it.”

Now members of the community hope to build this universally accessible park for any child, regardless of abilities. While the specific layout hasn’t been designed, it’ll have several key features seen at other parks.

“Rubberized surfacing throughout playgrounds so a child in a wheelchair or walker can walk without fear of falling on an uneven play structure,” Potts said. “You’ll also see ramps on the major play structures so children can get right up in the middle of the action and play with their friends.”

Building the playground will help build relationships.

“Parks are something that seem on the surface a very simple thing,” Roberts said. “Yet they offer so much to the community. They places for meeting, and gathering and they offer community and in this case, it’ll offer something we’ve never seen before in our county.”

And the county, which is on board with the project, has taken notice.

“This will be the first of its kind in Santa Cruz County and we’re very excited about that,” said Jeff Gaffney, director of Santa Cruz County Parks. “It was an unmet need and it was a grassroots effort from a parent who saw the need and got together with community members and they came forward and worked with the county. The county probably couldn’t get this done as quickly on its own.”

“I’d like to say this was done by a couple moms with a lot of determination to pull off,” Roberts said.

They are teaming up with “Shane’s Inspiration” for guidance. The Los Angeles based organization will help design the playground for free and guide the group with ways to raise money to pay for the project. The group is holding a workshop next month, and they want to know what neighbors want out of this playground.