Cliff Buchan
News EditorBuilt in 1990, Sharewood Forest Community Playground was a labor of love that drew hundreds of volunteers and thousands of dollars of donated supplies and equipment to complete the facility on school grounds.
Still beloved by many in the community, Sharewood Forest is now an abused and maligned playground that has been the repeated target of vandals who set fires, misuse the facility and spray paint profanities with little regard to the tradition of the playground.
And it has to stop, parents, school officials and police and fire personnel agreed this week.
Benjamin Clark, principal at Forest Lake Elementary, which flanks the playground with Forest View Elementary, said vandalism problems this year started anew in June and have continued through the summer and fall. The most serious recent incident came Sunday, Nov. 7 when vandals set on fire a bridge on the south side of the playground that links two sections of the facility.
For the past two weeks, some 800 plus students at the two schools have been kept off the playground as a safety precaution, Clark said. The fire-damaged area has been sealed off.
Greg Wood, supervisor of building and grounds, said Monday the preliminary estimate to repair the fire-damaged area is $4000. Repairs could be completed by the end of the week, he said.
ìAs soon as we fix something ó like signs ó theyíll last a day and theyíll be down,î a frustrated Wood said. The end result is the school is forced to spend valuable resources to fix something damaged for no good reason, he said.
Parents concerned
The damage has not gone unnoticed by the parent-teacher organization at Forest Lake Elementary. And parents are now sounding the alarm and asking for public help.
ìIím just a parent, but it really made me mad,î said Terica Carlson, the mother of two students at Forest Lake Elementary and a local resident since September. In a little under three months here, Carlson said she has been angered and saddened by the callous treatment of the playground.
ìThese are kids that probably played on the structure,î Carlson said last week. ìI donít get it. This is the same playground the community built to last for years.î
If the playground continues to be vandalized, she said there will come a day soon when it may have to be knocked down.
To help avoid that fate, Carlson has gone to the PTO volunteering her help. She will team with Miranda Olson, another school parent, to sponsor a silent auction to help raise funds to pay for additional security lights on the playground, and perhaps security cameras.
ìI know itís not going to be cheap,î she said. The two women will conduct a silent auction during the school carnival on Friday, Feb. 11 with the auction funds going to help the playground.
Officials frustrated
Police and fire officials in Forest Lake say they, too, are frustrated by the repeated incidents of vandalism.
Sgt. Ron Hanegraaf said Forest Lake police would like nothing better than to nab the vandals and arsonists who are doing damage.
He said the department has assigned officers on occasional surveillance details to watch the playground but the patrols have been fruitless because of the hit and miss nature of the acts of vandalism.
With ballfields to the west, there is a ready escape avenue for anyone wishing to flee in the darkness, the officer said.
ìWhat we are probably getting is young people who move through and likely live in the area,î Hanegraaf offered. ìHow we resolve the issue is another story.î
Hanegraaf said more security lights would help and parents need to be aware of the cityís curfew to keep younger kids at home at night. Citizens living in the area can become the eyes of the police by keeping an eye on the playground and reporting any suspicious behavior to 651-439-9381, he said.
Additional lights are an ìoption,î according to ISD 831ís Wood, but the lights could be another $6000 cost item.
Fire Chief Gary Sigfrinius, one of the hundreds of volunteers who worked on the playground in 1990, said he, too, is saddened by the continued acts of vandalism.
As fire chief, Sigfrinius knows the fires that have started at Sharewood are not careless acts by a youth smoking.
ìYou donít just drop a match and start it on fire,î Sigfrinius said. The Nov. 7 fire and others before it have been acts of arson, the chief said.
Carlson said parents will continue to be vigilant and seek ways to protect Sharewood Forest.
As an employee of the Greater Minneapolis Housing Corporation of the Twin Cities, she said her job takes her into some so called rough neighborhoods. But even in such areas, parks donít get the treatment Sharewood Forest has seen, she said.
ìSomebody needs to do something about it,î Carlson said. ìI canít see this happening at an elementary school. I donít want to live in an area where there are gangs.î
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