Frequently asked questions
How do you anticipate keeping the homeless people outside of the playground?
Homeless, like any other people, can legally occupy public spaces; however, law specifically protects children playgrounds. California Penal Code (CPC) 653G prohibits adults trespassing into a playground unless accompanied by children, and Park Code Sections 4.10 & 3.02 prohibits alcohol and smoking in playgrounds. The fence is designed to be low (around three feet high), as customary in this type of children playgrounds, because it is not designed to keep homeless out (there is an open door anyway) but to define the limits of the playground as protected by law.
Could we have grass in lieu of rubberized flooring around the play structures?
Unfortunately no. Playground safety regulations require that “fall zones” (6 feet around any point of a play structure) have appropriate shock-absorbing flooring such as rubberized surfacing, bark, or sand. Grass does not qualify as a safe surface in the event of a fall because its thickness varies with the seasons and its maintenance conditions.
What about safety and air quality? Is this not a high traffic area?
The playground will be enclosed by a low fence to prevent children from running out into the street. The only entrance to the playground leads to a pedestrian walkway in the center area of Sue Bierman Partk.
The air quality in the proposed playground is no worse than strolling/biking around San Francisco with your child. The playground itself will blend into the surrounding grass areas of the Park and be buffered with a three-foot wide row of shrubs along the fence area.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us
Homeless, like any other people, can legally occupy public spaces; however, law specifically protects children playgrounds. California Penal Code (CPC) 653G prohibits adults trespassing into a playground unless accompanied by children, and Park Code Sections 4.10 & 3.02 prohibits alcohol and smoking in playgrounds. The fence is designed to be low (around three feet high), as customary in this type of children playgrounds, because it is not designed to keep homeless out (there is an open door anyway) but to define the limits of the playground as protected by law.
Could we have grass in lieu of rubberized flooring around the play structures?
Unfortunately no. Playground safety regulations require that “fall zones” (6 feet around any point of a play structure) have appropriate shock-absorbing flooring such as rubberized surfacing, bark, or sand. Grass does not qualify as a safe surface in the event of a fall because its thickness varies with the seasons and its maintenance conditions.
What about safety and air quality? Is this not a high traffic area?
The playground will be enclosed by a low fence to prevent children from running out into the street. The only entrance to the playground leads to a pedestrian walkway in the center area of Sue Bierman Partk.
The air quality in the proposed playground is no worse than strolling/biking around San Francisco with your child. The playground itself will blend into the surrounding grass areas of the Park and be buffered with a three-foot wide row of shrubs along the fence area.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us
