[Danielle Balocca]: Hey listeners, this is Danielle. And Shelley. Shelley is a radical Dravidian and racial equity activist.
[Chelli Keshavan]: And Danielle is a community mobilizer and changemaker. And this is the Medford Bites podcast. Every two weeks, we chew on the issues facing Medford and deliver bites of information about the city by lifting the expertise of our guests.
[Danielle Balocca]: Join us in discussion about what you hope for the future of Medford. And as always, tell us where you like to eat. All right, thanks for joining me today. If you could just start by introducing yourself with your name, pronouns, and a bit about who you are.
[Chenine Peloquin]: Sure. My name is Shanine Pellequin. My pronouns are she, hers. And I am a West Coast transplant who's been in Medford for about 14 years now. And it's kind of bizarre to have landed in this place that I ended up calling home so far away.
[Danielle Balocca]: My wife might say the same thing, also a West Coast transplant. Thank you. So I'll ask you just kind of the first question that we ask everybody, which is what is your favorite place to eat in Medford and what do you like to eat there?
[Chenine Peloquin]: I've just been thinking about this. It's tricky. We have a lot of allergies in my family, so we actually don't get to eat out very often. When I go, I like the egg and avocado and rosemary salt at Goldilocks. But I also want, I just want to give a shout out to Mateo and Francesca at Real Gusto because they don't use a lot of garlic. That's one of our allergies. in their dishes and so they actually let me come in and like talk to them during a slow time and went through the entire menu and figured out what my kid can eat and we got to go out to dinner for the first time. Like this nice dinner and not have to worry about him and he just thought he was the coolest thing ever so that's been a really nice place to have for like nice dinners for my family as well. Thank you, that's a great story.
[Danielle Balocca]: Okay, so I think we're mainly hoping to talk about your work with playgrounds and parks. We'll talk a little bit about Medford-specific stuff, but I wonder if you could talk a little bit about how you got into this type of work.
[Chenine Peloquin]: Sure. I honestly think it all started when I had to go to my brother's Little League games because I just hated watching Little League. Of course, my older son is now in Medford Youth Baseball. I knew all of the parks and playgrounds in my hometown, and I knew which ones were great and which ones weren't, and I think I've been a playground snob since. But I've been sticking my nose in parks and playgrounds here since like 2012 or so, and I've been serving Medford family since 2005. I was the director of recreation at an organization that's now called Communitas, but was then EMARC for about 10 years. We served about 500 people a year in community based recreation programs. And I had to start presenting to the Medford city council as like this shaking, nervous 23 year old to defend our CDBG funding each year. So I started paying attention to what was happening there and got into the family network. And so we chose to buy our home, our home here. Um, but I'm a recreation therapist by training. So I've been, my whole work, all of my work has been about. creating opportunities for people primarily with disabilities, but who are excluded from recreation for a variety of reasons and making sure that they get those benefits too. Um, and then I got my master's in child development at Tufts, Elliot Pearson. And I started thinking about the spaces we create for children's play. And that whole program is about like children in their contexts and making sure that you're supporting them there. And, The reality is like fixed equipment playgrounds aren't like maybe the ideal space for children to play and have creativity since everything is nailed down. But that's where we find children is the space where we have said, you're still allowed to play in ways that are beneficial to you here. So I think we need to do a better job at designing those. So I got my certified playground inspector playground safety inspector certification and sort of learning about the rules for that so that we can get better design. And then I consider myself a play worker, which is a distinct profession that comes out of the adventure playground movement in the UK. And it's really about advocating for children's self-directed play.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah. I mean, hopefully a fun job.
[Chenine Peloquin]: You know, there are moments when it's not so fun, but for the most part, it's really nice to be able to, whether I'm calling a family and saying like, hey, this is what's possible for your kid and showing them that or, or getting to see, like, we're going to talk about McGlynn, getting to see the ideas that we have that we had for such a long time actually be constructed. And like, there's concrete in the ground right now that we dreamed up. Right. So that's pretty fun.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah I know like you said I'm hoping to hear a little bit about your involvement with the McGlynn and kind of what you're excited about what the process was like because I know that playground is right near like where a lot of kids play soccer and I used to call it like park purgatory getting stuck at that park because my kids loved it it's like huge and there's lots of different things but I was always like you know, there's a puddle here, there's a hole in the turf here. So yeah, so like, tell us a little bit about your work with that.
[Chenine Peloquin]: So in 2019, kind of across all four schools, a group of the different PTOs got together and decided all these playgrounds really need to be resurfaced. Playgrounds themselves last for like 20 to 25 years, like the structures if they're cared for well, but the actual surfacing is only going to last like 15, 10 to 15. So you're going to have to resurface at some point. Um, but the McGlynn is very different than the other sites. And I think that's one of the things I want people to understand is how different that site is. Um, because as you said, it's used during the weekends for soccer and little league, and it's kind of a destination regional park. Its first purpose is a school playground. And we made sure that the design reflected that and we really prioritize the school. Um, but it is a community park as well. Uh, but the, the PTO with the McGlynn at the time led by Bailey Shendell really were very forward thinking and they were like, we need to do this differently because our structure is crumbling already. There are broken pieces, there's rust, and it doesn't make any sense to put, it's like 25,000 square feet of rubber surfacing. Way excessive, it wasn't needed. That rubber surfacing is only meant to be like kind of in a six foot radius around any surface and that thing was just a sea of it. And holes. And holes, we'll get to that. And they said, we shouldn't be putting a $350,000 bandit in something that we're going to have to rip up in a couple of years. So they asked the Community Preservation Commission if they could use their funding as a design study instead of to resurface it. So the other three scrolls were resurfaced around 2019-ish, maybe 2020. I'm not sure exactly when that all happened. But those conversations were happening fall 2019. And then at the same time, Kevin Bailey brought me into a conversation because there was a middle schooler at the, I think at the McGlynn, who had a sibling. with a disability, and she wanted her CCSR project to be developing an inclusive playground in Medford because she wanted a space where her sister could go and wouldn't get tired just climbing up the ladder. And so I brought those two efforts together. That student ended up moving, but I really wish I could track her down and show her what her idea has sparked. And I mean, none of us knew, I think, then what this effort would turn out to be. We had our first let's kind of talk about this meeting with district officials and Jenny Graham came and some of the teachers in CCSR and Dr. Cushing was there and we just started kind of thinking about what it might take. And I remember one of the things that I said then was that the way that playgrounds have historically been designed is kind of like You know, when you go get an insurance policy, you can go to an agent or you can go to a broker, and it's a very different experience. So if you go to an agent, they're going to sell you the thing that they rep, the thing that they get paid the most for, etc. But if you go to a broker, they're going to really work through all the different companies and find the best fit for you. And I said, so we need to do that. We need to start taking that approach to playground design. We had a very encouraging meeting, and then we were starting to talk about funding with the planning department, and that was February 2020. Something big happened. Yeah. So clearly the district had other priorities for a couple of years. And then we started picking it back up in December of 2021, I think, we started interviewing landscape architecture firms. and then put together a community committee that we felt was pretty representative of what the needs of that school committee or school community needed. And we did get feedback that we should have had more people with disabilities themselves on there. And so I just want to acknowledge that we had therapists and parents and blah, blah, blah. We didn't have a person with a disability on the committee. But we also made sure we did talk to all the students who had disabilities, as much as we could communicate with them about what their preferences were and watching their play, etc. So there was input, but just something I think we should do better in the future. but I have also talked to a lot of people with disabilities and various disabilities about how they like to experience playgrounds and stuff. So there is that feedback there, but just kind of owning that. Um, but then spring 2022, we started meeting with that group and the landscape architects and, and I had the privilege. I think the thing that I'm most proud of with this project is for the first time, to the best of my knowledge, we asked the kids first what they wanted. A lot of the time, communities will say, well, here's the park design because this is what we want. And we're going to give the community some choices, but it's like, do you want the red slide that's twisty? Or do you want the blue straight slide? What kind of benches do you like better? And those aren't meaningful choices. So I think like car park right now and, um, and the McGlynn have done a remarkable job at asking the community first, what they need, how do you want to play? How do you use this space? What are the things that we need to know? about this space in particular in your community that will help us with that design. So I got to spend 15 hours before we even had any committee meetings observing recess and talking to staff at the school and talking to students and really hearing what wasn't working, what they liked about this playground, what they needed, how we were going to get them through an interim period. We were able to do some things right off the bat, like get them some signs that says, like, the playground is closed during school hours. Please don't come play on our playground while we're in the middle of recess. And fixing some access issues to even get the kids with disabilities onto the playground. Yeah, I think that that's what I'm most proud of, is the feedback that we started with.
[Danielle Balocca]: Thank you. And what are you excited? Are there any kind of elements about the playground that you want to share or like timeline what people can expect?
[Chenine Peloquin]: Um, well, I'll tackle the elements. So one of the things that we heard really loud and clear from the kids was that they don't like the wavy slides, not the twisty slides that go all the way around. but the kind of like barely curvy ones. Because by the time, I mean, I've been about the same height since I was in fifth or sixth grade, right? And so by the time these kids are in like fourth-ish grade, their legs don't fit down those slides anymore, and they can't go fast. And they really like to race. They also really like to play this game called Watermelon, where they stick one kid at the bottom of the slide, and then they see how many kids it takes coming down the slide to knock the last kid off. That's a new one to me. And those require straight slides. they said, well, you don't want any of those wavy slides. And when I was talking to the manufacturer, he said, oh, yeah, 100%. Those are designed to slow kids down. I'm really impressed that they noticed that. Of course they noticed that. One of the kids said that there was that tree in the middle. I don't know if you remember. So it had a big white concrete wall that was probably about a foot to 18 inches tall and just one singular tree. There was no shade. We heard that over and over again, that everybody's first priority was making sure that there was shade. Um, that's been fixed. There will be so many trees on this playground and they're prioritizing native plantings. And our tree warden is very excited about the additional trees in this space. Um, but that one tree that was in the middle, the kids said, um, that tree is beloved. And if you touch that tree, we will cry for the rest of our lives. So that has been the centerpiece of this playground. And so we were trying to figure out how do we make that accessible? So I don't, not everybody might know this, but the McGlynn has the program, the special education program for the kids who are, have intellectual and physical disabilities. And they also have a lot of kids who have visual impairments. So we actually were able to consult with Perkins school for the blind on some design considerations. And, um, and we talked a lot with the special education staff and spent a lot of time with those classes on the playground, watching how the kids play and what they might need. Um, But the question was, how do we make this tree accessible to everyone? How do we protect the tree during construction and make it a space that is more usable? So we had designed a deck to go around the tree so that kids could roll or walk up to it and spend time around it. And it turns out that if we had drilled the holes down around the roots that it might've hurt the tree, so we had to move the deck off, but you'll still be able to get on a, 88 compliant pathway around the tree and up close to it and then the whole area is going to be kind of this quiet shady tree deck. And there's a double straight slide and the kids wanted to swing and it was really interesting the teachers about half We're like, yes, swings, kids need to move. Please, please put that on there. And other teachers had some pretty significant concerns about that, about the turn taking. And if you have 100 and something kids on the playground and four swings, kids are just going to be waiting in line the whole time. They were worried about kids being struck by a swing. So we actually designed around those concerns. So there's a big there's going to be a big berm. in the way of the swings that's actually bright yellow so the kids with visual impairments can detect it. And it's a very clear visual and tactile reminder of like, hey, there's something else happening here. And all of the swing zones have a different color surfacing underneath. So if you walk into a particular color surfacing, you're like, oh, there's something moving here. And it's set at the back of the playground. And we prioritized multi-user swings. so that you can get like, there's this one called the Viking swing and it's just my favorite thing. It's a big kind of, I don't know, it's about a six inch diameter rope that's, I don't know, maybe eight or 10 feet long and you can stand on it and swing back and forth. So a bunch of kids can play together as opposed to waiting turns all the time. there's going to be a basketball hoop. And the big kids were so thoughtful. They were like, we really want a basketball hoop, but also we need to make sure there's a shorter hoop so that the little kids can play. Aw. Right? And they said, and we want tall monkey bars, but we also want little monkey bars. And the teachers were concerned about kids getting onto monkey bars that were too high for them to handle, which is one of my concerns, too. It's one of, like, kids really need that overhead hanging experience. But kids get out of their element pretty quickly. So we were able to design, I'm hoping that this is gonna work, but there's an ADA height set of monkey bars. So it's inclusive and also better for like the kindergartners and first graders. And then the taller set of monkey bars is set so that you really shouldn't be able to get on it until you are physically capable of reaching it and handling that height.
[Danielle Balocca]: Exciting. Yeah. Anything else about the McGlynn that you want to share?
[Chenine Peloquin]: I think right now what you'll see is fencing going in and there's a big pavilion area at one end. It'll have a couple of picnic tables under it, but eventually they'll be able to have preschool graduation and guest speakers there. There's a turf field, people might wonder why we're putting in turf, because there's lots of concerns about heat islands and stuff, and we're aware of that. The reality is, is that grass will not hold up on an elementary playground. In this school, there's like 140 to 160 kids out there at any given time, and grass just doesn't stand a chance. So if we put grass there, it was gonna be like closing the playground every however often. to reseed and you know, that just wasn't going to work. And we made sure it's sand infill. So it's not that black rubber stuff that people end up bringing home in their shoes. Um, but if you look at that space, you can see the, the giant seating kind of, they look like steps, but they're not, they're not steps. Um, they're seating that goes up to this raised area under a, under a shade structure. And, um, you can see the deck around the tree and then the turf is actually going in next week. Wow. The librarian at the McGlynn has actually been working on this whole unit. She has a big display of all the construction documents. So she and I have been working closely to keep the kids updated on what's happening and what the process is and what the documents look like. And it's been really neat.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah. It sounds like the school is really excited about it and some other ways for kids to be involved and informed. Great. Well, I am really interested in hearing any other playground wisdom that you can share with us.
[Chenine Peloquin]: I think what a lot of people don't know is that Playground, I'm not sure I, I understand the reasoning, but I don't necessarily agree from a child development perspective, but Playgrounds are designed for like six month to 23 month olds, and then two year olds to five year olds, and five to 12 year olds. So there's a little bit of overlap in the five range. but we usually don't do a very good job with the two to five. structure design. I think we've got a couple of structures in town that are better. Like Duggar has a good two to five structure and the current car one is a really nice big challenging two to five structure. But a lot of the time it's just kind of two steps up to a tiny little slide and then we wonder why the three-year-olds are on the big equipment that's actually often too big for them. So there should be signage on each thing and we're working, the planning department and I are working to make sure all those signs are there right now and check and see what the equipment is designed for because there's different considerations like center of gravity of how high the fences are on stuff and just playgrounds are not designed to be safe I think is the bigger piece. They're designed to remove hazards like things that kids might not be aware of, or parents, like getting your head stuck in a space, right? They're designed so that there's not any spaces that a kid's body could get through that their head couldn't also fit through. Or to make sure that there's not any places where like your kid's drawstring on their sweatshirt would get stuck at the top of a slide. That's really dangerous. Don't let your kids play with helmets on a playground. Yeah. I know you'd think like, oh, that would be safer, but actually because the holes are designed to let a kid's head through, but they're not. actually designed to put a kid's helmet through. And so you can end up with like, it's kind of grisly, but yeah, it's a problem.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah. Well, yeah. And I think you're bringing up something that I always made about playgrounds, which is like, oh, these were designed to be safe. Like they're like, oh, like, you know, these giant metal structures, like, like, you know, somebody thought about how safe these were for kids. Yeah. But yeah. I wonder if there's any kind of like other things that you could share that people might not think about playgrounds.
[Chenine Peloquin]: The surfacing is not meant to prevent your kid from breaking their arm. It's not a rubber bouncy surface. It is literally only meant to keep a kid from a critical head injury and death. That's it. So I think that we've actually seen an increase in long bone injuries since we started doing this rubber surfacing stuff. Because there's speculation, there's wondering in this field about if kids are taking more risks or parents are not watching as much. because they think that their kid's not gonna get hurt because it's a soft surface. But it's really just meant to accept the impact of a kid's head falling on it and help them not die. Yeah, so that's an interesting thing. And then there's the loose surface thing, which everybody complains about, but it's actually, for me, it's not accessible, but it's also the only loose part that kids can be creative with. Like wood chips and sand. Yeah, so we're working, there's some... edit this piece. There are new guidelines in Massachusetts. I think last summer, the Access Board decided that wood chips are not going to be allowed anymore for new playgrounds. So anytime a playground is renovated, then they'll need to bring it up and have a solid surface. Which is more expensive up front, but then it's really actually quite expensive to maintain the wood chips over time because they're supposed to be filled and raked and wetted and all these things. And parks departments, I mean, not just ours, you know, we have similar sized cities have like 25 park staff and our guys have like seven on a good day and they're doing a tremendous job with the resources they have. Um, but it's just not possible. I think one of the things when I started taking my kids to the park was realizing how many parents are really concerned about letting their kids go up or letting any kids go up the slide. And I just want to say there's all sorts of developmental benefits to going up the slide. Um, there's trunk support or trunk control and set. There's trunk control and sensory stuff. And, um, And the concern, the adult concern tends to be like, well, they're going to get hit by a smaller kid or you're going to, you know, my kid needs a turn. And like, it's an opportunity to teach turn taking. Like, um, the skills that we need to teach in the playground are about turn taking, not necessarily sharing because sharing is like an attitude of altruism that we develop over time. But a three-year-old is not capable of. Um, if I asked you to share my hat right now or your hat, you'd probably be like, Why aren't you giving me your water bottle? Can I shame you into giving me your water bottle right now? Because you should share. And I think it's an opportunity to help kids learn how to take turns but also have big kids learn how to watch out for little ones. Oh I noticed that you want to go up the slide like let's wait till this person comes down and then you can go up. But that's one of the things that we did at McGlynn was made sure we got a fast straight slide but it's a double slide so the kids can race like they asked for but also the teachers can if they're nervous about letting kids go up a slide, there can be an upside and a downside, right? So it meets the need of the kid, but in a way that adults are more comfortable with.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, it sounds like a little bit like playgrounds are kind of a... learning space for etiquette. Yeah, absolutely. And like learning kind of like how you take up space and how, you know, being aware of other people around you and all that stuff.
[Chenine Peloquin]: It's one of the few spaces we have left where kids can play in multi-age groups, right? In all their sports they're in within like a two-year group. They're in their grade groups. They're very rarely in multi-age groups. That transmission of childhood culture is less than it used to be. Kids' independence, their ability to go out in the community is lower. So how do we make the spaces where they can be as good and comprehensively good for child development as we can? Great.
[Danielle Balocca]: Well, thank you. Is there anything else that you want to make sure we talk about today?
[Chenine Peloquin]: I think one of the things is when we think about what makes a community worth living in, our parks come up a lot. And I think that the city has been working really hard to make parks that are good for Medford, that aren't just like kind of cookie cutter spaces, but really reflect our identity and what our community needs. And it feels good to be a part of that process. But we need help taking care of them. There's been a ton of damage at Carr Park. I'm helping out with that design team as well. It puts like, we need to normalize not going into the construction site. I don't know if you got the text the other day about like car park is closed and it really needed to be like half of car park is closed. Like, please don't go into the fences. Uh, it puts people at risk as well as the workers who come up later and whether it's intentional or not, it can damage the work that's been done. There's like surfaces that aren't cured yet, or maybe there's a surface that isn't quite stable and now the workers have to come back in and it diverts resources that we could be using to do all the other things we would like the city to do when they have to come back and clean up glass again in a park. Um, yeah, we, I really want to help develop a sense of ownership, um, among young people who are using parks for Friday night activities. You know, how can we help, um, create spaces where our young people feel like they have had a say, where they have ownership, where they know that they are welcome to spend time, but then they also will take care of it. That's been really fun at CAR, talking to the teenagers and getting their feedback on what kind of spaces they want. But I guess just help us take care of these spaces because it's a lot of resources and it's a ton of time to get a new park, my goodness.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, I mean, the project at Carr is like, it's overwhelming to see like how much it's gonna change. And overwhelming in a good, exciting way. And yeah, I think it does seem like something that is important to acknowledge, like how many resources are going in there and how sort of like grateful we should feel about it, right, yeah.
[Chenine Peloquin]: Yeah, the partnership between all the departments with McGlynn we've had, that site was so, different. It used to be the river. Those white walls that were there, they were created to reflect the river. And if you looked down at the previous port in place, it was like a map of the previous run of the river. So we're going to have a sign that reflects that history in the outdoor classroom at McGlynn. But there was all this flooding all the time, and that made the surface fail earlier. And so we had to address the drainage, and we had to figure out what's under the soil and make sure it's going to hold up the structures and and so that took coordination with engineering and DPW and you know we would find remnants of past projects and making them safe and making sure that we have all of these things together and the planning department and their creativity and figuring out how to get this stuff funded and make the best use of the city's resources it's been And then the school district as well, between buildings and grounds and the administrative office. Dr. Cushing has been my co-chair through this process and there's so many little things, there's funny things that come up in each project.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, the inner workings of a municipal government must be interesting.
[Chenine Peloquin]: I think one of the things I kind of alluded to this week, we had to have a professional come in and take tests to make sure the soil would hold up the amphitheater because it used to be a riverbed, right? And then, I mean, just Monday, there's a grate for drainage that used to be in the grass But in this new design, it's on a sidewalk. And so it needs to be accessible, but the grate wasn't included as something that needed to be new. So now all of a sudden we need to find a new grate or figure out what we're going to do to make sure that it's accessible both by law, but also it's an inclusive playground. It's pretty important that everything be at least compliant, if not above and beyond. Um, so we had to pivot and get an accessible one and they were pouring the cement that day. So, you know, and then, um, yeah. Things like making sure the plumbing that's coming out of the school is matching up with the plumbing that goes to the water fountain.
[Danielle Balocca]: It's just... An important one not to mess up. It's an important one not to mess up.
[Chenine Peloquin]: But, you know, we were talking as a team and... the architect was saying like the difference between what was here before to now is really incredible that it's not just a couple of things on a big flat surface that there's there's changes in the topography and there are spaces and all sorts of different types of play to explore there'll be gaga ball and uh um and the play structure that kids with wheelchairs can get all the way up to the top level and there's transfer platforms so they can slide down and separate preschool area. One of the lead builders loves the natural pieces and he's been having fun like picking out the boulders that they took from Carr Park. They took boulders from Carr Park and repurposed them at McGlynn for play. One of the other workers was saying the challenge of making it all fit in this space, like taking this design and actually seeing it become the real materials. And that's been really fun for all of us.
[Danielle Balocca]: Very cool. Yeah. And maybe it won't feel like purgatory. It'll be so, so much shadier. Oh yes. Yeah. I did think about that, that it is always very hot. It was always very hot, that playground.
[Chenine Peloquin]: Yeah. So I'm hoping that when they have those, you know, hundred something kids out there at a time that it is It's shadier, there's more engagement, we've separated out the big wide ball game kind of area from the main area. Kids can move in different ways and it's just going to be a wonderful thing and it should be open. by the beginning of September is the plan. So we're aiming, we are aiming as hard as we can for the beginning of school, but it will be around that area. That's the goal. I think because the McGlynn has such a high needs student population that It was a really good place to start as we realized that our buildings, that our new school buildings are not as new as they were. Playgrounds are supposed to last 20 to 25 years. And this one right now would be at 25 years, right? If we had kept this playground, it was the first of the schools to be built. And it had these unique site concerns, the flooding, et cetera. And it's really hot and higher use. So I think there's been some concerns about the funding and the equity of the funding over the process of figuring out how we're going to pay for this project. But I think that in terms of building equity, the McGlynn is a really great place to start doing that. And I fully anticipate that when each of the other schools' playgrounds reach the end of their useful life, which will happen in the next five to 10 years, then we will have that kind of robust community input process and really think about what the unique needs of each school community are. What are the additional course or the classes that they have? Like the McGlynn also has the English language learners program. Like if you are not a kindergartner and you speak a different language, you go to the McGlynn for your English as a second or English language learner program. Um, and then they have the special education program for kids with visual impairments and who use wheelchairs and you know, the each school's needs are going to be different. Um, and the sites are different. So, I think that this is the beginning of doing park design in a different way. And I really am looking forward to seeing what each of the other school communities creates. And then I just wanted to say how impressed I am by the planning department and the mayor's office and how creative they've been about how to get this funded in a way that makes the best use out of each of the different funding sources. Like there was some ARPA money and there's community preservation act money and community development block grants because it's a low moderate income neighborhood. So we were able to use that funding. And then there's an earmark from state DCR that representative Barber helped us to get. Um, and then, you know, as we get different funding sources, we're able to release funding in other areas that would be better served for other purposes. So I think that the planning department really has been brilliant in, in figuring out how to fund all of this.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, and I think whenever someone sees, oh, McGlynn's getting this really nice, beautiful playground that's been so planned and thought about, I think it can feel natural to sort of think about, well, what are the other schools going to get? And I think you did a great job of kind of naming that the needs of the McGlynn are higher or different, right? That they're including all of these students with different needs that might not be present or as present at the other schools. And it's also a middle school, right? Do the middle schoolers also access it?
[Chenine Peloquin]: The middle schoolers don't access it. They'll be able to use it after school, but the middle schoolers don't access that. They use Hormel and the kind of basketball and street hockey rink over there. yeah and then the other thing i was through this project when we got the mcglenn inspected and the inspector was like this is past its useful life like let's let's find something new for this space um we also got the other schools inspected and we worked really closely with the manufacturer to identify any like really major hazards. So there was a bouncy bridge at the Roberts that we got replaced and some steps and a cargo net bridge. Right. The Brooks had a broken slide and a broken monkey bar set. And it took one thing I'm learning about working with municipal government is it takes longer than anyone wants, including everybody who works there. But we finally got those replaced. And that was against CPC funding or CPA funding. But we made sure that they were safe, and those structures were in better condition. So we were able to replace pieces that were broken, the PTOs were able to get them resurfaced, so the playgrounds that are there are in good shape now. And they will be for several more years, as long as we're taking good care of them and not letting your dog onto the port in place. I'm looking forward to seeing what the new sites will be, but it's going to be a while. But yeah, like you said, it can feel unfair, but it's actually the beginning of doing things in a more fair way. Yeah.
[Danielle Balocca]: It sounds like a great blueprint in terms of planning and thoughtfulness. So yeah.
[Chenine Peloquin]: Yeah. Great. So thank you to all the staff and the students and the families who gave input and everybody in the community who doesn't go to the McGlynn, but uses that space. And it's really, it's been a privilege.
[Danielle Balocca]: Well, thank you for all your work. Yeah, it sounds like it's going to be really exciting. Can't wait to see it. Thanks for letting me. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. The Medford Bites podcast is produced and moderated by Danielle Balacca and Shelly Casherman. Music is made by Hendrik Idanese. We'd love to hear what you think about the podcast. You can reach out to us by email at medfordpod at gmail.com, or you can rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts. Thanks so much for listening. Guys, what's the name of the podcast? Never Bites!