Thank you playground at Cutter / Reinhart! You will be missed. The structure stood the tests of time and weather for 20+ years, a very impressive feat for playground equipment.

Upcoming Closures

On Friday April 17th, Arlington DPW will be on-site to remove the dangerous wrought iron fence from the School St. side of the park. Next up on Saturday April 18th, they will remove the main playground structure and the bouncy see-saw.

What’s next

The Recreation Department has committed to getting at least temporary fencing up on the School St side in about a week following removal. I continue to attend Park and Recreation Committee meetings that occur roughly bi-weekly. Check the calendar here. Continuing to show up meeting after meeting to make it clear this is a priority goes a long way. There is hope on the horizon for a public/citizen partnership where folks from the Friends of Cutter / Reinhart can help with volunteering their time and fundraising to get design work and project proposals together for this “pocket park”, as the Commission has referred to it.

The Commission has been working on a draft Memorandum of Understanding, a.k.a. MOU, with the many “Friends of” groups in town. This document should provide a framework for how the Commission would interface with Friends groups moving forward. More to come on this as I learn more.

A Final Memory

My last memory of the playground is from the day before it closed. My 3 year old and his friends were playing with the steering wheel to “drive” a garbage truck. They would hop out and run over to the climbing rungs, empty out some wood chips and hop back on to go to the next stop. I played as the spotter / loader and we all took turns being the driver. Many children’s imaginations have marked this playground and it will be missed.