A UNIVERSAL PLAYGROUND AT BENNY H. POTTER, FOR EVERY SON & DAUGHTER!!!

Los Angeles - The City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks proudly dedicated the 13th Universally Accessible Playground (UAP) at Benny H. Potter Park on Saturday, May 2, 2009. The new playground will provide endless opportunities for children of all abilities to play together.

Benny H. Potter’s UAP is approximately 8,400 square feet in size and features rubberized and decorative resilient surfacing, mister sprays, swing sets, and interactive sensory panels. The area also includes new landscaping, irrigation, benches, and shading canopies. The playground’s innovative design will help encourage and stimulate interactive play for children of all abilities, as well as providing a safe environment for the community to enjoy.

The UAP is a project of Shane’s Inspiration, a non-profit organization started by Catherine Curry-Williams and friend Tiffany Harris. In 1997, after Catherine’s two-week old son Shane subsided to spinal muscular atrophy (a disorder that would have left him severely disabled had he survived), she was influenced by an article from an East Coast newspaper about a family who had also lost a child and its decision to turn its grief into action by creating a playground. Encouraged by the story and the realization that there were no wheelchair-accessible playgrounds in the West Coast, Shane’s Inspiration was born.

The Universally Accessible Playground was designed by the City’s Bureau of Engineering Architectural Division and Shane’s Inspiration. The general contractor for the project was Horizon Construction, Inc. The $580,000 project was funded by California Propositions 12 and 40 and the Capital Improvement Expenditure Program.

It is the Department of Recreation and Parks’ goal to open at least one UAP in each of the 15 City council districts -- through the development of new playgrounds or expansion and modification of existing playgrounds. There are currently five additional UAPs on the drawing board.

Benny H. Potter Park is located at 2413 Second Avenue, Los Angeles 90018. For more information on this location or the Department, please call (213) 202-2700 or visit our website at http://www.laparks.org/.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Jane Kolb: (213) 202-2694

Amy A. Garcia: (213) 202-2689