Trouble in paradise
Hub struggling to keep playgrounds free of debris
Oscar Prieto held his 10-month-old son in his arms at the Robert F. Ryan Play Area in Dorchester, not far from a sign that reads "Enjoy your park."
Around him, children played on swing sets and plastic slides amid bits of trash - discarded lottery tickets, broken CDs, beer bottle caps, and coffee cups.
"This one's not too bad," Prieto, 24, said as he looked around. Better than the playground down the road, he said. "Nobody goes there 'cause it looks so abandoned."
That would be the William A. Meany Playground, where paint curls and flakes off the playset, and one swing dangles from a single rusted chain.
"It should always be cleaned up for these kids," Prieto said.
But trash has littered the play areas this summer at many of the playgrounds Boston children swarm to when school is out and the weather is warm.
Globe reporters randomly visited about 30 playgrounds over a recent month. Some were nearly pristine, like the Union Street playground in the South End, with its modern, metallic playset, clean walkways, and manicured flower beds. But most playgrounds were littered with at least some trash and cigarette butts during repeated visits. More disturbing finds - shards of glass, beer bottles, and sometimes condoms - dotted about half of them.
When told about the findings, city and state officials readily acknowledged some problems but said there is not enough money to keep playgrounds clean for those who swing, run, and play there.
"From an operations point of view, do I have enough people? No, I do not have enough people," said Bernie Lynch Jr., director of maintenance for Boston Parks and Recreation.
Lynch adamantly defended his workers and what they accomplish with limited resources. "It's a matter of that longstanding conversation," he said. "How do you finance public agencies?"
Boston has about 150 public playgrounds, maintained by a handful of agencies: The state Department of Conservation and Recreation, Boston Parks and Recreation Department, and the Boston Housing Authority. All of those departments have had problems keeping the playgrounds they manage clean. Many neighborhoods have launched coordinated efforts to clean the sites, either through partnerships with the city or independently, but they cannot always keep up.
The trash they are battling is often a result of overnight, illegal activity.
Boston police frequently patrol all the city's playgrounds, and particularly the large ones, said Deputy Darrin Greeley of the Boston police. All playgrounds are monitored to prevent people staying past curfew, drinking, dealing drugs, or being loud.
"I live in the city. I go to the parks all the time with my children," Greeley said. "Every park should be safe."
Penalties for drinking in a park can vary from a request to leave to a civil citation and $250 fine, and sometimes arrest, Greeley said.
Boston Parks and Recreation depends on the police to help curb these sorts of activities, said Parks Commissioner Toni Pollak, but the department also depends on residents to do their part and respect the parks, to refrain from illegal activity, and clean up after themselves.
"People need to take some responsibility for this and help us maintain these important public spaces," Pollak said. "That would help us tremendously."
Like Lynch, she pointed to lack of funds. "It's not that the mayor doesn't want to give us more money," she said.
A spokeswoman for Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who prides himself on providing clean playgrounds and parks for the city, said that the busier the park, the less likely it is to be vandalized. And, "regardless of who is using these parks, the parks should be clean," said Dorothy Joyce.
While Globe reporters found more trash in Roxbury, Dorchester, and South Boston playgrounds, park officials say the challenges cross neighborhood lines.
"Glass, condoms, needles - it's a citywide issue," Lynch said. "There aren't enough people to get everywhere."
The cleanup routine varies depending on the agency responsible for the playground.
Boston Parks and Recreation has a $9.3 million budget for park maintenance and a staff of about 70 for cleaning. Cleanup crews work five days a week and visit each playground two to three times a week on average, depending on the size and usage, Lynch said. Busier parks tend to get more attention.
The department also inspects each playground twice a year and ranks them according to condition and appearance on a scale of zero to 100 percent. For 2008, playgrounds are averaging in the low 80 percent range, according to department records. Several playgrounds in each region of the city received 100 percent rankings. The lowest score was 50 percent for Monsignor Reynolds Playground in the South End.
The state dedicates about $500,000 annually to the design, construction, and maintenance of 60 playgrounds around the state, half of which are in Boston, said Wendy Fox, spokeswoman for the DCR. The agency's maintenance crews visit playgrounds at least once a week and stop by some every day, she said.
Sometimes, their diligence shows.
On a recent Tuesday afternoon, at the DCR-managed Robert M. Greene Memorial Playground on Castle Island, dozens of children swung from monkey bars and glided down winding slides. Despite the heavy traffic, the ground was fairly clear of debris, with the exception of a few candy wrappers.
But most of the time on many playgrounds, it is a losing battle.
"Our basic life is 'Groundhog Day,' " said Lynch. "It's the same thing over and over. . . . I have to deal with the reality of what I'm funded with."
Take the Boston Housing Authority's Mary Tierney Playground in the Old Colony housing development. Lydia Agro, a spokeswoman for the agency, said the playground was repaired in June. But when Globe reporters visited during the first week of August, it was in disrepair.
A young girl jimmied together a broken swing with a twig the width of a pencil. A boy ran his fingers through the dirt near a broken fence lined with shards of glass. Used condoms, small bags that had held illegal drugs, and glass peppered the woodchip-covered ground.
"Dig a little deeper, and you'll find some needles," said one man.
A day after the Globe asked about the playground, Agro said that her department would make a renewed effort to patrol and clean the area more frequently. That afternoon, missing planks had been replaced on the playground's deck and most of the glass had been swept away.
The Meany playground has been targeted for a $100,000 renovation and should be completely replaced by mid-September, said Fox. The play area will stay open until construction begins in a couple weeks.
"The reason it wasn't closed is because it is still operational," Fox said. "Yes, it needs to be replaced, but it can still be used."
Both state and city agencies have hot lines that residents can use to report concerns about playground conditions.
Some parents take the matter into their own hands. Lifelong Dorchester resident Lisa O'Brien says she cleans up trash at the Ryan play area, where she used to go as a child and now regularly brings her three young children.
"The police are out here more often than the cleaners," said O'Brien, as she pulled a sandwich from a bag and handed it to one of her children. "I think they need to do more about the parks." 