(Should The City Consider Investing In Splash Pads)
Would It Benefit The Community?
One thing is for sure; it is hard to cool off in this heat, even if you run your air conditioner all day long it still only does so much and you will certainly feel it at the end of the month when your SoCal Edison bill comes in the mail unless you have a pool and an amazing solar system. Cooling off is a real problem for the majority of the community. That’s just staying home, what are you supposed to do when you want to get out? Hemet & San Jacinto’s options are already very limited as it is. You could go to the movies for two/three hours depending on what’s showing. The bowling alley or the skating rink are both open during weekdays, there are a couple of indoor play areas around the community, one being Burger King across the street from Chili’s. The problem with all these options is; they are going to put a hole in your wallet and the more kids you have. The bigger the hole will get.
Hemet & San Jacinto, already have an incredible amount of public parks, they all offer a variety of jungle gyms, basketball courts, grassy areas, and great spots for picnics, but when the temperature is reaching into the high 90’s and in to the hundreds it’s hard to convince yourself to spend much time at a park. When I was a kid, my dad would fill our ice chest with water and watch us run around the park for around with water guns. However, as soon as someone decided to one-up the other siblings and pick up the ice chest to dump it on the rest of us, all the water would be gone and so would the fun.
Cities like Temecula, Menifee, Murrieta, and Moreno Valley have started to build splash pads that are dedicated to the community. There are many different water features for kids to play with, and the fun is limitless. The water is limitless and recycled. Parents can sit in shady areas surrounding the Splash Pad or join in on the fun. At most of these locations, there are tall gates that lock after a certain time as well as a timer for the water, this way people aren’t tempted to sneak into the park and wash themselves in the middle of the night.
The best part of these Splash Pads are that they are free; one or two of them in the community would excellent and offer many people in our valley a luxury that they otherwise couldn’t afford, and that have a way to cool off during this heatwave. A project like this would cost a couple million dollars, and, likely, local taxpayers wouldn’t want to bite the bullet to fund something like this. However, there is currently state grants going out to underprivileged communities to upgrade their local parks. This grant can be used to build things like Sports Centers, Developmental Parks, Crazy New Jungle Gyms, and Tot Spots (parks for toddlers.) it makes sense that Hemet or San Jacinto could apply for one of these grants and use the money to build an amazing splash pad for the community to enjoy on these crazy summer days. What do you think about the idea of adding a couple of Splash Pads around the city?
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