Safe Spaces to Play - Case Study: Northgate Park
Written by Tim Buckley, September 2023
All children deserve to grow up in a safe, stable, nurturing environment, right? Safety is the bedrock of society, whether it’s in the home, at school or in the neighborhood.
Three years ago, neighbors in the vicinity of Hallman Elementary School listed Northgate Park as unsafe. Families avoided it and, like a neglected garden, it became overrun with litter, weeds and graffiti.
This year, families attending Fun Friday said the park has become a centerpiece of neighborhood pride. The quick turnaround, from the bane of their existence to blessed, happened because the Neighborhood Family Council made it a priority. And then they invited others to embrace the park as if it were a family member.
Having family events like Fun Fridays was certainly a key element. But what may be the capstone achievement has to do with restrooms.
Photo Credit: Eduardo Angulo
A CBEL newsletter story from earlier in the year featured Cecilia Ascencion, who has lived on the park’s border for many years. She became part of the up swell of neighbors who persuaded Salem’s City Council to fund a modern restroom facility for the park…worth almost $1 million. She had occasionally allowed children to use her bathroom, but it became impractical and unsafe, especially after COVID hit.
Well, the bathroom has been designed and will be built in the next year. But in the meantime, two portable bathrooms were installed. And, because it has been challenging to keep the bathrooms clean, the neighborhood started a smaller campaign to ask residents to treat the porta-potties with respect, knowing that your family members would likely be using them.
Photo Credit: Eduardo Angulo
The NFC put a sign on the outside of each potty, and then put the word out to the community that until the new bathroom facility is in place, it would be wonderful to treat these with as much care as the rest of the park.
Photo Credit: Eduardo Angulo
Then the NFC bought enough patio bricks to create a high-and-dry foundation for the porta potties and appealed to students at Hallman Elementary to decorate each concrete brick with their hand prints painted in bright colors. The bricks are now done and will be installed in the next month, before the rains come.
For almost two months the park has remained clean and the restrooms sanitary and presentable. Likewise for the Peace Garden and the Little Free Library. It’s a small thing to celebrate but it speaks volumes about the power of solidarity.
Focusing on the park, and making it safe, became a symbol of what is possible when people organize around a shared vision. Northgate Park has become a source of pride and a vehicle for more inspired action. The following list shows how the Hallman-Northgate Family Council (NFC) turned a vision into reality.
Events in the park. Family gatherings for all ages. Safe for kids, fun for everyone. Local law enforcement showed up both to support and to build closer relationships with the neighbors.
Regular NFC meetings which neighbors are invited to, a place where you can see leadership in action and new leaders in training.
Community Café meetings and Parent Teaching classes brought people together to discuss priorities, to share ideas, and to learn.
Civic engagement. The various events have nurtured a lot of new volunteers. Events now regularly attract more than 150 families and 500 people.
A safer park has inspired a Safer Streets program, which then allows more students to walk or bike to school without fear of traffic hassles.
People who are now in positions of NFC leadership may not have imagined themselves in that position a year ago. But with each event drawing more people to volunteer comes more enthusiasm to participate and contribute.
People who didn’t know their neighbors now call each other for support and to share in celebration.
From isolation to community. From frustration and despair to hope. All of a sudden, “a safe, stable, nurturing environment for all” has edged closer to reality.
Photo Credit: Eduardo Angulo