(haipo) - The summer vacation is already coming to an end. The playground located in Hecht Park in Haifa, which was closed to the public in March 2024, opened this week, after 5 months in which it was closed. The kindergarten was approved for opening, after the tamdila pillars were replaced and engineering approval was given for safe use of the facilities. The park is a center of attraction, both because of its accessibility, and because of its diverse and unique facilities, which are enjoyed by many children who visit Hecht Garden.
The Haifa Municipality stated: The garden was opened to the public on 30/7/24, after the support columns were replaced with new ones, tested and approved for use by a constructor and the shading facility renewed.
As I recall, and as published in Hai Pa, last March the open-air playground in Hecht Park was closed, which since its opening has been a center of attraction for many families in the city, who used to come and spend time there with their children. The playground is accessible and spacious and offers a variety of facilities for children of all ages and is, of course, adapted to children with special needs. Many could have spent the summer days there, but even though it was supposed to open several months ago, the park remained closed, to the disappointment of many.
In the inspection we conducted with the Haifa Municipality, at the time of publication of the previous article, we were told that strengthening works are being carried out in the park as well as works for the maintenance of the shading facility. The strengthening works, it was said, were supposed to be completed at the end of that month (March 2024), at the end of which the park was supposed to reopen. The shading facility was supposed to be received in April.
The parents waited about 5 months
The closure of the kindergarten lasted for about 5 months, which disappointed many parents who wish to go out with their children and spend time there, and especially when it comes to parents of children with disabilities, for whom the fact that the kindergarten is accessible and adapted for them is critical.
Great freedom and war
Parents told Live here: "The playground in Hecht Park was our favorite place. The prolonged closure, especially during the height of summer and the long holiday, left us without a suitable recreation place close to home. What's more, the garden is located near Hecht Park and the beach, and is an open and beautiful space that offers the whole family a space for relaxation, exercise and games for the children. We need this garden, especially that it is accessible, and even more so during the holiday and during the war.
The accessible playground in Hecht Park
As I recall, the accessible playground in Hecht Park was inaugurated in June 2022, at a cost of NIS 7.5 million. The garden, which covers an area of about 2.5 dunams, includes a variety of play and fitness facilities, adapted for adults and children with various special needs. The garden is networked with a voice guidance system, adapted for the blind, which is designed to enable them to orient themselves in the entire park area and to receive explanations about the different types of facilities that exist in it, instruction on how to use them and what is the most convenient way to reach them.
In addition, the park includes various dedicated facilities, such as a carousel, which allows children in wheelchairs to get on it and enjoy the experience of using it. The facilities are also adapted for use by adults - parents or the elderly, who use wheelchairs.
Adjacent to the garden there are restrooms, including a restroom accessible to the disabled.
Haifa Municipality gave a response to Haifa:
The garden was opened to the public on 30/7/24, after the support columns were replaced with new ones, tested and approved for use by a constructor and the shading facility renewed.
Really weird and wrong.
I was there in May and it was open (at both gates). Although without the shade and the new toilets, it was definitely open and many more were in the garden.
Thanks everyone. Yesterday we were in the park in the evening and everything looked great. Just a small note, if it is possible to light the place more, we would be when the sun went down and it was too dark.
It is clear to all of us that without paying for the use of the toilets and daily maintenance, the place will become an immediate focus for vandalism, deliberate dirt, until it is not possible to use the toilets due to so much smeared feces and urine on the floor
It will take exactly two weeks for the cells to be filthy, the toilets to be emptied and graffiti to ruin the walls inside and out.
Of course there will be no maintenance, no one will be blamed, cameras will not catch those responsible and the money will go down the drain.
At a good and successful time, better late than never.
And the normal, inaccessible playground is not shaded at all. hot hot