A seemingly inoffensive word stirred controversy in the Village of Munsey Park at its meeting on Wednesday, May 14: playground.
“Perhaps the word ‘playground’ was a loaded term,” Mayor Lawrence Ceriello said. “I didn’t realize that.”
The controversy began after residents learned that the village had been awarded a $110,000 grant from Nassau County, which specified it would be for a playground at Waldmann Park.
Tensions rose at the village’s board of trustees meeting as residents expressed opposition to a playground.
Tensions dissipated after officials reassured residents that the funds were not exclusively for a playground and could be used for any village project.
The February meeting minutes detail the grant, which would ” purchase and install a new early childhood playground and related items.”
During that meeting, board members said they had received a grant for a “playground” but were seeking something they said was described as a “gathering spot” for younger children too small to utilize a traditional play structure.
Residents said this village document appeared to show the village agreeing to accept these county funds to install a playground at the park.
“I think that’s what got everybody off on the wrong foot,” one resident said from the audience.
Ceriello called the village’s grant application “ill-defined.”
While the village has been granted the funds, it has not yet accepted them. The village has also not created a plan or design for what these funds would be used for.
Residents expressed concern that they had not been informed of the project sooner to weigh in on the concept.
Ceriello said the village sought the grant funding to beautify the park as well as cater to children who utilize it and their safety.
The mayor and residents noted that the park was used as a sledding hill and that rocks in the grass and its proximity to the pond can pose dangers to children.
He shared a story from two years ago, when he interacted with some nannies at the park who expressed a need for more enriching amenities for young children. The week before the meeting, he encountered them again, and they expressed the same desire.
Ceriello said this original interaction prompted him to think of adding amenities for young children and increasing the park’s safety and beauty.
The mayor said that while the grant application requested funds for a playground, they did not have to be explicitly used for that and could go towards other initiatives for Waldmann Park or anywhere else. He said the village also did not have any concept of what the funds would be used for and was just at the beginning of gathering ideas.
“I think you all think we have a master plan here. We don’t,” Ceriello said. “We chased money, $110,000, we got it and it landed in our laps and now we’re trying to figure out what to do with it.”
Ceriello showed photographs of ideas he had for the kids, including duck and sheep statues that children could interact with.
Other ideas Ceriello had for the park included additional benches, trees and plantings.
“I’m not trying to create palisades on the pond. I’m not,” Ceriello said. “I’m trying to make the parks better.”
Ceriello said the village’s current plan is to hire a landscape architect to determine what projects are feasible and how, along with community input. He said they have not made it to that point yet.
Ceriello said the board doesn’t want to take on this project alone and has already begun seeking input from some residents to gather their participation.
Residents asked for a committee to be formed to consult on the project planning.
Multiple residents said that, while they now understood the project, the village had poorly communicated the situation to residents who relied on social media posts from elected officials and village documents to learn about it.
They said what was available to them made it appear that installing a playground at the park was a done deal.
Trustee Patty Miller said no communication with residents had been done yet because the project was still a concept and no action had been taken.
One resident asked for a monthly village newsletter to communicate topics like the park, which Ceriello agreed would be beneficial.
Residents and officials ended the meeting with a consensus: to begin conversations on ways the money could benefit the parks and the residents.
