Playground built by by KaBoom!, ABC7 at Oakland's Concordia Park now open
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- What a difference a small addition can make to a neighborhood. And on Monday, that addition was a new playground that's now open for business in Oakland. You might remember volunteers from ABC7 and our parent, the Walt Disney Company, joined KaBoom! to put up that new playground.
"Oh it's wonderful, it's way better than it was," said Pauletta Rhodes.
No argument with that.
PHOTOS: ABC7 and KaBoom! build playground in Oakland
"It was kind of trashy," said Oakland resident Eli Mahoney. "Now it looks nice."
That's because it is.
"I feel safe now in the park," said another Oakland resident.
They're talking about Concordia Park, in Oakland's Millsmont neighborood.
The playground is a final product after months of planning and a frenzied day of volunteers from the Walt Disney Company and ABC7, who did the final assembly in just a few hours on Aug. 8.
VIDEO: Watch time-lapse footage of the team building the playground!
Last Friday, the park opened officially, though kids like Tiffany admit they did sneak in a few times because they couldn't wait.
"I played for a little while and then I got out so I wouldn't get in trouble," she said.
Her grandmother Pauletta added, "And there was a lot of kids, they were admiring the colors and everything. So they were like, 'so when is it gonna open?' And they're asking me. I'm like, soon!"
It was a matter of technicalities and finishing touches.
VIDEO: Watch time-lapse footage of volunteers unloading all the play equipment.
The soft rubber matting took an extra week. And because volunteers did the work in place of professionals, inspectors needed to check and double check their work.
Oakland City Councilmember Desley Brooks pushed it through as fast as possible.
"There were a couple of things with respect to the swings and to work out some things on the play structure itself that they needed to adjust to make sure that it met the requirements," she said.
But now, we're there. The only necessary adjustment now is a matter of attitude in letting out the inner child, no matter his or her age.
