Palisades Playground Will Be Restored By July 4th Thanks To $1M Concert Donation

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA — A donation of $1 million from the FireAid concert will help fund an expedited restoration of the playground at Palisades Recreation Center, according to city officials.

The 35-year-old facility, which was damaged in the Palisades Fire, will be rebuilt to include two adjacent playgrounds with a new rubber surface. The fully accessible play areas, catered to children 5 to 14, will include a shade structure as well as a play fire truck to pay homage to first responders.

In addition to the FireAid donation, playground equipment company GameTime is donating $300,000 in equipment, according to the city. And Banc of California is donating $50,000, a company representative told Patch.

City officials hope to complete the project by July 1.

The city Recreation and Parks Department tested sand in the existing playground and found "the samples did not exceed the residential screening levels set by the EPA and DTSC for metals and did not detect any Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) in the sand as combustion byproducts from the recent fire," according to city documents.

Even before the fire, officials and community members have been calling for the playground to be upgraded or replaced for several years due to what Councilwoman Traci Park termed safety and accessibility concerns.

“I’m grateful to our funding partners for hearing our voices and stepping up with this critical investment, and to our community for their relentless advocacy to improve our neighborhood spaces," she said in a statement.