San Fernando Valley : New Playground at City Housing Complex Opens

The nearly 650 youngsters at the San Fernando Gardens public housing development in Pacoima no longer have to play in the street.

The Housing Authority of the city of Los Angeles, which runs the 448-unit complex, recently completed construction of two playgrounds, paid for with a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“There was practically nothing, recreationally, for kids and parents to do before,” said Mario Matute, senior case manager at the complex’s community service center. “Now, instead of being out on the street, they can stay near home at the playground.

“It’s great, especially for the little kids and their parents who want to stay in the development,” Matute said Thursday before city officials arrived to dedicate the new facilities.

The Housing Authority’s construction firm, Kumbaya Construction Co., built the playgrounds, two of the latest to be installed at the city’s 21 public housing developments.

Materials to build the playgrounds, which include slides, swings and climbing equipment, cost $40,000, said Mike Kalinowski, manager of San Fernando Gardens. One of the two lots features concrete picnic tables and barbecue grills.

“Kids have been playing on it even before they finished the landscaping,” said Kalinowski, who estimated that of the complex’s population of about 1,900, about 650 are children who can take advantage of the new playgrounds.

The areas where the playgrounds are located were once dirt and sand-filled lots with a few broken swing sets, Kalinowski said.

“Now, those places are center-piece features for the surrounding apartment buildings,” he said, adding that concrete has been poured for construction of two additional playgrounds at the development, also to be paid for with HUD grant funds.

The additional sites should be complete before the end of the year, Kalinowski said.