Pocatello replaces aging playground at popular neighborhood park
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POCATELLO – Children living in one of the Gate City’s core historic neighborhoods now have access to brand new playground equipment.
The city of Pocatello has replaced the aging playground infrastructure at Alameda Park with brand new playsets, which feature slides, climbing equipment and educational displays. And thanks to work being done by the local neighborhood association, there are even more park improvements on the way.
“The new playground equipment is a huge addition to this neighborhood,” said Anne Butler, director of Parks & Recreation. “Every time I’ve been out there … there have been piles of kids using the new equipment, so I know that it is going to be well-loved for a long time.”
These playsets now stand in the place of playground equipment that was broken down and missing pieces, and were old enough that the city would’ve had to have custom replacement pieces made. Butler said doing this would’ve been even more expensive than buying brand-new equipment.
While Butler doesn’t know exactly how old the playground equipment is, she estimates it’s at least 20 years old.
While the city knew it would need to replace the playground equipment, it didn’t know exactly what the community would like to see it replaced with. To get a better sense of this, the parks department met with the Alameda Neighborhood Association.
The Alameda Neighborhood is one of the six centrally located neighborhoods of Pocatello, alongside the Historic University Neighborhood, Bonneville, Lewis & Clark, Mountain View and the Neighborhoods of Historic Downtown. Each of these neighborhoods are represented by an association, made up of volunteers who advocate for neighborhood development.
“We sat down with the neighborhood association leadership and talked about the types of amenities they wanted to see in those playgrounds. We talked about the colors that they wanted to see, and then kind of just started to work with our vendors,” Butler said.
Eventually, the city decided on two separate playsets, one geared towards older kids and one geared towards younger kids, both featuring slides and climbing equipment. The playset for younger children has a display showing the ASL alphabet, and the other has a maze.
The equipment was installed directly by the city construction crew and was finished on Aug. 21.
“(I’m) super appreciative of the crew that spends the time every day out in the heat in the summer to get that work done. We’ve got a great construction crew that has been working really hard,” Butler said.
Butler said that the neighborhood association is also working “diligently” to plant new trees in the park, add benches along the park’s pathway, and a drinking fountain near the restrooms. City staff will pour the concrete footings for those, funded by grants secured by the association.
“The neighborhood association has lots of ideas, and we’re always working with the different neighborhood associations on the ideas that they have,” Butler said.
Ultimately, Butler sees the new playground infrastructure as an important refresh for Alameda Park.
“It was time for a new look. It was time for new features. … It was a good time to have something new that meets the current standards,” Butler said.