Criscuolo Park Swings Into Next Phase Of Upgrades

Back in 2017 Fair Haven neighbors, parents, and activists advocated to upgrade scenic Criscuolo Park in Fair Haven with a boat launch and maybe even a climbing wall.

They didn’t get those, but they did receive reconfigured and relocated play areas for little and big kids and a spiffy new splash pad.

Now more improvements — new swings and perhaps permanent tables for dominoes and chess — are on the way.

City landscape architect Katharine Jacobs revealed those plans for the consideration of 45 neighbors this past Thursday night at the Zoom-assisted monthly meeting of the Fair Haven Community Management Team.

The master plan for the improvement of Criscuolo Park, beginning in 2017, has proceeded in phases, she summarized. The first involved the new play structures: The apparatus for the little kids between the ballfield and James Street; for the older kids, an elegant structure on the west side, near the bank of the Mill River and the monument to the 29th Colored Regiment.

The second phase involved the installation of a splash pad.

“Now the third phase is new swings,” Jacobs said, proceeding to discussion of types and location.

Jacobs suggested the new swings include three types: buckets for little kids, traditional belt swings for older kids, and a nifty new style, a ​“bird nest” swing that can hold multiple giggling and socializing little ones.

Jacobs also suggested the array of swings be clustered at the large climbing play structure for the older kids on the west side of the park near the river.

“Clustering makes it a more exciting place. If parents have kids of different ages, all the kids can be safe,” Jacobs said.

The swings used to be located between the baseball field and James Street. In the new location, when you swing, you would swing up high toward the water.

Listening neighbors praised the vision, while offering suggested refinements..

Lee Cruz suggested that a fourth type of swing be considered, one that could safely accommodate kids who are physically challenged. A bird nest style, while capacious and comfortable, he pointed out, does not have the belt and other safety features.

Jacobs said she will look into that. She also said she liked the idea, emerging from the neighbors’ discussion, to have the swings for littler kids in the toddler play area by James Street, and the belt and other swings by the river.

Neighbor Sue Whetstone raised the issue of handicapped access. If the swing for physically challenged kids will be by the river, isn’t that a long walk, or wheelchair ride, from the parking area on James Street?

Jacobs said she has been reviewing the issue: ​“I’ve been thinking we might want to create designated wheelchair parking places” along Chapel Street, she said. That would be shortest distance to the swings by the river.

Cruz, who along with Diane Ecton co-chaired the meeting, said another alternative would be to situate the handicapped parking in the slots at the very end of James Street, making that distance to the swings also as short as possible.

Jacobs said she will stick with the designated spots to be created on the Chapel Street side ​“because we have limited access to the end of James.”

A discussion ensued about the need for an upgrade of the walking path around the perimeter of the park. That will become pressing if people in wheelchairs will make that trek. Jacobs acknowledged that work is also in her planning.

When a neighbor asked if a second splash pad might be added to the mix of upgrades, Jacobs said plainly, ​“We don’t currently have funding for that.”

“That’s an honest answer,” replied Cruz.

Jacobs said permanent tables for chess and dominoes are in her planning. Older Latino neighbors playing those board games have become almost a permanent feature of the park. Where to place those features? she asked.

Neighbors welcomed the idea. However, Cruz said the men who play often bring their own folding tables and chairs (and do a good job of cleaning up afterwards) and may prefer to continue to do so.

Cruz directed her to Ward 15 Alder Ernie Santiago, a regular park user knowledgeable about the board game players’ preferences. Jacobs said she will follow up with him.