Bid to make playgrounds more accessible passes unanimously

Ward 11 Coun. Brian Pincott blasted his colleagues for their comments surrounding a fellow councillor’s bid to make Calgary’s playgrounds more accessible at a meeting late Tuesday, before the pitch passed unanimously.

“I must say that council, you’re impressing the hell out of me by the verbal and logical contortions … you’re going through to find a reason not to vote for this,” said Pincott.

“I’m impressed with the gymnastics I’ve seen but they’re not helping.”

The comments came as council debated a broad notice of motion from Ward 7 Coun. Druh Farrell asking for city administration to investigate including equipment that’s friendly to a range of ages and abilities in city parks, and to report back to council on the findings.

“Play can be a great equalizer. It can help with social isolation and sedentary lifestyles,” Farrell said, noting she’s heard tragic stories about people’s inability to play in local parks.

While some councillors said they liked the concept, they questioned how much it would eventually cost to make new and existing parks more accessible and where the money would come from.

“This notice of motion is feelgood. I can definitely see a lot of issues with it,” said Ward 4 Coun. Sean Chu, who also raised concerns about children and seniors sharing play equipment.

Pincott told his colleagues there are barriers across the city and Calgary needs to serve everybody.

“This isn’t an additional cost, this isn’t an, ‘oh, my god, we have to do everything,’ this is just when we do a playground, take into consideration accessibility,” he said.

After Pincott’s passionate speech, Farrell’s pitch passed unanimously in a 14-0 vote. Ward 3 Coun. Jim Stevenson was absent.

After the vote, Farrell said it was unfortunate the debate about whether or not children and seniors have the ability to play on city structures turned political.

“This is a playground motion. It’s talking about the right to play and we have to get political,” she said.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi labelled the debate surrounding the playground pitch unusual.

“It was kind of odd,” he said. “Council has already passed a motion saying civic facilities have to be universally designed. This was a really, really, really vague notice of motion on purpose, it just said explore options.”