Laserfiche WebLink
compassion. The opportunity to play with others helps strengthen and maintain <br />physical, emotional, psychological, and social well-being for us all. <br /> <br />Designed to be socially inclusive playground for children of varying physical and <br />cognitive abilities, a Magical Bridge Playground addresses the unique play needs of the <br />many kinds of children in the community. Current playground designs often overlook <br />the growing autistic population, visually and hearing impaired, physically limited, and <br />even our aging community. <br /> <br />We also learned that the Magical Bridge Foundation is interested in building more fully <br />accessible and inclusive playgrounds, and specifically invited the City to build the next <br />Magical Bridge Playground together in Redwood City. <br /> <br />For the past two fiscal years, the City Council has appropriated funding towards the <br />complete renovation of the large playground within Red Morton Park (near the National <br />Guard Armory and Valota Road). The $2.1M that has been approved was for the hiring <br />of a Landscape Architecture firm, traffic study, master planning improving bicycle and <br />pedestrian safety and accessibility to Red Morton Park, planning for pathway and way- <br />finding improvements, amenity plans, design and construction drawings for a renovated <br />playground and picnic area, and construction itself. <br /> <br />The cost of designing and building a fully inclusive and accessible playground for all <br />increases the cost significantly through final construction due to the unique elements <br />and specialized equipment. This is one of the key reasons that prevents cities to <br />building playgrounds such as these. A partnership between the City and Magical Bridge <br />Foundation would help leverage not only expertise in design and consulting work, but <br />also significant fundraising, business and donor involvement, and community outreach <br />to make this possible for Redwood City. <br /> <br /> <br />ANALYSIS <br />The partnership agreement between the City and the Magical Bridge Foundation would <br />allow the raising of funds necessary to complete a fully inclusive and assessable <br />playground for all. The Magical Bridge co-founders have estimated that the total cost of <br />this type of playground would cost $3.3M. Staff estimates that a total of $1.5M of <br />approved funding could be allocated towards the Project and the Magical Bridge <br />Foundation, as spelled out in the agreement, would raise the rest of the funds <br />necessary. <br /> <br />The Magical Bridge Foundation has expertise in inclusive design, has a robust <br />community engagement process, and has significant contacts and processes for donor <br />involvement. The agreement spells out the responsibilities of both the City and the <br />Foundation including fundraising goals; sharing proprietary designs and branding; <br />providing expert consultation to our design team; onsite engagement with the <br />Landscape Architect and future construction firm; and recruitment of volunteers which <br />includes an innovative “Kindness Ambassador” program that not only oversees the use <br />6.1.N. - Page 2