Girl is serious about playground

RED CLIFF – After years of having only a run-down community playground at which to amuse herself, 12-year-old Marika Cisneros decided to do something about it.”She said our playground isn’t functional,” said her mother, Diana, a long-time Red Cliff resident. “It’s broken. We need to fix it.”Marika wrote a letter to her good friend, Mayor Ramon Montoya, asking permission to put on an event to raise money. At first, Marika was hoping for a swing set, a fresh coat of paint and repairs, but now she may try to get the entire playground replaced. “He read it and called me, and he said it would be best to approach the (Red Cliff board of trustees) because then we could … get it out there a little more and people could see it or hear about it,” Marika said. At the board’s very next meeting, on June 4, Marika asked them about the fundraiser.”They said that would actually be a good idea, and they asked where I wanted to have it and what I wanted to put in it, and I basically said I wanted to have it at the park because that is where we’re going to have the renovation,” she said.

The wooden playground, on the corner of Eagle and Monument streets, was donated to the town about four years ago and is at least 20 years old, Montoya said.There are no swings, the climbing net is not attached correctly, and some children bump their head on the slide when they get come down, Marika said. Still, the playground offers some diversion for local children. “Red Cliff is like really small, and there’s not really any stuff to do,” she said. “There’s not a lot of kids, but I think that the family members are here, and a lot of people have grandchildren that come over and nieces and nephews, and they like to play there.” Saturday’s fundraiser will be a combination of a car wash and a bake sale. The energetic seventh-grader has been asking all her friends to help.”The community is helping me, but my mom is a wonderful cook, so we might make some baked goods together,” Marika said. Joanna Snyder, the Red Cliff town clerk who is helping Marika make flyers for the fundraiser, said Marika did it all on her own initiative, but it was helpful that she already knew many of the town board members personally. “You would think that she’s older than what she is really,” Snyder said. “She definitely is very self-confident, self-reliant.” Snyder contacted a playground renovation expert from Colorado Springs who surveyed the park and said he will give a cost estimate at the board meeting July 10. “He did say it’s unsafe and old and doesn’t conform to safety standards, so the whole thing is going to be replaced,” Snyder said. The entire park, which includes a basketball court, a gazebo and an area for community cook-outs, will be renovated. Montoya said even the basketball court is a safety hazard because it is right up against the curb, where it easy for people to twist their ankles while playing.”It was really Marika’s idea that really sparked this while thing, and it has taken off from there,” he said.

Marika may be young, but she provides invaluable input, Montoya said. For instance, she spotted problems with the recycled rubber that covers the playground.”First of all, when you’re a kid and you’re rolling around in it, it gets in your hair, and the other thing is, because it’s black, it gets hot,” he said.This led to a discussion about a solution – use a lighter color and mold the rubber to the ground instead of using bits. “If it wasn’t for her perspective, we wouldn’t have a clue,” he said. What really impressed Montoya was Marika’s concern for the lack of playground equipment for toddlers. She suggested installing spring toys – ducks with springs on the bottom and toddler seats on top. “You’d think she’d be looking for stuff for her, stuff for her age group,” he said.Montoya estimates the project will cost about $100,000. The town has about $7,500 it can use from a fund provided by the Colorado lottery. “We have the seed,” he said. “That’s about it.”The lottery fund is earmarked for certain projects, including playground renovations, which is why many playgrounds have signs that say, “Your lottery dollars at work,” Snyder said.

Also, Tim Parks, an investor in the Red Cliff restaurant Mango’s, and Cliff Thompson, the spokesman for Ginn Company, which is developing Battle Mountain, have sent invitations to Marika to meet with them to find ways they can help, Montoya said. Nic Corbett can be reached at vdeditintern@vaildaily.comVail, Colorado