On Aug. 12, Harriet Tubman students and staff joined city of San Diego and San Diego Unified leaders to celebrate the groundbreaking for their new 37,000-square-foot grass playfield and park.
The Harriet Tubman Village K-8 Charter School joint-use field project involves construction of a natural grass playfield with a walking and running path, as well as security fencing. Amenities include new picnic tables and benches, a new drinking fountain, a new play structure with shade, and existing basketball courts.
City of San Diego Council President Georgette Gómez and San Diego Unified Board Trustee Dr. Mike McQuary joined San Diego Unified Chief Facilities and Planning Officer Lee Dulgeroff, Tubman Charter CEO Ryan Woodard, and longtime advocate Terry Shirley for the ceremony.
As part of the Play All Day partnership with the city of San Diego, the joint-use field will be
accessible to the community as a local park after school hours and during school breaks.
The Play All Day Parks Program is a new initiative put forth by the city of San Diego Mayor’s Office and the superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) in 2016 to break ground on more than 45 new joint-use park sites in the next 5-10 years.
In addition to the joint-use park at Harriet Tubman, parks are also planned for nearby Carver Elementary and Rolando Park Elementary schools.
According to the Trust for Public Land, 23% of the population in San Diego currently lives further than a 10-minute walk to a park or recreational facility. One of the biggest challenges San Diego faces in building new parks is the limited amount of available land. Partnering SDUSD to share schoolyards with residents makes more available park space possible.
The new Play All Day park facilities will be opened on existing school sites and constructed with both city and bond funding from Propositions S and Z. The city will commit to operate and maintain the new park facilities.
Construction on the park at Harriet Tubman is expected to be completed in early 2020. While under construction, school officials said there may be occasional construction noise and traffic control.
For more information about the Play All Day Parks Program, visit http://bit.ly/2ZfpHnE.
