J Magazine Spring 2018

schools sent busloads of children there regularly.
The park was touted on both local and tourism
websites as a special place for parents to take
their broods. It not only taught children important
safety lessons, it taught them about the nearby
river with its water-based activities.
“It was centered around education, safety for
children and good old fun,” remembers Elaine
Brown, one of the founders of Kids Kampus in
2000 and now the mayor of Neptune Beach. “On
any given Saturday, there were just crowds and
crowds of people.”
Jeneen Sanders, the assistant to Jacksonville
City Council President Anna Lopez Brosche, says
she took her daughter to the playground for six
years straight to celebrate her birthday.
“Kids Kampus connected to the park and had
a beautiful access to the water. Their eyes were as
big as saucers seeing the water,” Sanders remembers.
“It was like a little city. There was a police
station, a post office and more. I had everything I
needed there for them to enjoy her birthday with
friends.”
But then the playground grew older, maintenance
costs mounted and pressure to use the
land for other purposes forced the playground’s
closure and eventual razing in 2010.
What had been a destination — a unique
gathering spot for kids and their parents — was
suddenly no more. Its “clientele” drifted away to
other parks and playgrounds. There was little in
terms of play to draw them Downtown anymore,
so they simply stayed away.
Sure some smaller playgrounds remained, including
the little one near old City Cemetery, but
it seems there was little thought given to ways
to attract families to the urban core. While the
library was still an attractive reason for families
to travel Downtown, it was in competition with a
host of neighborhood libraries that, while smaller,
were much closer to home. A riverwalk invited
people to walk its length but there was little
special for children.
MOre recently Hemming Park has
mounted programs to attract families Downtown,
but marginally. It does offer a small kids space
where children can play and plans occasional programming
to attract them, but its focus is generally
on an older audience. In addition, the homeless
men and women who congregate there make it
feel less-than-safe for worried parents.
Creating play spaces Downtown hasn’t even
been considered much, says Brosche. There
were discussions once, headed by Councilman
Bill Guilliford, to create a skate park in the urban
core, but those have dissolved. There was also a
passing proposal to erect a carousel somewhere
in Downtown, but that died.
Now? Nothing.
“I don’t think we’ve even talked about it since
“When we
did have a
destination
park for kids
and families
downtown it
worked.
Now, I have
to admit, it
doesn’t even
cross my mind
to bring my
kids to a park
in Downtown.”
Anna Lopez
Brosche
Jacksonville City
Council President
I’ve been here,” Brosche says of her City Council
tenure. But with three children of her own,
the Council president says she remembers the
success of Kids Kampus. “When we did have
a destination park for kids and families downtown
it worked. Now, I have to admit, it doesn’t
even cross my mind to bring my kids to a park in
Downtown.”
That’s because there really isn’t much in Jacksonville’s
urban core — certainly not a destination
the likes of Kids Kampus.
“It is a missing component Downtown,” admits
Christina Parrish Stone, director of programming
at Hemming Park. “I know there are
a lot of kids Downtown who don’t have great access
to parks. There is no city park in Downtown
proper that has children’s activities and children’s
play equipment.”
And that’s precisely the problem faced by
many cities, according to Ethan Kent, senior vice
president of the Project for Public Spaces. Many
cities, especially in their urban cores, have ignored
the needs of their youngest constituents
and families for way too long.
“We find that children and families in many
ways have been designed out of many downtowns,”
he says. “Yet play and activities for children
are core to many great public spaces. And
playgrounds are particularly good ways to bridge
differences and bring people together.”
Not only do they provide safe spaces for kids
and adults from various segments of society to
mix, the incorporation of playgrounds into urban
areas makes those sometimes-imposing concrete
jungles friendlier and more compelling. The
presence of families and children within a city’s
downtown makes it appealing and attractive for
everyone. After all, Kent says, who doesn’t smile
at the sound of a child’s laugh or the endearing
sight of youngsters swinging on monkey bars?
“There’s an idea out there that deals with
spaces being ‘loveable.’ It’s called ‘place attachment,’
Kent says. “When people are attached to a
place it’s because it’s more open, more engaging
and more aesthetic. And having children downtown
makes it more attractive.”
When that occurs, not only do families benefit,
so does the city in general.
“When there’s greater place attachment
there’s greater entrepreneurship,” Kent says.
“Place attachment is tied to economic growth.”
That attachment creates a positive bond that
colors not only how people feel about their work
endeavors, but also how they focus their personal
endeavors. People attached to their communities
are more willing to engage in activities and projects
that will result in improvements. And cities
need people plugged in to their environment to
succeed.
Having urban spaces for child’s play is also
essential for the retention of college-aged mil-
SPRING 2018 | J MAGAZINE 51