The $25,000 from the county will be used to replace missing or vandalized parts of the older playground equipment at the K-8 school, said Nancy Gilbert, an organizer of an improvement project that has already seen landscape improvements made at the front of the building. "We're also hoping to stretch the money to make our fence higher," she said.
The fence on the east side of the playground is only 6 feet tall, and balls frequently bounce over it, according to PTA president Monica Scheober. Blaine students came up with the idea of making the fence higher so the balls wouldn't do that, she said.
The money from the county also will count as matching funds for $73,807 matching grant from the Department of Neighborhoods, Gilbert said.
Counting the $27,196 raised at a 2006 auction and from last year's Bike the Bluff event, organizers have raised more than $140,000 in cash and matching volunteer time and services, she said.
Future improvement plans include replacing the asphalt on the worst areas of the playground; adding benches at the pick-up drop-off areas on 34th Avenue West; installing better lighting at the main entrance and the stairs leading down from the street; new paint for the flagpole and a painted map of the world on the playground.
Also planned for the future is the installation of colorful tiles on the east wall of the stairway leading to the playground, the addition of a new basketball standard.
Gilbert said the Seattle School District needs to approve any improvement plans, and she cautioned that budget considerations might force some changes on the wish list.
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