Thank you to all of the Ward 9 residents and other Edmontonians who took the time to complete my survey on playground zones in our city ahead of the Community and Public Services committee meeting.

I wanted to reach out to as many residents as possible to get your feedback on the unintended consequences that have come with playground zones, as well as your thoughts on some solutions.

In total, almost 1,200 individuals completed the survey in a little less than a week, showing that this is an issue that Edmontonians care deeply about.

Here are the responses to the two multiple choice questions included in the survey:

The results show that the majority of those who took the survey wanted to see some sort of change to playground zones as they exist today.

The most popular suggestion was to change the hours of playground zones, with many additional comments that due to the long and dark winters Edmonton experiences, a one size fits all approach does not work.

The two open ended questions on the survey saw a lot of suggestions for problem playground zones, with Ramsay Park easily being the most mentioned example. Other playground zones mentioned included Tomlinson Common, Falconer Road, and northern sections of Bulyea Heights. Our office will be forwarding all of this information to administration for review.

I think it’s also important to note that some playground zones were mentioned as working well, showing once again that citizens aren’t looking to outright eliminate these areas, rather, it’s about using common sense when creating them.

After reading the feedback from citizens, and chatting with Council colleagues, I will be bringing forward a series of motions at Council on Tuesday April 24 that will hopefully see common sense and data driven decision making prevail when it comes to playground zones, and speed limits on our roadways.

Thank you again for taking the time to share your feedback - I’ll be sure to post an update after the meeting.

-Tim