1,300 kids with no place to play: Ryan Heights looks to city for new playground

Morning North6:01One woman's crusade to improve the local playground

The playground in the Ryan Heights area of Greater Sudbury is run-down and too small for the number of children who might play there. Dee Latourelle told the CBC's Angela Gemmill about her vision for the park and her efforts have the park improved.Ryan Heights in Sudbury is a densely-populated neighbourhood, with several high-rise apartments and other housing units.

Despite the numbers, RyanHeights islacking one thing crucial to any healthy neighbourhood: playgrounds.

There is a small, tot-sized play structure on the grounds, a somewhat rusty swing set, a sand pit, and a basketball court whose pavement is cracked and overgrown with weeds. A nearby storage structure is sprayed with graffiti.

Dee Latourelle, president of the Ryan Heights Neighbourhood Association, said the 1,300 children who live there deserve better.

Latourelle said she wants to see the play area restored to what it was like, more than a dozen years ago, when her kids were younger.

"My dream playground would be filled with kids and parents interacting," Latourelle said.

"Once you have parents interacting, that's when you have parents wanting to get involved."

Latourelle said she is seeking out municipal funding from the Healthy Community Initiatives Fund.

She has also applied to the Kraft Heinz Project Play national competition, where the winner gets $250,000to upgrade a recreational facility.

It isn't the money that keeps Latourelle motivated, however, but the opportunity to see improvements for a neighbourhood that has been neglected over the years, both by politicians and residents.

"I'm trying to create excitement and a reason to come over again by renovating the playground, expanding it, adding structures that are more challenging for the kids, so that they don't play in some of the areas they are playing," she said.

"We see a lot of kids playing in the bush along the fence and so I'm trying to bring back the activity at the playground."