Making the most of a fork in the road: Cedar Park playground

Playground: Cedar Park playground
Location: Baltimore Ave. @ 50th St. (triangular island where Baltimore and Catherine veer apart; parking seemed easiest on Catherine)
Date visited: May 28, 2012

Equipment:

• Low monkey-bars (not quite low enough for a 4-yr old but close; chin-height for a short mom)
• Three spinning seats
• One playset with miscellaneous climbing (including a small climbing wall), two medium slides (each straight metal), bench and "shop window"/step under, low and high hanging bars
• modern purple "teeter-totter arch" (some challenge for bigger kids)

Ages: 1-10
Surface: rubbery/cement, grass
Shade(0-3): 1
Water: N
Other: Several long walls (2 ft high) -- great for walking along; shady grassy areas, 2 chess tables, lunch truck (at least when we visited), trolley-watching
Access: Open

Impressions: Brand new, cute playground in a little park in a little park that's really a glorified traffic triangle, offers pleasant settings for a family outing.  Mostly aimed at the younger set (who in fact seem to make up the bulk of real-world use) but a nice variety, although metal slides will get hot in summer.  Pleasant breezes and neighborhood-y feel for a picnic in the grass.  Lack of swings is perplexing!
Overall rating: 8

Shiny but headed for tarnish? Kingsessing Park

Playground: Kingsessing Park playground
Location: Kingsessing at 50th St.
Date visited: 8/1/10 (Sunday morning)

Equipment: Two playsets not too far apart:

• Tot zone is a lower set of platforms (around 3 feet) including steps and low climbing bits, solid and jointed bridges (the latter daunted our 29-month-old), three slides (all metal), and small kid-height benches in a gazebo setting in the middle. Decent shade in this zone. Also a freestanding hobby horse.
  
  
• Bigger kid zone has platforms around 6 feet. Neat sorts of climbing (as well as steps), a lon bridge, submarine-style climbing into the middle of one platform, straight and spiral slides (metal). Underneath the fun continues, with a "monkey bar" stretch of rings, little seats, and door/window for smaller kids. No shade over any of this equipment though.

There's also a row of swings that is between the two playsets, with 4 buckets and 4 straps (and also a stretch missing whatever it might have been intended to contain).
Ages: 1-9
Surface: rubbery
Shade(0-3): 2/0
Water: N
Other: ballfield, extra grassy field (football? soccer?), large brick rec. center (onetime school?), pool, basketball, tennis practice wall, tennis courts (with no nets), picnic tables, some blacktop/cement areas, a loop for small bikes or skateboards
Access: open access

Impressions: A location sandwiched between two large playing fields gives this park playground a nice feel, despite the hard-worn nearby houses and presence of blowing trash. Well-designed and creative equipment offer fun for a range of ages, with features to challenge or entertain. Shaded picnic tables and easy parking (and/or nearby trollies on Chester) are a plus, although the exposure of the swings is a bit hard for hot summer days. On net, the place is close to being a destination playground, but there are signs that the recent overhaul, funded by a federal grant, isn't being kept up -- missing nets on the tennis courts, broken bucket swings (2 out of 4), and the trash issues. I hope that somebody in the area will hold the Recreation Department to a better standard of behavior, but it's hard to know.
Overall rating: 8