Hotspots and Coldspots

W-iFi Hotspots:

A WiFi Hotspot provides  high-speed wireless Internet access in convenient public locations.
 
Recently Google teamed up with the Chelsea Improvement Company to transform all of southwest Chelsea into a free W-iFi hotspot.   link

                                  Google Wi-Fi Hotspots are yellow, Coldspots are blue

This is a great start. There are other free  Wi-fi hotspots in Chelsea, such as at the  Flatiron Plaza and the Mulenberg Library.Others can be found here

Coldspot:No free wi-Fi

Low signal strength-spotty neighborhood coverage

High Signal srength-Whole neighborhood is a Wi-Fi hotspot.

No Fee-Fi Hotspot Ideas

Building on the success of Chelsea's free Wi-Fi hotspots,  Park Chelsea has come up with a number of innovative new No Fee-Fi hotspot ideas to help transform more of Chelsea's parks and  public spaces  from coldspots to hotspots:

Read-Fi Hotspots:

A  Read-Fi HotSpot provides  access to printed reading materials in convenient public locations. Chelsea has a very few free Read-Fi hotspots ,we call these libraries.  But they all don't have to be libraries...

Bryant Park Reading Room a outdoor Read-Fi hotspot that began in  1935

Bryant park offers a outdoor Read-Fi hotspot called The Reading Room  on 42nd st between 5th and 6th avenues.

The Portable Uni, a temporary Read-Fi hotspot

We have been discussing with  the people at the Uni Project, which is a portable temporary outdoor  reading room,the possibility of  Read-Fi enabling an outdoor space in Chelsea with a  permanent Uni.

 Recently a Citybench was added to Muhlenberg Library, this has turned it into a defacto  outdoors  Read-Fi Hotspot.

Proposed prototype sign to let public know that Muhlenberg is now a Read-Fi hotspot

for more on theMmuhlenberg Read-Fi hotspot proposal use this link:
Muhlenberg Library offers More seating to Patrons


Rec-Fi Hotspots
 Most of the Chelsea areas  parks and other public open spaces contain very few active and social recreation activities for adults.   We'd like to see Chelsea Rec-Fi enabled  with Recreation Station Rec-Fi hot spots placed in  Chelsea's parks and other public open spaces. Recreation Stations contain a variety of portable active, social and solitary recreation items.

Contents of Recreation Stations Hot Spots  will be custom stocked for the unique needs of each location. One for seniors would contain things like mahjong, rummy-q, and scrabble,  a children's one would containitems as  jump ropes, hula hoops, lego sets, and toys.  Shown here, a prototype Recreation Station Rec-Fi Hotspot for a Community Garden area.

Fit-Fi Hotspots
fixed location Active recreation equipment for adults.

Coldspot:no active recreation
 Log signal strength: Locations that offer only 1 or 2 activities
 High signal strength: locations offering a variety of activities for all age groups.

Adding a outdoor ping pong table ($700-$4000) or Fitness equipment are medium cost ways  to create Fit-Fi hotspots or to increase signal strength of existing ones. 

.

Some Fi-Fi equipment can be placed anywhere. Here is a photo from Daug, China showing  active recreation equipment that is embedded into a sidewalk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

and here's LA's just open Active Recreation parklet that has Foosball and Fitness  bikes

 

Yes, there is foosball. (Siobhan Burke)

Enjoying one of the parklet’s exercise bikes. (Siobhan Burke)

  More on Fit Fi Hotspots

 

Play-Fi Hot Spot

Free playspace for Children

Coldspot- no playspace
Low signal strength: 1 or 2 activities
Medium signal strength:
High signal strength: many activities

Adding a  Recreation Station to a space can transform it into a Play-Fi hotspot or  transform a low signal strength location into a high signal strength location.

Seat-Fi Hotspots
If you've walked around Chelsea looking for a place to sit outdoors you've noticed most of Chelsea is a coldspot with seats few and far between.. The Park Chelsea map shows all currently available outdoor Seat-Fi hotspots. The goal of Park Chelsea is to" Seat-Fi  enable" all of Chelsea  with a "Seat near every street" you can find our newest Seat-Fi hotspots here.
 

Chelsea's  Desmond Tutu Center has this  garden that's  great to look at, but not open to the public. It was a neighborhood coldspot.

The addition of a Citybench has transformed this from a coldspot to a Seat-Fi hotspot

Coldspot-no seating

Low signal strength: Benches in a park or open space

Medium signal strength: tables with fixed seating, or  benches on sidewalks

High signal strength: tables and moveable chairs

Scientific studies have shown that High signal strength Seat-Fi hotspots facilitate conversations between people  link

Green_Fi Hotspots
A Community garden is a Green Fi hotspot. The Chelsea Garden Club has turned Chelsea's  8th/9th Ave green ways bike paths  into Green-Fi hotspots. The addition of Community Gardens to NYC parks can greatly increase the number of Green_fi hotspots in Chelsea.

 Free-Fi Hotspot

A Free-Fi hotspot would turn a location into a place where people people could recycle goods. Chelsea's Penn South Co-op's has Free-Fi hotspots for residents  in many of their laundry rooms. No reason they can't be added to more publically accessible locations.

 A Free-Fi Hotspot at the Penn South Coop

 

Toy-Fi Hotspot

A Toy-Fi Hotspot would be a toy lending library  in a convenient public locations

  

Toy Lending Libraries are kinda  like book libraries  the main difference being  you take out toys instead of books. 

 New Zealand,  has more than 200 toy libraries and about 4 million people, in contrast to the U.S., which has the same number of toy libraries and a population of more than 300 million. 

  By having a top library it will provide toys to Chelsea residents who can't afford the latest, greatest and expensive toys. link 

 

There are presently no Toy-Fi hotspots in Chelsea

 
. There are public libraries who have toys in their library so   one possible location to create a Toy-Fi hotspot would be the Mulenberg Library.

 

Hi Fi Hotspots

 link

Hi-Fi was the original Fi. It's music. Adding a musical instrument to a space add life to it. link

 

 

Age Fi Hotspot

A location with activities for seniors

. Senior Centers are Age-Fi Hotspots

Senior playgrounds are Age-Fi hotspots  

 

Food-Fi Hotspots

Food-fi is having food vendors at a location. It's not one of the No Fee-fi's but eating is a very popular activity in outdoor spaces, and can do a great deal to get people to use a spot. We're for Food-fi with several  caverts, we're against their placement when Food-Fi 

 -is added in Lieu of the No-Fee Fi's 

ex:The Callente Cab Company is a restaurant that has essentially  usurped a public space  link

-Pushes out the No Fee-Fi's

 ex: In Union Square Park,  an area with 150 restaurants and no free active recreation locations for adults,  the BID wishes to replace a community space with a high priced restaurant.    link

 

 

Indoor Recreation Activiries

Free Indoor Activities Spaces  in and around Chelsea

(This is a work in progress, email additions/corrections/deletions to dvoicenyc (at) yahoo.com)

Activity
Basketball:C,V
Board Games:P
Chess:A
 Classes:P,Q,R
Computer/Internet : C,D,E,F,G,H P R
Co Working :  Z
Dance/Aerobics: C
Fitness Equipment:C
Handball:
Indoor Sports-C,V
Kids Playspace-C,D,H,V
Labyrinth Walk-B 1 W29th
Library D,E,F,G,H,T

Meals: P
Moveable Seating with tables :A,D,E,F,G,H
 Pool Table-P
 Ping Pong-C

Senior Center:P,Q,R, M , S

Swimming--C
Table Hockey-V
Volleyball: C
WiFi:P,Q


Indoor Recreation Locations

These facilities are open to  all:
A:Bank of America Atrium: 115 W42nd (Weekdays)
 B: Marble Collegiate Church 1 W29th (Wed 5-6,7-830 , 1st Sun1-3pm)
 C: Chelsea Recreation Center: 430W25th (free under xx  $25  over 62, others $150/year)

Libraries:
 D:Mulenberg 209W23rd
E:Science, Industry Business: 188 Madison@34th
 F:Schwarzman Building : 455 5th@40th
G:Mid Manhattan Library: 476 5th@40th ,
H:Jefferson Market Library 425 6th @10th

*The following facilities are open to qualified individuals:
LBGT:
M:SAGE 305 7th
N:GMHC 446 W 33rd St 
 O:Gay Center  208 W 13th


 Senior Centers
P:Fulton Center:119 9th (over 55)
Q:Penn South Seniors 290 9th Ave (over 55)
R: Senior Planet 127 w 25th St (over 60)


Visually Impaired:
S:Visions Senior Center: 135 W 23rd
T:Andrew Heiskell Library -40 W 20th

Youth(under n years old)
V::Elliott Center 441W26th St

freelancer, artist or entrepreneur
Z:Wix Lounge: 10 W 18th St

Parks to Community Gardens

The Penn Station South playground is on my block. A large extended family comes to using on the weekends. The men play volleyball and the women sit around and watch the men play volleyball. I was thinking wouldn't it be great if the women could create gardens and so as to have something to do with their time.


They can of course create regular gardens in these parks. They also might think of creating miniatures gardens

Building a Park/Playground Cost Comparisons

What does it cost to build/add more functionality to a outdoor community space?


New park/Playground 

Imagination Playground

 The cost of building a new park/playground is $2.5-5 million dollars, or more. link

Park Renovation NYC 

Ramone Aponte before restoration

Renovating Ramone Aponte Park and the Matthews Palmer Playground in Hell's Kitchen will cost between $1.5-2 million dollars for each renovation

 

 Schoolyard to Playground

PS 138X Before and After

 The cost of a Schoolyard to Playground transformation averages around $430,000. link


Sky Parks/Community Gardens

Lotus Garden on 96th St

Manhattans Lotus Garden is a truly great community space built on top of a parking garage. link

Building a commercial rooftop garden is $10-15 a square foot. So a 10,000 sq ft one would normally be $100,000-150,000. The UpGarden is  a 30,000 sq foot one built by volunteers that cost $150,000. link
The Hells Kitchen Farm Project is our own local version. link

 Low Cost Recreation Options

Cost of Adding Adult Fitness Equipment to Parks
 “They’re not controversial,” said Michael Shull, a parks superintendent in Los Angeles, which spends an average of $40,000 on a site for adults, versus $300,000 for children. New York City’s adult playgrounds will cost from $75,000 for the smallest one, with five pieces of equipment, to more than $200,000, park officials said. In contrast, children’s playgrounds typically start at $500,000, with the majority running $1 million to $2 million. link

Senior Playground Equipment 

 Street Park Benches- Microparks for Seniors

   

Tutu Center Micropark   10th @20th Street

 They (seniors)  care about benches, trees, gardens and open space closest to where they live. Big parks are for occasional visits in most cases. :Creating an Age Friendly NY

The cost of adding a Citybench to on our streets is  under $3,000. 120 benches, enough for one on just about every block of Chelsea would cost $360,000. link

Parklets 

 A parklet is a small urban park, often created by replacing several under-utilized parallel parking spots with a patio, planters, trees, benches, café tables with chairs, fountain(s), artwork, sculptures and/or bicycle parking
  $11,000-$25,000 (see Page 134  )





Recreation Toolbox
Under $1,000 per park  link

 Outdoor Foosball A little over $1,000 get this piece of equipment 

Table Tennis: For around $4,000 (including delivery) you can buy an outdoor  table tennis  table, just like the one Bryant Park has.

Street Signage


Walking trails



Park Bench Fitness

link



  

Schoolyards to Playgrounds/ Libraries to Loose Parks

My cousin Ester passed away at 97 years old last week, So I returned to Boro Park the Brooklyn neighborhood I grew up in for a condolence call. . Getting off  the train I saw 2 of the neighborhood schoolyards  had been transformed into playgrounds. Under the NYC Schoolyards to Playgrounds Program.

PS 131 Brooklyn

PS 164 was the public school I graduated from. When I was a child , I recall its schoolyard  as being a bleak place  totally devoid of anything to do

PS 138X Before and After

NYC's Schoolyards to Playgrounds program has the goal of converting over  200 NYC public school yards into public playgrounds that are open to all after school hours and on weekends.


Of  260  sites only 19 are to be in in Manhattan and only THREE of those are south of 110th Street

 Schoolyards to Playgrounds   Dec 2009 map

Of the 3 slated for Manhattan south of 110th two have been put on hold. Leaving Manhattan south of 110 with only ONE schoolyard into playground.

Manhattan neighborhoods are Starved for Open Space

Chelsea- Our Chelsea neighborhood has too few parks link 

Greenwich Village: Ours is a park-starved district.link

 Yorkville— The Upper East Side is starved of open space link

 East Side: :the neighborhood has much less park space than most of the city, NY Observer

A lot is  written  about Manhattan neighborhoods being starved for open space . Why aren't more then 3 schoolyards below 110th street  being turned into playgrounds?

 The Schoolyard to Playground Site at  116 West 11th St making it an easy walk to southeast Chelsea residents. However the site has been put on hold


This press release says 200 playgrounds were built for about 87.6  million dollars.That's $438,000 per playground. Cost of building some recent parks dept Playgrounds has run from  $2.5-5 million dollars each.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG OPENS 200th "SCHOOLYARD TO PLAYGROUND" AS PART OF PLANYC INITIATIVE TO ENSURE ALL NEW YORKERS LIVE WITHIN A TEN MINUTE WALK OF A PARK OR PLAYGROUND
More than 700 acres of New Parkland and 134 Acres of Schoolyards Converted to Playgrounds Have Been Opened by Bloomberg Administration

71 Percent of New Yorkers Now Live Within a 10 Minute Walk of a Park or Playground

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability David Bragdon, Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe and Schools Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott today opened the 200th “Schoolyard to Playground” at P.S. 69 in Jackson Heights as a part of the PlaNYC initiative to ensure all New Yorkers live within a 10 minute walk of a park or playground. The newly opened playground at P.S. 69 is the latest schoolyard to be renovated and opened to the public during non-school hours through the program, which is turning schoolyards into playgrounds in neighborhoods across the city. The Mayor also was joined at the announcement at P.S. 69 by Queens Borough President Helen M. Marshall, State Senator Jose R. Peralta, Assembly Member Francisco P. Moya, City Council Member Daniel Dromm, P.S. 69 Principal Martha Vazquez and Mary Alice Lee of the Trust for Public Land, the City’s primary partner for the program.
“Since 2002, our Administration has been committed to creating new public parks and new open spaces of every kind,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “PlaNYC, our long-term sustainability agenda, identified public schoolyards that could be opened up year-round in neighborhoods most in need of open space. Despite the economic downturn, we’ve maintained our commitment to this innovative program and we are delivering on our promise. In a time of tight budgets, our schoolyards represent a great opportunity for transforming existing, underused resources into something we can all enjoy.”
“PlaNYC sets a goal of every New Yorker living with a 10 minute walk of a park,” said Director of Long-term Planning and Sustainability Bragdon. “It’s a simply-stated but profoundly ambitious goal, and one we are on the way to delivering. The Schoolyard to Playground program is a creative use of previously underused open space to bring recreation opportunities to underserved neighborhoods and do it cost-effectively for taxpayers.”
“Active play and recreation are not only for having fun, but play a crucial role in child development and fitness,” said Parks Commissioner Benepe. “Thanks to our program, we have been able to create more spaces for children to play by improving schoolyards and keeping them open outside of school hours. This 200th site is an important milestone in making our city a more sustainable, healthier place to live and play.”
“The strong partnership between PlaNYC, the Parks Department and the Department of Education has been so instrumental to the City’s efforts to ensure children have access to safe and clean playgrounds in their neighborhoods,” Schools Chancellor Walcott. “I am so happy to be here today at P.S. 69 in Queens to mark this important milestone and see children enjoying this new space.”
PlaNYC’s Schoolyards to Playgrounds initiative is investing $87.6 million to convert schoolyards into playgrounds and community parks complete with fields, basketball courts, play equipment, gardens, and trees. The City works with the Trust for Public Land to design, develop, and open the sites, which are open and accessible to the community on weekdays from after school till dusk and on weekends or days when school is not in session from 8:00 AM till dusk.
PlaNYC calls for a total of 230 schoolyards to be converted into playgrounds by 2013. A schedule for an additional 28 locations is currently being determined.
The Trust for Public Land, which works across the country to conserve land for people to enjoy local parks, playgrounds, and natural areas, has helped design and build 30 of the Schoolyards to Playgrounds in PlaNYC and the Trust is working to help design another 125 of the locations in the program. The Trust also has built an additional 24 playgrounds in New York City.
The Schoolyards to Playgrounds initiative uses a participatory design process – designing the playgrounds with ideas generated by the local school community, including children and teachers. This design process facilitates in-depth interagency and community coordination and opens up dialogue to ensure continued success of the parks after they are open to the public.






MEDIA CONTACT:

Stu Loeser / Marc La Vorgna   (212) 788-2958

Vickie Karp (Parks)   (212) 360-1311

Natalie Ravitz / Margie Feinberg (Schools)   (212) 374-5141

 The Bloomberg Administration reckoned that 69 schoolyards required nothing more than a school custodian to turn a key in order to help meet the goal. And by the summer of 2007, 69 were in fact opened—at a cost of $50,000 per school to pay custodians as reported by the New York Post—in neighborhoods ranging from Brownsville in Brooklyn to Belmont in the Bronx. link


Libraries to Parks

If you can turn schoolyards into Fixed equiopment parks, I think Libraries with Lawns can be turned into Loose Parks.

 The closest park to this  NYPL Tottenville  branch on Staten Island,is a 10 minute walk. This branch  has  benches on its lawn(upper left) so it currently acts as a passive recreation park.  . By adding portable  recreation equipment lending to this branch,  you would now have an active recreation park with a staffed parkhouse.





This is Staten Islands St Georges Branch Library. Note the lawn that is I suspect currently mostly used by birds and local squirrels.

By offering Recreation equipment loan of items like  hula, hoops, jump ropes, lawn chairs, board games,  etc, this space  can be transformed into a outdoor playspace for the neighborhood.

If NYC's Department of Transportation can transform its roadways(below) into parks, no reason our libraries can do what the Johnston Library did and turn their laws into staffed micro parks that loan recreation equipment.

Active Recreation Micropark

 
How do I design an active recreation parklet?
 Parklets are commonly places of passive activity.
However, as small parks, they also provide a unique and
thus far unexplored opportunity to create spaces for
physical exercise. Given the cost of creating large-scale
parks in urban environments, as well as the public and
private costs associated with overweight and obesity, active
recreation parklets could provide a solution to help address
these challenges.
The proposed parklet on Spring Street in Los Angeles
will likely be the first active recreation parklet in the
nation. The parklet is designed using the same outdoor
fitness equipment found in Los Angeles’ fitness zones (see
description in Chapter 1). Various types of outdoor fitness
equipment are available and can be installed at the
parklet. Equipment used in a parklet should be relatively
compact and intuitive for people to operate. An observed
study of users of fitness zones in Los Angeles found that the
least utilized equipment were the horizontal bars and leg
press.39
The installation of fitness equipment in parklets affects
the type of material that can be used for the parklet
platform as well as the minimum equipment clearances.
The proposed Spring Street parklet uses stationary bicycles.
According to the design plans, the platform will be
constructed of pre-cast concrete pavers; thus, the exercise
machines will be bolted into the roadbed rather than on top
of the platform. The landscaping will extend from the seating
area into the exercise area in order to link these two areas
together. The bench in the middle will be situated slightly
away from the machine to allow for proper clearances.
Designers should check with equipment companies to
select the type of fitness machines and incorporate the
appropriate clearances into the site design.
link

Rendering for active parklet to be installed on Spring Street, in Downtown Los Angeles. Credit: Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council

link



UPDATE Feb 2013... The nation  first active recreation parklet is now open...

The “active” parklet contains a foosball table. The other contains a bar. (Sam Lubell / AN)

Yes, there is foosball. (Siobhan Burke)

Enjoying one of the parklet’s exercise bikes. (Siobhan Burke)

link 

Note the fun  swing seats in this LA parklet

Christine Kim/Secret Agent PR

To understand a city’s character, look no further than its parklets (which, as you know by now, are those mini–urban parks that replace parking spots with public amenities). San Francisco will never say no to a potential hack—witness Rebar’s awesome but ill-fated parklet made from a sliced Citroën cycling van—and Los Angeles will turn just about anything into a workout. With the opening last week of two new parklets on Spring Street in downtown L.A., passersby who regret downing that entire venti mochaccino can hop on one of the parklets’ two exercise bikes and people-watch while squeezing in a few minutes of cardio. Their bored companions can try a hand at the foosball table or just text from one of the nifty swing-style seats. Sure beats idling in a car! Read more.

The new parklets are an initiative of the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Complete Streets Working Group, which collaborated with city council, city planners, the local business improvement district, and AHBE Landscape Architects to transform two parking spots into a mini-playground for pedestrians. With some pro-bono help from Hensel Phelps, these urban patios warm up the streetscape with wood deck tiles, modular pavers, perforated-steel guardrails, and custom wood planters.
 link

Fitness Zone

This toolkit discusses not only parklets as places for
passive enjoyment (intended for people to sit, relax and
socialize), but also parklets as public spaces for active
recreation. A leader in the movement for public spaces
for active recreation in the Los Angeles region, the Trust
for Public Land began their “Fitness Zones” program in
2005 with funding from the Kaiser Permanente Foundation.
These fitness zones are outdoor gyms that contain exercise
equipment machines and are located within public parks.
The goal of the Fitness Zones program is to:
“Create a fun, accessible, and social environment
where people can enjoy getting fit. We know that
just getting outdoors makes people healthier and
happier. Fitness Zones take that one step further by
giving people free access to top-quality exercise
equipment suitable for all levels of fitness.”13
The process, from planning to installation of a fitness
zone, provides lessons relevant to installing parklets in
Los Angeles. For each project, the Trust for Public Land
works with a community partner to select a park location.
Selection is based on local need, demonstrated by limited
park space and a sizable local population representing

a variety of park users and potential users. After the park
is selected, the Trust for Public Land works closely with the
Los Angeles County Recreation and Parks Department to
select a particular place within the park. Selection criteria
include site visibility and shade. The Trust for Public Land then
hires a contractor to install the exercise machines at the
selected site, and gifts the machines to the Recreation and
Parks Department that is responsible for their maintenance.
The Recreation and Parks Department also holds liability
insurance for the fitness zones.
Each fitness zone costs approximately $45,000.
Costs include six to eight pieces of exercise equipment,
installation, and staff time for permitting and agency
coordination. As of June 2012, fitness zones were located
in 29 different parks in Los Angeles County. By the end of
August 2012, it is expected that 42 LA County parks will
contain fitness zones.
Researchers evaluated the fitness zones in 12 parks
and found that park use had increased in half of the parks
since the installation of a fitness zone.14 They also found a
correlation between the presence of a fitness zone and
elevated levels of exercise in a park, not only among
users of the fitness zone but also in other parts of the park.
Researchers speculate that seeing people on exercise
equipment encourages others to be more physically active.
link


Also see:

Sidewalk Outdoor Exercise Equipment

Transforming Bike Share Docking Stations into Community Recreation Stations

 

If we own it, we loan it -Transforming Chelsea's public spaces into Micro Bryant Parks

"If we own it, we loan it."
 " Our motto is, "If we own it, we loan it." Rutgers Recreation has all the racquets, balls, eyeguards, and outdoor gear you need either free of charge, or for a very low fee. Come join us today and let us help you get into shape and live a healthy lifestyle.-Rutgers University"



Bryant Park is one of  my favorite park in the Chelsea area. The reason is because it has a lot of different activities and  you can loan active, passive and social recreation equipment. Most Chelsea active recreation  parks have between 1 and 3  activities and you can't loan any equipment. Our passive recreation parks mostly offer ZERO  activities outside of sitting, talking,  reading and eating.How can we create the big budget  feel of Bryant Park  in Chelsea's parks without the big budget Bryant park has?

Creating Our own Low Cost Bryant Parks!

Bryant Park has a budget of over $2.6 million  a year. Most community parks don't even have a fraction of this budget. That doesn't mean you can't create a space almost as good at a fraction of the cost. Here's how through the creation of Play-Fi Hotspots.

 What's a Play-Fi Hotspot?

Chelsea has recently attained the status of being the nations first WiFi enabled neighborhood. From Gansevoort Street and West 19th Street from Eighth Avenue to the West Side Highway it's now all a Hotspot.

In a similar vein Park Chelsea  would like to see Play-Fi Recreation hotspots placed throughout  the Chelsea area.

A Play-Fi hot spot will  offer a variety of active and social recreation activities. Here how  to create a Play-Fi hotspot:

 -A Recreation Cabinet is  a cabinet containing  active, passive and social recreation equipment that will be available  to use at a Play-Fi enabled location.

Recreation cabinet -Community Organized storage cabinet for recreation items

Here's what we're looking for :
 -standard cabinets, high grade plastic  to last for years
 - a permanent installation at site
--ability to be locked for installations not in a gated environment
 -waterproof doors for inclement weather
-  self service, useable  without supervision on site.




 

Around $200 buys a  plastic OUTDOORS storage cabinet link

Stocking The Recreation cabinet

A pre school  needs  differ from  a senior center's, so every one will stock different items. here's some ideas...

Possibilities (and costs)
Hula Hoop: 11.00
Jump Rope:$3.66
Power Bands:14.99
Squeeze ball:$12.00
Foam Hand Exercise Grip Fitness And Strength Builder $3.98
Chalk:5.39
Travel Scrabble:$22.00
Chess set:$25.00
 Cards:$3.00
Balls
Marbles
Mah-jonng
RummeyQ
Go
jacks
Soap Bubbles big:6.00
Video Games
Books
Graphic Novels
Magazines
 Recreation Books (,New Games, Sidewalk Games,Nancersize )
Lego Blocks:
Puzzles:
Toys

Gardening implements
seeds

The cabinet will not only be stocked by the facility management, but more importantly Community members will be able to add items to it. 


 This attractive bench..

.

doubles as recreation equipment storage!

 



Add some attractive seating to your yard while reducing clutter with this handy outdoor storage bench. The Step2 bench provides comfortable seating with back support for 2 adults. Then just open the lid to access the roomy 5 cu. ft. storage area inside. It's the perfect place to store lawn furniture, cushions, game equipment, toys, pool and garden equipment and more

Eden Garden Bench seats 2, lockable



These stackable containers can be filled with books or playthings, and placed on the ground, tables or benches

link

To move them around they can easily be stacked on this low cost device

link

A moveable toy bin


This would hold playthings on the bottom and books on top, creating a combines Read-Fi, Play-Fi hotspot that can be moved from indoors to outdoors. 
link

Discouraging Equipment Theft

In Germany Ping Pong table paddles and balls are left outdoors on the table and are not stolen. Will leaving the locker open here work? I don't know but perhaps someone is will to try this here. Here are more secure ideas...

-Some spaces such as Bob's Park, Alices Garden, Astros Dog Run,Bird Park,  Clinton Community Garden are locked spaces.  The Lotus Garden on the Upper West Side  is a locked space that has had people steal flowers, so having a space locked is not a perfect solution, but hopefully this minimizes equipment loss

-Spaces like Herald Square park and Greeley Square Park have staff handing out tourist information. Why not have these same folks hand out recreation equipment?

-The High Line, Westside Community Garden  and Hudson River Park are all open spaces that  have members. Why not give Recreation Cabinet  keys to members as one of the perks of membership?

-Two of Hell's Kitchen City Parks (De Witt Clinton and Hell's Kitchen)  have recreation rangers in July/Aug  who loan  equipment. They can be Recreation cabinet  keepers for these months. 

Yes, some losses will occur.
- Budget several hundred dollars every year   for replacing items .
- Hold a "Stock theRecreation Cabinet " Community Get Together  Event  every year. Cost of admission-an item to stock the cabinet   with. 
  

Encouraging Equipment Theft

In the building complex  where I live there are cabinets in our laundry rooms  that are  used for book and magazine exchange . You can leave items there and take items from there. And you can take a magazine from it to read while you do your laundry.

This idea is to create a neighborhood item exchange  cabinet in public spaces where people from different buildings in the neighborhood can leave items like magazines and book,   and electronic equipment that they're no longer using so that other neighbors can then give these items a Second Life.

Given that this cabinet will constantly be restocked with new items it will encourage people to use the park on a regular basis to both bring items and take them.

Honor System

Thousands of Little Free Libraries work on the Honor system

About the Little Library

A project of the East Lake Schools Coalition, the East Lake Little Library is a path of mini libraries located throughout the Community of East Lake. The library is free for all to use. We operate on the honor system and only ask that if you borrow a book please return the book. Or feel free to add a book to the library. We want to make sure that everyone who wants to is able to enjoy the free library.The library has no operating funds. Maintenance and upkeep of each Little Library is taken care of by volunteer library stewards. We rely on borrowers to return their books and on book donations.

The East Lake Little Library is a part of a global movement. To learn more or to find other little libraries in Atlanta or around the world, visit the Little Free Library web site.


Swaps Library

 
 
Most of these libraries remain unlocked. Anyone can come and take away a book to read or a DVD to watch but they must be replaced by another item thereby keeping the stock ever replenished. The books, magazines, DVDs, and cassettes itself are donated by the villagers.
“The most fantastic thing about the Adopt A Kiosk scheme has been how communities across the country have become involved. Red phone boxes have become a focal point for all sorts of activities of real value to the local community. It's so gratifying to see our old rarely used boxes given a new lease of life”, says BT.

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Add a Seeking Activities Partners Bulletin Board to the Site

Bryant Park supplies a recreation person in the board games area who will play if you come on your own. Most parks/community gardens  can't supply this. The activities partners bulletin board serves as  a low cost substitute  for finding a activities partner.  Be it chess, poker ,  scrabble or ???, you'll be able to connect with  neighbors who you would never have otherwise known shared your interests  through the use of this activities Partners bulletin board.

Quartet® Bulletin Boards Aluminum Frame Cork Board; 48x36" $39.99 link 

  -Moveable seats

Tables with Moveable seats  make card games/Chess games / board game playing possible and make conversations so much easier . .  link

More Ideas to create Play-Fi Hotspots

Sidewalk games link      and labyrinth

Park Bench Excercise: Nancercize

 Community gardening link

Fitness Zone


Fitness trails

 Outdoor Foosball A little over $1,000 get this piece of equipment 

For around $4,000 (including delivery) you can buy an outdoor  table tennis  table, just like the one Bryant Park has. For more protected spaces one can be had for under $1,000.