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In 2017, the Mountain View City Council approved a project to design and install an all-inclusive Magical Bridge playground at Rengstorff Park. The full scale of the project is at risk, presently, for lack of funding. We are appealing to city leaders to promote a sense of urgency about this situation. Mountain View deserves to enjoy the profound benefits of a regional destination Magical Bridge playground, like our neighbors do in Palo Alto and soon to be joined by Redwood City, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, and Morgan Hill.
At the time of the council vote in 2017, the only Magical Bridge playground in existence was in Palo Alto’s Mitchell Park. We knew that many of our community members traveled to Palo Alto so they too could enjoy the benefits of play and community connections, and we wanted a Magical Bridge playground of our own in Mountain View.
Mindfully designed for everyone at every stage of life, Magical Bridge playgrounds allow all people to play, regardless of one’s abilities, at the same time using play equipment for all ages and sizes. If the adage of “if you build it, they will come” ever was tested, the results of the Palo Alto facility went beyond any forecast. People came. And they came. And they came again. In non-COVID-19 times, over 25,000 visitors play every month, with two-thirds of them coming from beyond the borders of Palo Alto. And the visits, on average, last over two hours.
Clearly, the demand exists, and other neighboring cities, including Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Redwood City, and Morgan Hill, all have stepped up to the plate by agreeing to build them. The idea of the inclusive playground was so important that the county of Santa Clara matched city funds through an All-Inclusive Playground Grant (AIPG). This is critical because the space size, the specialized equipment, signage, and overall safety of the location are very expensive to build.
The funding for the park has come from three primary sources. The first is the city, which contributed $1 million. The second is the county, which contributed $1.7 million. The third is the Magical Bridge Foundation, a nonprofit organization that designs the playground and raises funds for all the Magical Bridge locations by asking local residents and businesses for donations. For Mountain View, the foundation helped write the AIPG grant application and has additionally raised $1.13 million from 650+ community members. Plus, our school-aged kids in Mountain View collectively raised over $30,000 in pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters through school coin drives.
The City Council has the discretion to tap funds from the park reserves to build and maintain the public spaces we so much enjoy. Presently, there is a $900,000 deficit from what we have and what we need to fully fund the project and move forward. But there is an opportunity right now to change this.
When big corporate building projects are approved, attached to them are many “community benefit” requirements. On June 23, the council approved a massive Google project called “The Landings” with an estimated $44 million of community benefits that the city would reap. At this meeting, the council failed to attach the $900,000 community benefit fees to the Magical Bridge playground for Rengstorff Park. As such, the Magical Bridge playground may need to be scaled back considerably and would ultimately lose much of the real magic other communities will be enjoying.
We, along with others in the community, strongly encourage the council to dig deeper into their negotiations with Google or commit to using the park-in-lieu funds to move this project forward, or we will lose out on a huge benefit for our community for which we will all be proud. This is the time for the council to make a public commitment that absolutely everyone in Mountain View deserves a place to play, regardless of ability, disability, size, or age. We need to step up and give everyone in our beloved community a place to play at Magical Bridge playground in Rengstorff Park. Certainly, we need this valuable asset to exist in our city rather than compel people to travel elsewhere to enjoy what it has to offer.
Most of the money is already there. Let’s cross the finish line together and move this project forward to give this community a reason to celebrate true inclusion and be hopeful post-COVID-19.
Ken Rosenberg and Mike Kasperzak are former mayors of Mountain View.
The Voice accepts guest opinions of up to 600 words and letters to the editor of up to 300 words. Send signed op-eds and letters to letters@mv-voice.com by 5 p.m. Monday and noon on Tuesday, respectively.
The Voice accepts guest opinions of up to 600 words and letters to the editor of up to 300 words. Send signed op-eds and letters to letters@mv-voice.com by 5 p.m. Monday and noon on Tuesday, respectively.
The Voice accepts guest opinions of up to 600 words and letters to the editor of up to 300 words. Send signed op-eds and letters to letters@mv-voice.com by 5 p.m. Monday and noon on Tuesday, respectively.
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The existing playground at Rengstorff Park is perfectly fine. The box slide is a unique attraction and loved by many kids. There is no need to redo the park to build a cookie-cutter copy of Magical Bridge Playground.
JR – the existing playgground is not going away! This is an additional playground using the space where the small amphitheater is now, near the tennis courts. It will be an enclosed playground where all people, regardless of disability or sensory needs, can play. Many people have worked hard (including children who raised money in coins) to build this awesome park and we just need a little more – taken from funds the city has already collected for parks. This is a win-win for everyone in the community.
My kids raised funds to bring Magical Bridge to Mountain View at their school. My family travels to Magical Bridge Palo Alto (when it was open) because it was the only place they could safely play. It is the only place that our family feels part of the community. I wish that the council will help bridge the funding gap or that they would work closely with Google to get this funded. Please, this is so important to our family. We’ve waited long enough and it will take time to build this. Once Covid is behind us, our family and our community will have a place to play.
Christine, thanks for the info. I was misinformed. I support building “magical bridge” at Rengstorff Park while keeping the existing unique play structures.
What is the total MAGICAL PRICETAG for this pre-made playground? Why don’t you two go beg Google directly for money. Google has plenty. Tell ’em there are tax deductions to be obtained. Maybe COVID money. And PR. The playground might help children learn how to make big money operating a “non-profit” corporation that pulls money from many sources.
@mike and @Ken – Has the City collected these millions in community benefits? Or is it contingent on Google actually starting or finishing their approved project? If the latter, money doesn’t grow on magical trees… so where would it come from when City finances are also impacted by the pandemic?
Looking forward to playing at this Magical Bridge Playground with my whole family! I LOVED taking my 94 year old grandmother in her wheelchair around the whole Palo Alto playground and can’t wait to have more inclusive play spaces in the area.
This play structure bring joy to so many peoples faces and help kids interact. It’s inclusive of all people and should be put in Mt. View!!!
@magical pricetag – Google has given $150k towards this playground project, as well as other Magical Bridge Playgrounds around the area. See donators here: http://magicalbridge.org/mtnview/
First, my family and I are VERY excited about Magical Bridge playground coming to Mountain View and have (greatly!) supported this project since the very beginning.
Secondly, a reply to “MAGICALPRICETAG:” there is nothing “pre-made” about this playground and you must be confusing it with something unrelated. “Pre-made” is what most other public playgrounds since they are installed with very little variation. THIS playground will indeed be unique and custom in every way. I have enjoyed participating in the city community meetings and love the very CUSTOM approach Magical Bridge has with each of their parks.
Hopeful our council locates funds needed soon. Please know how excited and grateful we are as a community about this great playground becoming a reality for us and our families!
The money is already there. City Council just changed its mind. City Council could use the community benefit from Google. This was already negotiated and then City Council changed its mind. Or City Council could instead fund the remainder entirely with parkland dedicated funds, which are funds the City already has and can only be spent on parks.
Bringing Magical Bridge to Mountain View is a once an in lifetime opportunity that allows all ages and all abilities to play together. It’s so popular in Palo Alto because it meets the needs of seniors, teens, and people of all abilities. If the park is scaled, then someone’s needs won’t be met.
Magical Bridge would be located at Rengstorff Park which is in a socio-economically diverse area of Mountain View. Due to its design, it would also make social distancing easier.
At a time of such suffering, I don’t understand why City Council isn’t willing to take action to bring joy for years to come. For kids to raise $30,000 is a big deal. And adults care too. Mountain View has among the highest numbers of donors to Magical Bridge Foundation. I wish City Council would pay attention to what many residents want.
Thanks to Ken and Mike for writing this thoughtful and compelling guest opinion. I’m hopeful that decision makers, both at Google and the City, will eventually understand why obtaining full funding for this important and innovative playground is so essential. For sure, once this pandemic is over, we’re going to emerge to experience what remains available in our city (some, we already know, will be lost), and what might be new.
Is the design anywhere? I see there are renderings for magical bridges in Morgan Hill and Redwood City at the organization website.
I am thrilled that Mountain View could have a Magical Bridge playground for our community. My two young daughters love going to the one in Palo Alto, but would love one in their own community that they could go to more easily and often. The Magical Bridge playground builds strong communities by ensuring a place where everyone can play – together. In these times of divisiveness it’s particularly important that we ensure we are doing all we can to build a strong, inclusive, community. The funds are there – I hope City Council will listen to the children (who raised 30K!) and other members of the community who strongly support a Magical Bridge playground in Mountain View.
I sincerely hope the Magical Bridge playground project at Rengstorff Park can move forward as originally planned. My family lives in Mountain View, but we travel to Palo Alto for Magical Bridge—it’s truly a unique experience. Each piece of equipment at the playground is thoughtfully designed so that everyone can participate regardless of their ability/disability. Scaling back on the project compromises the playground’s inclusive spirit. I hope the MV city council members will approve using Park in Lieu fees to bridge the funding gap.
Mountain View is such a diverse and welcoming city. Over the years I’ve felt proud of how our City Council advocates for its citizens. By supporting Magical Bridge in carrying out this vision, the city centers our most vulnerable citizens and brings the whole community together.
Come on Council members and Google, let’s do it! Parents and children in the community needs to have something to look forward to especially these days when everything seems to go wrong.
Make the final decision so we can start building the Magical Bridge Mountain View.
The Magical Bridge Playground is truly the most magical place on Earth. While traditional local playgrounds do not directly or intentionally discriminate against those with disabilities, the Magical Bridge Playground’s intentional design establishes a community that has given my family so much joy. By providing a space that encourages the community to come together, I have personally witnessed times in which people of all abilities can collaborate through play. These interactions are crucial to not only support those with disabilities, but also ameliorate the reduction and elimination of the stigmas surrounding this community. This is the only place where several of my family/friends can play because it is so inclusive for those with physical and developmental disabilities. The amount of joy I see on the faces of those who enter the Magical Bridge Playground is insurmountable. This is such a special and important place for me because of how much I value providing equitable opportunities for those of differing abilities, as well as for many of those with whom I am close. This is truly a magical establishment that can benefit all community members through the joy and importance of play. 🙂
Mountain View can easily use the park in lieu of funds for this. I encourage you to do this, to make sure the park is accessible for everyone in our community.
it’s such a joke that people just act like covid-19 the thing and we should just go back to building million-dollar unnecessarily ridiculous and not that fun parks. The “magical bridge” in Palo Alto is super marginal, about as fun as the field of grass and trees that they destroyed to give your kids plastic and cancer to breathe instead at the cost of millions of dollars. Fifty full grown trees were chopped down. Why do your kids have asthma and other health problems???
it’s pretty pathetic that kids these days around here can’t play in a field or throw the ball to each other they’re all 2 dumb and afraid of each other to actually invent a cool game and play. Instead they need millions of dollars and cancerous materials apparently which is sucg a bad thing to teach a child
I don’t think anybody has any idea how broke we are now thanks to this disease or how broke we were before it happened. You act like we live in some like gilded age when in fact we’ve never been more broke or out of money in our lives. Your kid can’t play in a field full of oxygen ? Rengstorff Park isn’t good enough you need to pimp your community out to Google some more so you can give your kid plastic to play with
the whole reason mountain View is a disgusting mess now is because it just wants so badly to be like Palo Alto that it’s completely sold out.
As a parent with disability I personally know the value of magical bridge playground. Having this playground will make our city a model of inclusive innovative design and provide a much needed “outdoor living room” to match our beautiful rec center and l pool. Mountain View has always been forward thinking from our investment in Shoreline , Stevens Creek Trail, the Performance Arts Center, has made our community more livable. The park funds are there let’s use them.
As a parent with disability I personally know the value of magical bridge playground. Having this playground will make our city a model of inclusive innovative design and provide a much needed “outdoor living room” to match our beautiful rec center and pool. Mountain View has always been forward thinking from our investment in Shoreline , Stevens Creek Trail, the Performance Arts Center, these strategic investments has made our community more livable. The park funds are there let’s use them and fulfill the commitment made under the Santa Co Grant. These are matching funds that were committed under the terms of the grant I hate to impact our City’s relationship with the county for an issue resolvable with existing dedicated funds.
I am a Mountain View resident and parent of a child with a disability. I fully support the Magical Bridge Mountain View project, and encourage the council to allocate funds immediately or negotiate with Google. Our family made many visits to the Palo Alto Magical Bridge, and have seen the unique and important role it plays not only for disabled people, but for the entire community, and for creating a venue for demonstrating our values of inclusion. If Magical Bridge had existed when my kids were little, I know they would have benefited from it. As high schoolers, they still have benefited from volunteering and participating in events there. We would be proud to say that Mountain View is a city that supports inclusion through Magical Bridge and we encourage the city council to take this critical action as soon as possible.
To “Let’s get more broke”
Your anonymous comment is full of assumptions and disdain. Perhaps you missed that Magical Bridge playgrounds are designed specifically for individuals with disabilities and enjoyed by all?
On behalf of Magical Bridge Foundation and for all of those so passionate about our work to give everyone at every stage of life a place to play in Mountain View, we thank former Mayor Rosenberg and Kasperzak for your words of support for Magical Bridge Playground coming to Mountain View.
I want to address some of the comments above.
@Stephen – we are not posting the drawings of the playground because we need to know how munch funding we indeed have. With that said, we did share conceptual drawings and renderings (based on a fully funded Magical Bridge Playground) with the Mountain View Park Commissioners. You can watch that video and see those images here:
https://youtu.be/mzdxuwh2jU0
@Let’s get more broke. I would like to correct your comment about how many trees were removed at Magical Bridge Palo Alto. We moved a few palm trees to another location in Mitchell Park (right near the tennis and pickle-ball courts) and replaced them with 5 native, mature trees throughout the playground, which were needed for shade.
I am happy to speak with anyone who has questions about Magical Bridge Playground coming to Mountain View — and sharing my personal phone number and email address. 650-520-8512 or jill@magicalbridge.org
Here is what I can promise everyone in Mountain View:
We are committed to making Magical Bridge Mountain View welcoming for everyone, at every stage of life. Magical Bridge Mountain View will NOT be cookie-cutter to Magical Bridge Palo Alto. We are designing the playground using the existing typography and based on the funds we have, we will do our best to design and build a MAGICAL place for all. But we do need additional funds to make it similar in size and space to Palo Alto.
We are grateful for each and every donation made to this project. We are committed to make this come to life and be a place that each and everyone of you will be proud of. We promise that you will love this place and we will learn how to SAFELY open the playground post COVID-19.
Again, I am happy to connect live and talk through any concerns you might have — but in the end, I promise that young or old, able bodied or disability, large or small — you will LOVE Magical Bridge Mountain View.
With profound gratitude,
Jill Asher
Executive Director and Founder, Magical Bridge Foundation
Thanks Jill for offering to answer questions. I have two: (1) how much has your company been paid for each Magical Playground installed and (2) how much money were you paid in 2019?
@Magical Pricetag – from what Ken Rosenberg shared, Magical Bridge has been working to get funding from Google. I listened to the last council meeting and they did not approve $900k from the Landings community benefits package to go to the Magical Bridge project. It was really confusing but it seems that they want to revisit that amount at the September council meeting. One of the council members even asked Google to “just give Magical Bridge” the money directly for the Rengstorff project.
There were two council members (I think Lucas and Matichak) that opened the conversation to use park-in-lieu funds. I wonder where the rest of the council stands?
It seems that this project is caught between bickerings between the city (park in lieu funds) and Google Giving.
I wish they would all just stop, look at the big picture, and decide how to bring this to the finish line.
However, from the tone of your messages above, my guess is that this is a project that does not excite you. I wish it would. It will bring joy to all our residents and we do need something positive to look forward to. I know my family will benefit from this playground and imagine yours will too.
The project might excite me if. Executive Director “Jill” from the company answers my 2 simple questions above. Maybe you could call Jill and ask that the company charge less (specifically, the funding shortfall).
Since they already have a planned park with playground underway on Wyandotte St, why not make that space a Magical Bridge and maybe use half the money they thought they’d need to place it at Rengstorff? It already looks pretty much like it IS going to be a Magical Bridge space.
I fully support bringing Magical Bridge to Rengstorff. For those of you who haven’t been to the Palo Alto location, you should go and see for yourself–it’s a unique park, enjoyed by all children (not just special needs children), and I’d love to bring one to Mtn View. The location in Rengstorff Park (the “amphitheater”) is currently underutilized, and Magical Bridge would complement our new community center.
Where is the response from the Executive Director of the corporation Jill Asher to the two questions above?
I’m one of the donors to the project and I’m turn. Seeing where they want to put it, I don’t really want it anymore. The gazebos and such there are nice. Great spot for birthday parties, nice grass to sit on.
We’re building out this community in North Bayshore. Put it there to get people going to the businesses and such there will be created. Rengstorff doesn’t need this.
Then you also have a good reason to ask there development there to fund it.
Still no response from executive Director Jill Asher. Guess she disappeared – like magic.