New York City officials have welded the spinning playground equipment in local parks to the ground, claiming that it was so dangerous for kids that it posed a threat to public safety.
The city’s Parks and Recreation Department has either removed or welded to the ground the spinning discs at seven different parks in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, according to an article published in DNAInfo.
A department spokeswoman told the local news source that this was done “in the interest of public safety,” but would not discuss how many injuries had actually occurred as a result of the equipment.
Many area parents are not too happy about the decision. Brooklyn parent David Friedlander told DNAInfo that his two-year-old was disappointed to discover that the spinning disk at Vanderbilt Playground had become a stationary disk statue.
“I think it sucks,” he said. “I think it’s a sad commentary on how litigious and afraid we’ve become of having our children get a few boo-boos.”
It is not clear what the point of the equipment would even be once welded to the ground — seeing as the spinning feature is the only thing that makes it more fun than the regular ground — but apparently the city saw this as an appropriate use of time and resources.
It’s also not clear whether the city has plans to weld more playground equipment into the ground in the future.
— Katherine Timpf is a reporter for National Review Online.