Why not just ban playing, too?

Whenever I read one of these stories about governments ordering kids to stop playing tag, or removing swings and sandboxes from playgrounds, I always ask myself: “Who is dumb enough to defend these policies in public?”

Thanks to this article in the Sun-Sentinel of Florida, now I know. It’s Safety Director Jerry Graziose, the Broward County, FL official who ordered kids to stop running at county playgrounds:

How about swings or those hand-pulled merry-go-rounds [being allowed on playgrounds]?

“Nope. They’ve got moving parts. Moving parts on equipment is the number one cause of injury on the playgrounds.”

Teeter-totters?

“Nope. That’s moving too.”

Sandboxes?

“Well, I have to be careful about animals” turning them into litter boxes.

Cement crawl tubes?

“Vagrants. The longer they are, the higher possibility that a vagrant could stay in them.

How about sanity? Common sense? Are these allowed in Broward County, FL?