Madison is hosting the 24th Annual Neighborhoods USA Conference this year, from May 26th to May 29th, and the TLNA is sponsoring two youth passes for the conference. NUSA is the nationÕs largest grassroots neighborhood association, boasting more than 1,100 members.

Hosting this conference is a feather in the cap of our city. It is an especially important opportunity for MadisonÕs neighborhood organizations to participate in discussion, learning and sharing expertise at a national level and become even stronger partners with our community. Most of the sessions and conference activities are being held at Monona Terrace.

One of the most positive aspects of this conference is that it solicits the involvement of youth between the ages of twelve to eighteen (with adult chaperones) to take part. The conference offers sessions particularly targeted to youth, including a get acquainted session, an outdoor Leadership Training Institute held at Olin Park, and sessions on the relationship between neighborhoods and schools, girl neighborhood power, youth and the arts, school safety and neighborhood beautification. Several of these sessions, including the get acquainted session and the youth leadership training session, are being co-led by our own Jim Dunn.

The TLNA board has approved the funding of passes for two youths from the Tenney-Lapham neighborhood to attend the conference and any sessions desired. We would like to solicit names of young people who would take maximum advantage of this opportunity, so if you know a young man or woman who is active in the community and might enjoy and benefit from the conference, please contact me via phone or email. We will be awarding the passes in the next three or four weeks.

Improving the Lapham Playground

One of the areas in which the TLNA Education Committee will be focusing over the next few months is the feasibility of a partnership between the community and the Madison Metropolitan School District to improve the Lapham playground. Much of the playground equipment is old and in disrepair, especially the wooden play structures which are no longer maintained by the district. The grounds themselves are not well laid out and are also in poor repair. One need only visit other playgrounds in the city, or even the Dream Park in Monona, to imagine the possibilities. With the new School Garden already providing a boost to LaphamÕs outdoor environment, now is an excellent time to focus on the playground. The potential availability of some grant funds, which the TLNA is investigating, also makes the timing good.

The first question that one might ask is why the neighborhood association or any other element of the community should help to fund a playground that is supposed to be maintained by the district. There are at least two good reasons. One reason is that our community has a long history of partnering with the district to improve our school (of course, the community and the TLNA were instrumental is helping to have the school reopened in the first place). In many ways, large and small, including financially, the community and the neighborhood association have contributed to making Lapham the superb school it is. We recognize that a strong school is a cornerstone of any community, and right now the playground is one of the areas of biggest need.

But there is perhaps an even better reason. In a neighborhood full of children, the Lapham playground is truly a community playground, and effectively the only one we have. As such it is an extremely important asset to our children, and not merely when school is in session. Drive by the playground any day of the week and you will see it in use.

The Lapham playground serves a surprisingly large area, if you think about it. Consider the area bordered by Gorham street to the north, East Washington Avenue to the south, the Yahara river to the east, and downtown Madison to the west. The playground choices for children in this area are Lapham or Reynolds Park. While Reynolds park has a nice field, the play equipment is hardly worth a notice, and even worse since the wonderful swing set that used to be there was torn down and replaced by a completely inadequate setup with two small swings. The facilities at Reynolds are not exactly the kind that inspire the minds and bodies of most children, and a trip past the Reynolds play area followed by a trip past the Lapham play area will show you how the kids are voting! The only worthy neighborhood parks in the area, Tenney and James Madison, are across busy streets and a long walk for the many children in the central near-east area.

Therefore it helps to think of Lapham as more than just an average school playground. That is why it is a priority, and why I will be asking your help sometime over the summer to see what we can do. Ideas, comments and suggestions are more than welcome.

As always, to discuss these or any new ideas or issues, please feel free to call me at 251-5929, or email me at paaza@concentric.net.

-Pete Nelson

Education Committee Chair


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