Dear Andrew Laska,

An interesting coincidence happened today - Yahoo turned up a Dallas Morning News article with your name on a search for Heights Park. The article caught my eye because I LOVE those old playground pieces, and have fond memories of playing on them as a kid (though at the park near my house in Arlington, not Richardson). Earlier this summer, in fact, when they roped it off, I was very glad to see that it was only being repainted. I went out the next week with my daughter and hoped that it would be there when she was old enough to actually climb up in the rocket.

What ever happened with that issue? That article was the first I'd read about it, and I'm interested to hear what will become of that bit of nostalgic past.

best,
Trey Kazee
Richardson

ps: here is another picture i took of the playground: http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/2100/heightsparkrc1.jpg
pps: i actually work at a company specializing in airborne radar simulation, and our former VP worked at TI for many years designing airborne radars.

Andrew Laska responds:
As a result of the public process and public outcry, the City of Richardson Parks Department has formed a citizen task force to decide what to do with the equipment. All options are open at this point including improving the equipment to meet regulations, abandoning the equipment, or using the equipment in ways other than playground equipment. The task force has scheduled experts in various fields such as Americans with Disabilities Act, risk management, aesthetics, architecture, safety and so on in order to determine best use. I was invited to be on the task force and of course I accepted. I would imagine the work would be completed in mid-2008 at the latest.