It was a mild fall morning last month, a school day for all but the tiny stroller set, and Davis, the mother of a one-year-old son, was eager to point out that this “toddler area,” as it is often called, is not designed for toddlers at all.

As the new $1 million playground was nearing completion last month, Davis was circulating a petition among parents and nannies to protest the lack of appropriate play space for the smallest users of the park. The petition, with about 75 signatures, was presented last month to the park’s board of directors.


The issue has so galvanized parents of toddlers that three of them won seats in last month’s elections for the board.

“I am just so mad at the lack of planning that went into

this design,” said Davis, a Leonard Street resident. “Considering the amount of money that will have been spent, it is amazing.”

The play area, near the park’s Greenwich Street entrance, is intended for the youngest children and is one of three play spaces in the expanded playground. But parents say that the boat, the $50,000 centerpiece of the space, is not accessible to beginning walkers without close supervision. Stairs that lead up to the boat provide no railing that toddlers can reach, and there is a high ledge, where older children can descend by a rope, that makes many parents nervous. In addition, they say that a crawlspace in the sand puts kids out of sight and is difficult to clean.

“The boat adds personality and flavor,” said Davis. “I wish there were a way to make it safe.”

According to landscape architect Lee Weintraub, who designed the new playground, the area was not intended for the exclusive use of toddlers. “It was for pre-K and that is a fairly broad scope,” said Weintraub, who is also the park’s original landscape architect. “So it may be more difficult for toddlers.”

Bill Watson, the park board’s president, said that when the expanded playground was designed, the numbers didn’t seem to warrant a special play space for very young children. “I don’t think the park was ready for the onslought of toddlers,” he said.

Watson rejected an idea, suggested by some parents, to cut away part of the boat and create a dedicated play space for tots.

He said that one solution may be to make a space in the southwest corner of the park, with some sand, a slide and other small pieces of play equipment. Large wooden snails and a wodden train, originally intended for the “toddler”area and now in storage, could also go there, he said.

But parents of toddlers said they were not enthusiastic about the idea. The play area would be close to the fumes of cars and student smokers on Chambers Street, they said, and it would be hard to watch two children playing on opposite sides of the park.

Weintraub also said that he opposed the idea of creating yet another space for children in the park. “

“I think we’re getting to the point where Washington Market Park may be more than a community park,” he observed. “It’s becoming a children’s park. To try to carve out still another area for another age group I think would tip the balance.”