M Street Park Playground receiving mixed reviews

1.4 min readBy Published On: June 29th, 2017Categories: News17 Comments on M Street Park Playground receiving mixed reviews

Wednesday was a beautiful day for a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Medal of Honor Park at M Street.  All the local pols were present including Mayor Marty Walsh with his ceremonial scissors.  Lots of Southie families with kids were excited to check out the new playground and give it a test run.  The sun was shinning. The sky was a perfect summer blue then a few hours later, residents took to social media and the 311 app to vent their concerns, disappointments and downright anger about the new playground.  Complaints ranged from lack of shade, to the tiny structure for toddlers to the playground being dangerous.  One 311 report stated that their 5 year old son broke his arm just 3 hours after the park opened.

Although the renovations to M Street Park are technically still underway, the project took over 10 months but some residents feel as though it was rushed and not properly executed.  “There is a large group of young families in Southie Boston and we all discussed our disappointment at the playground today as we tried to make sure our toddlers didn’t get hurt.” 

So what do you think?  Did the City of Boston rush the project at the end, not take into consideration ages of children using the playground or are we just complaining?

To state on person on social media, “back in the day, the playground structure at Farragut Park was a 40 foot splinter and it was good enough.”  But is it? 

No word whether the City of Boston will make adjustments to the new playground.  On a side note, the reports on 311 have been removed.  Hmmm…….

17 Comments

  1. CjOW June 29, 2017 at 1:33 pm - Reply

    First off – the parent of the 5yr old needs to get that phone on a charger ASAP (19%!!). Secondly – you should make a determination of your child’s athleticism prior to letting them utilize a playground structure. Please do not blame the City of Boston for your shit*y parenting skills.

    • A & Os mom June 29, 2017 at 8:03 pm - Reply

      Wow! This is a bit harsh, no? Their son was playing at the new park, a park that they have been going to literally everyday! Why would they assume that the play structure was unsafe for their very active & adept 5 year old? And for the record the boy was w/his dad who was (and always is) close by. This is not a case of neglect & for you to suggest that is insensitve & wrong. The park that we have been waiting for is not what any of us expected it is sub par to say the least! I grew up w/that giant splinter at Farragut park but like everything else (and b/c my taxes are outrageous) I feel that my kids should have better, safer structures to play on!

    • Mike July 5, 2017 at 1:19 pm - Reply

      CjOW is correct. Parent you kids, dont blame the city when you screw up!! You kid isn’t as gifted as you think!!

  2. Ashley June 29, 2017 at 1:54 pm - Reply

    I think the commenter above is being unfair. It is hard to be next to your child at all times and sometimes they will fall (and if you are hovering over them 100% of the time, that’s not great either). I take my son to a number of the playgrounds in South Boston and I have had no problem at any of them except M Street. The older kid play structure at M Street is the most challenging of any I have seen. I think it is good for older kids, but the majority of kids playing at City Point playgrounds are under 5 (go hang out at Castle Island and Farragut Park and you will see what I mean). It was really difficult trying to keep my child off the big structure and use only the very small structure built for kids under 5. I am very happy the City invested in the park, I just would have liked a play structure that could accommodate kids of a wider age group (like Farragut or Castle Island, where the younger kid play structure is 4-5x’s bigger than M Street and the big kid area is still relatively safe for younger kids because the way the structure is built, parents can climb up behind them).

  3. Typical Millenial June 29, 2017 at 2:15 pm - Reply

    Did the park really need renovating in the first place? I would rather that money go to the T.

  4. Matt June 29, 2017 at 3:47 pm - Reply

    The park (aside from the playground) looks no different to me. In fact, it looks awful right now. Half the grass has been converted to dirt which they attempted to hydro seed except, YOU DONT PLANT GRASS IN JULY!!! The new fence along Broadway is a waste and the grass planted there is only going to die, mark my words. They stuck a in a few tiny trees but far fewer than were removed and they repaved some sidewalk (yay).

    I have no idea how this cost $1.3 million and is going to take 12 months to finish. It is a joke. This contractor scrambled like wild fire in the last 2 weeks to attempt to clean up the park and I’m sure cut plenty of corners in the process.

    • Typical Millenial June 29, 2017 at 4:36 pm - Reply

      Unions are to blame for the cost. They hold the City of Boston by the throat. You can’t get anything done in this city without every “specialist” to come in and give their two cents for 1 hour and then charge you for 4 hours.

    • Rooney712 June 29, 2017 at 10:26 pm - Reply

      Grass is already turning brown in front of the park….awful.

  5. Becky June 29, 2017 at 5:34 pm - Reply

    I think the soft ground, picnic tables, water fountains, the swings and blue spinning things are great,

    however the section for 5 and under is so small it’s ridiculous. With all the children in southie it would have been great to make this park enjoyable by all ages. While parents need to watch thier children we also need to let them run and explore and this larger play structure is not safe at all. Parts are fine but the higher rope section is just to dangerous for children of all ages.

    The splash pad would be 1,000 times safer if the concrete and grass are level vs steps. Safetry 101 people.

    As a parent of 2 who used to go to m st almost every day this is just very disappointing. I hope they are able to fix the issues or at least make the 5 and under section better for more then 3 toddlers at a time.

  6. GregM June 29, 2017 at 11:50 pm - Reply

    I love the comments stating how many families and children live in Southie. They obviously haven’t been around very long.

    They should have targeted the 5 and under crowd with the playground. This is the age your average kid moves out of southie to go to a surburban school.

  7. Jonathan June 30, 2017 at 10:32 am - Reply

    I stand at the bus stop here everyday. I think they spent way too much money on this. It pretty much looks the same as before, except with a new fence. 6.4 million??? I would have preferred T improvements, especially with the tons of new condos being built.

  8. Mr. Peabody June 30, 2017 at 1:12 pm - Reply

    Civics lesson — levels of government: local (city of town), state and then Federal.
    The T is state agency therefore state money the city has nothing to do with the T.
    If you want to complain about the T call your State Rep or State Senator.

    As for the park, disappointed was expecting an improved park along the lines of what they city did with Sweeney Park on W 5th.

    • Ruth Ann Hendricks July 1, 2017 at 11:34 pm - Reply

      Sweeney park is out of control with unruly teens ripping it up , beheading a lare snake, not local. A young couple that hangs there just broke my neighbors window without remorse ad the girl looks at me and says,” I don’t care anyway.” They terrorize the neighborhood!

  9. Southie Parent June 30, 2017 at 3:32 pm - Reply

    There should be a way larger structure for the toddlers and I agree with the parents of the 5 year old that neither structure is suited for a child of that age. I was there the other day with a 2 year old who loves to climb keeping him off the rope structure was hard.

    I do however think the older kid structure is amazing for kids 7-12, it looks like so much fun and quite frankly I think there needs to be an element of adventure (some might call it danger) for kids that age, it helps with physical and emotional development.

    Having grown up in southie I miss the splinter that was marine park, the poured concrete death trap that was at castle island, and those climbing/monkey bar arches that used to be at M street.

  10. Donna Brown June 30, 2017 at 9:25 pm - Reply

    The Parks Department had several well-publicized planning meetings at various times of day and also went to the park to talk to the people who use the playground. They did a great job planting dozens of new trees, improving handicapped access, and adding new furniture and planters. The fence is beautiful!

    • Ruth Ann Hendricks July 1, 2017 at 11:26 pm - Reply

      Start taking care of the park on West 5th st! It is disgusting, saf, anf only 2 yrs old!! Several neighbors do the cleaning up because the park dept. Is” very understaffed”.

  11. Anne Rheault July 2, 2017 at 2:30 pm - Reply

    I say we bring back the the slides that burnt your ass in the sun shine on it all day . Either just go to another playground . I think it’s done over wonderful . There’s only a few whiners over it .

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