All that work for nothing

What the heck is going on with Wallingford Playfield?

As a Friend of Wallingford Playfield (FOWP), my volunteer work and play there go back eight years at least, and the same goes for our very devoted core group of planners, weeders, play-equipment assemblers, gardeners and our families.

For example, at my house, the price of admission for unexpected, overnight 20-something guests has been participation in any number of "weeding parties." Volunteers with younger children have watched their participating kids move from the wading pool to doing homework on the picnic tables; and many birthdays have been celebrated there as well.

Hamilton students, Garfield-at-Lincoln and many other groups share this space successfully in the light-use manner for which it is intended.

Because FOWP has worked successfully with Seattle Parks and Recreation to define this space for light recreational use by people of all ages, children enjoy the multifaceted play structure, the largest one in Seattle; seniors from neighboring dwellings and University House regularly utilize the circular walking path; and the Sunken Garden area is a maturing haven for birds — including hummingbirds — bees and beauty.

We actually accomplished something in Seattle! Or had the illusion that we did, for a time ... It took lots of negotiating and lots of work and several thousand e-mails and hundreds of meetings.

We believed what we were told at the time: that Hamilton would eventually inhabit the old Lincoln school site and the Hamilton site would keep its current footprint.

Instead, this jewel is used by people of all ages on a daily basis, year-round.

This volunteer is very fatigued by this version of "Seattle process" and now extremely wary of bureaucratic promises. The volunteers I have brought to the playfield from Alaska, Japan and New Zealand will be disappointed as well.

This city has a way of running through volunteers as if there were an unending supply. Situations like this teach people to charge for their time.

Nancy Merrill writes from Wallingford.