For several decades, the Westwood Oaks Park on La Herran Drive in Santa Clara has served as a community space for the people who live nearby. Its true impact on local residents was on display on July 10, when more than 100 people turned out to celebrate the park’s rehabilitation.
“The basketball court, we’d always fall because the cement was, like, cracked, and you always trip on the cement. It’s great that they fixed all that,” said Vivek Loganathan, now an adult who played at the park as a child and teen.
He and his parents, Logu Venkat and Lalitha Loganathan, made it a point to attend the ribbon cutting for the rehabilitated park.
Nhung Takahashi also grew up in the neighborhood and says the park brings back fond memories.
“It’s been awesome. I used to play at this park when I was younger and so seeing it revamped like this has been awesome because now my daughter can play with the new park,” said Takahashi.
Takahashi brought her daughter Wren to the ribbon cutting. The seven-year-old was not only thrilled by the new structures, but also the Cutie oranges provided by city staff for the event.
“I actually walk this every day. And then I see it every day. So, I’ve seen transformation,” said Takahashi. “She’s [Wren’s] really, really excited about the climbing aspect of it. And just seeing that they had this giant … that thing [gestures to the climbing structure] … she loves to climb and do bars and stuff. So, she’s really excited. And then, you know how everything is, you know, there’s tanbark and not sand, so that made a huge difference.”
The climbing structure seemed to be a highlight for a lot of families attending the official opening of the new park. Kelli Chesnutt has two kids, five and six years old, who have been eyeing the climbing structure since construction began. She says the anticipation has been palpable.
“We’ve been waiting. We’ve been driving by every day, or at least once a week waiting for the park open and watching the progress. So, to see it open. It’s been really fun,” said Chesnutt.
She’s sure there are many fun times ahead at this park.
“We are so excited to have a new park that we can come to every day and just play and get the kids get their energy out and meet new people,” Chesnutt continued.
Which was exactly what the city was hoping to achieve.
“Projects like the Westwood Oaks Rehabilitation project build a renewed sense of community. They provide a space where people of all ages feel welcome in their neighborhood,” said Cynthia Bojorquez, assistant city manager and acting director of parks & recreation. “This project, which provides diverse opportunities for play – a half basketball court, a perimeter walking path and new, updated playgrounds, will give residents a place to go with their families to meet their neighbors. That feeling of connectedness makes for a stronger community and what we believe our residents appreciate as a fundamental value in the City of Santa Clara.”
The new playground will serve as a National Demonstration Site for PlayCore, the company that built the structures. PlayCore’s construction integrates nature into play to promote physical activity. Instead of removing parts of the local environment, the company used existing site features like topography, trees and vegetation and integrated them into the new design.
The play area is almost triple the size of the previous structure and has inclusive play elements to encourage kids of all abilities to play together.
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