The Abolition of the Playground
27th September 2013
The Bobcat tractor was working its way through a pile of mulch as big as an office building, dragging it from the alley to the playground of a private daycare facility. I asked the crew foreman about the sheer vastness of this mulch pile.
“It’s about the state regulations. There has to be 8 inches of this stuff underneath every play structure.”
“The State regulates even things like this?” I asked.
“The regulations on playgrounds are 15 miles long,” he said. “They mandate every fastener and bolt, the distance and height of every structure, and, especially, the drainage. Just getting the drainage right takes up most of the time and money.”
“But don’t these regulations inhibit others from opening daycare facilities?” I asked. “You would have to be super-well capitalized just to get one going.”
“I can tell you this. I would never do it.”