Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, along with city leaders, announced sizable private donations totaling over $1.3 million that will fund the restoration of Palisades Playground—a project that beat its timeline expectations, reports the Mayor's Office. Essential contributors include FireAid, which pledged roughly $1 million, while GameTime and Banc of California’s Wildfire Relief & Recovery Fund supplemented with $300,000 in-kind donations and additional financial support, respectively.
“For the past two years, closing the funding gap to modernize this playground has been one of my top priorities—for safety, accessibility, and because our families deserve high-quality community spaces,” Councilwoman Traci Park told the Mayor's Office. The private funding will enable the playground, which has been a fixture for the community for 35 years, to be rebuilt to new safety and accessibility standards, aiding in the recovery process after local families have faced numerous challenges, including the Palisades fire disruption.
The Los Angeles Parks Foundation, tasked with overseeing the project, is poised to initiate the restoration soon. The Foundation's President and CEO, Tony Budrovich, expressed his gratitude in a statement obtained by the Mayor's Office, emphasizing the importance of public and private partnerships for community revitalization.
Los Angeles’ rejuvenated playground will be designed to serve children aged 5 to 14, featuring two adjacent playgrounds with a new rubber surface and integrated shade—adding a modern touch to public spaces, Jimmie Kim, General Manager of LA City Parks announced, with a design that pays tribute to the bravery of first responders, symbolized by a play fire truck structure. “The Palisades Park Advisory Board welcomes this transformative gift and the recovery it will help to bring about,” Chairman Andrew Starrels said, highlighting the devotion Palisadians have for their public spaces and the efforts by the Mayor, the Councilmember and all parties involved in the project that's making the Park a park once again, according to a statement issued by the Mayor's Office.
