Doral Meadows won't be the only new park in Doral next year, not if Doral resident Giuseppina Mariano has anything to say about. Mariano plans to enlist the help of world-famous Leathers and Associates to assist in the construction of a playground for the children of Doral.

Giuseppina Mariano

Leathers and Associates guide communities through every aspect of the playground-building process, and having been doing so for more than twenty years. All that's required from the community is the labor to build it, the foresight and creativity to help design it, and the financial support to cover its costs.

"The uniqueness of the project lies in the fact that it is almost entirely community based from the get-go," Mariano explained, "It is funded largely by donations of money and materials from local citizens and businesses. Hopefully, the Parks and recreation department will allocate some of the funds they have for parks in Doral."

Their process is perhaps most unusual because it allows the children of the community to design the playground themselves. First, the students are asked to draw their ideal playground, an exercise meant to stimulate freethinking and their creativity. After that, one of the designers actually comes and designs the playground after a day of discussions involving the community's adults and children.
This is clearly the most exciting part of the project to Mariano; she can't help but smile when discussing it.

"Children and teens will get a sense of empowerment and ownership out of the design process. One of the children will say, 'I want a wiggly bridge,' or, 'put a spiral staircase there,' and they'll do it for them," she said.

What results is a project that looks and feels as though it were designed by children--one that they can be proud of, and one that satisfies whatever whimsical notion they might have.

Between the design day and the start of construction a core group of volunteers from the community is assembled, and their job is to help with fund raising, finding volunteers, refining the design, generally letting people know about the project.

"You need 10 to 15 dependable adults to form the vanguard of the project--they'll be the key to its success from the beginning to the end," Mariano said.

Beyond the obvious advantages of the project, i.e. creating a magical place for children to play, perhaps most interesting is the way in which the project brings the community together and the families in that community in particular. Even though the project only uses the best materials, safest methods, and iscompletely supervised, it is built entirely by the community.

"Everyone involved will get a sense of ownership. It is a project entirely dependent on a community coming together and working together," Mariano said.

She recently presented the project to the West Dade Federation of Homeowner Associations (WDFHA) along with three of the organizers of a Leathers and Associates playground built in Miami Springs, Anna Drew, Liz Behrens, and Mary Grafton.

"Everyone was very enthusiastic about the project--they (the WDFHA) definitely responded favorably to it," she said.

As for the Miami Springs project, Mariano said it is a perfect example of what it takes to get a Leathers and Associates playground built.

"Anna is a teacher and had no experience in this sort of thing, but she and Cindy Coldren (the other coordinator), together with other volunteers made it happen. As long as you have five to seven hours a week to commit to the project and the core group of dependable adults, the playground can become a reality," she said.

Mariano herself only moved to Doral (Doral Pointe) from Boca Raton two years ago with her husband Francisco, an exporter, and her daughter Isabela, 4. She herself works with her husband part-time and volunteers at her daughter's school.

It was in Boca that she first became familiar with the Leathers and Associates concept.

"In Boca Raton they built a playground called Sugar Sand that was built before I moved there. I enjoyed taking my daughter there and talking to the children and parents that loved their new playground.