UPDATE: A North Las Vegas park with dozens of issues caused one mom to bring her concerns to us earlier this week. After our original story aired, the city made quick and drastic changes at Petitti Park.
North Las Vegas Mayor Pro Tem Pamela Goynes-Brown says she used to go to the park every day as a kid and it makes her sad to see the condition it's in now. She was comfortable calling it their worst park, condition wise, out of the city's two dozen parks.
"Over the years, it's seen it's wear and tear so we are doing everything we can to bring it up to code to make it a vibrant park again," said Mayor Pro Tem Pamela Goynes-Brown.
The city put up a temporary fence surrounding the park with signs saying "Playground Closed For Repairs".
North Las Vegas city officials plan on replacing all the playground equipment over the next few months. They will also add several lights to the exterior of the playground with hopes it will deter vandalism.
The lights should be up in a month. The new playground equipment will be ready to go in about three months.
The city says, the next park on their list to be overhauled is Valley View Park.
ORIGINAL STORY: Broken equipment, dirty play mats, garbage and old leaves everywhere. That's what one valley mother found when she took her son to a North Las Vegas park.
"It was just completely just unsanitary and unsafe for children to be on 100 percent," said mother Rachel Crump of Petitti Park in North Las Vegas.
So she reached out to 13 Action News.
"I was completely afraid for my children's safety. I didn't know what things were unscrewed, what things were broken," said Crump.
Everywhere you look there's damage and disrepair.
There are monkey bars hanging by a thread, large gouges in a stained and graffiti covered play mat, massive holes in the overhead canopy and garbage and glass on the ground.
"It's surrounded by two elementary school. I'm afraid that these kids are going over there after they get out of school without their parents and they are going to play on this equipment and it's going to collapse underneath them," explained Crump.
And that is just the playground. Just feet from where children play there are open trenches filled with water and debris.
We took the matter to officials in North Las Vegas, who told us, they’re aware of the issues.
"It's an ongoing issue of maintenance and unfortunately there has been ongoing vandalism at the park," said Delene Goldberg, public information officer for the city of North Las Vegas.
According to Goldberg, as soon as crews fix something, vandals damage it again.
"The crews could be out here at 9 in the morning and things could be amiss by 9 p.m. and there is only so much maintenance that can happen on a daily basis."
We asked if the city is worried that children could get hurt and got this answer from Goldberg: "Safety is always the first concern for the city and all of our crews and safety departments, so absolutely, if the city thought it was unsafe we would take immediate action."
According to Goldberg, the city recently got community development block grants and Petitti Park is on the short list for repairs.
"I know the grant was recently awarded, so they are in discussions but as soon as that is decided our public works teams are really quick," said Goldberg.
