A while back I wrote on the continuing saga of the playground across the street. In that story, the city officials had put on shiny new lockable doors on the soccer field while leaving numerous gaping holes in the chain-link fence around it. I mused about how silly they were putting a new door on an enclosure where there were so many other man-sized holes that I wondered why even have a fence.

Over Christmas they patched those holes. They re-strung the chain-link and covered up all the holes. They even repaired the lockable door, which the kids were already tearing apart, its cheap, thin wire merely soldered on and easily plucked off.

For a couple of weeks, all was well.  The park looked like it was going to survive and not fall into a heap of disrepair. Kids played there on the weekends and when winter vacation commenced, more kids came.  They had even patched the nets on the goals to keep the balls from flying out. All was looking well.  When one day, the nets were again torn so some lazy-ass kid who couldn’t be bothered to walk the 20 meters to the gate (this is a very mini field) the string became straws and the proverbial camel’s back was broken.

Someone got the idea that nets weren’t truly long lasting anyway. Much too easy to rip or cut. Indeed, a few months in the elements and most of the string was rotting or frayed anyway.

So the city got smart. They put the chain-link fence everywhere. Even around the goals. Locked the whole damn place up tighter than 3-dollar alarm clock. They repaired some of the structural metal holding the fence up and it looked as if the place would stand up to a tornado again.  All of my worrying about the state of disrepair a few months ago was all for naught. It was new and shiny and strong looking.

That was on Thursday. They finished wrapping the new chain link and soldering on some more wire to the front door – even double panelled it with extra strands of cheap wire. By Friday it looked as if the whole park had been given a makeover.

And then the city got real smart.  They figured that since it looked so nice, it simply wouldn’t do to let the kids play there. So on Saturday, the door was locked. No holes to crawl in and play any more, so it stayed empty.  Until Saturday night.

A bright shiny new soccer field and no access to it was just too much to take for these pent-up Korean kids with damn little to occupy them outside the 20 hours of school they endure.  The fence is once again shredded. It wasn’t enough to rip one hole. Nope. Several holes had to be ripped, some mere feet from each other.

The pendulum swings back and forth. On one end, its the kids and their need for a place for activity in this mostly urban environment. On the other, its the city with their demand for fixing shit up and keeping it fixed. One day, the pendulum might stop right in the middle, but these days it simply swings from side to side, going from complete repair  – and inability to use –  to complete disrepair.  I just watch from the sidelines. And chuckle.