I received an email from a RF friend tonight saying he’s heard that all toys are going to be removed from the Tot Lot and that signs will go up soon telling people not to dump toys. (A friend of his heard it from a park maintenance person.)
UPDATE: I spoke to someone who handles this for the county Park and Rec division and he said they will be posting signs soon saying that big plastic toys (ride-on cars, etc.) will not be allowed in the mulched areas. The county’s insurance division is worried that a child will, say, fall from a swing or slide and instead of landing in mulch will land on a big piece of hard plastic and be seriously injured.
The person I spoke to said he’s fine with having the plastic toys in the grassy areas or in the sandbox, but just not in the zones where there are play apparatuses. The play houses are fine. However, they will be doing checks and if they repeatedly find toys in the mulch area they will haul them away.
He also said that you can call his office (410-887-7844) if there are unsafe toys there that you think should be disposed of. He said just put them in a pile, call the office and they’ll come get them. He was very nice and said he doesn’t want to ruin anyone’s fun but he wants to keep things safe.