Below, Mayor Foulcard speaks from atop the new playground equipment that was installed at one of four parks.
A ribbon-cutting was held March 13 for new playground equipment at four city parks in Franklin. The city received a grant from the Louisiana Office of Community Development’s Love Louisiana Outdoors program for the work. The grant paid for the purchase and installation of playground equipment at Franklin City Park, Broussard-Harris Park, Caffery Park and Pecot Park. Pictured from left re Franklin Public Relations Director Ed Verdin, Franklin Chief Administrative Officer Karen LeBlanc, Mayor Eugene Foulcard, Executive Assistant Tammy Rogers and Franklin Recreation Director Chris Barrilleaux.
Franklin cuts the ribbon for new playground equipment
The city of Franklin unveiled new playground equipment with ribbon-cutting ceremonies at four city parks March 13.
The equipment and soft landing areas were paid for and installed through a grant from the Love Louisiana Outdoor Program, an initiative of the Louisiana Office of Community Development using funds from the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant CARES Act.
Franklin City Park, Pecot Park, Caffery Park and Broussard-Harris Park all saw work through the LLO grant that earmarked specific uses for the money.
“We pretty much tore down everything in City Park and in Broussard-Harris and replaced both of those with brand new equipment,” Franklin Mayor Eugene Foulcard said. “Pecot Park had equipment that was still in decent shape so we basically added on some more equipment there and at Caffery Park as well. We made it handicap-accessible. We put the soft-landing cushions as well as the border to keep everything in place.
“It’s much safer for the kids.”
The equipment at City Park and Broussard-Harris was in deplorable condition, he said, old and outdated and simply unsafe.
“I was very concerned for the children using the equipment that had gotten in pretty bad shape,” the mayor said. “We wanted to update everything and give it a fresh new look, and bring in the handicap-accessible pieces. I’m very excited.”
As with many funds the city receives, the money could only be used for that purpose. The city had been working to apply for, receive and use the grants for about two and a half years.
“Hopefully for the next 40-plus years, the kids of Franklin should have some good playground equipment, because it was professionally installed,” he said. “It’s very sturdy. You can tell that it was well-constructed and is made out of some very good material.”
The city is also putting a grant for HVAC equipment at the city’s two recreation centers to use, he said.
The mayor expects the work on those two systems to be completed in May.