Buckeye Honored For Its Commitment to Being An Active, Playful Community

The statistics are staggering. Today’s children spend less time playing outside, have higher rates of obesity and may have a shorter life expectancy than the previous generation.

But Buckeye and 212 cities and towns across the country have earned recognition by the national non-profit KaBOOM! as communities dedicated to improving the lives of children through active play

Presented by the Humana Foundation, Playful City USA is a national program advocating for local policies that promote play opportunities for children. The program was created in 2007 as a way to help local governments address what organizers call the deficit of play – essentially, children not having the opportunity for unstructured play, the lack of which harms the physical, intellectual, social and emotional health of children.

The Town of Buckeye, through its Community Services Department, has been recognized for expanding access to play spaces by creating a joint intergovernmental agreement with the Buckeye Elementary School District to allow construction of a large play area in the downtown that is open to the public during off-school hours.

The town is also in the process of building Sundance Park, a 30-acre community park that will feature a large playground and open turf areas for unstructured play as well as other amenities. Sundance Park is slated to open in September.

In addition, Miranda Gomez, the town’s recreation supervisor, said her staff is implementing new family-style programming, the first of which will be a Family Dodgeball Tournament that will be held on Aug.25 at Youngker High School.

The purpose of the new programming, Gomez said, is to get families active and playing together. "The notion of the weekly family game night no longer exists," Gomez said. "These tournaments will get families away from their TVs and outside, playing together and meeting new people."

Studies have found that lack of play decreases creativity and imagination hampers the development of social skills learned from working in groups, such as sharing, negotiating, resolving conflicts and advocating for themselves. The lack of these skills has dramatic long-term effects.

Children deprived of play show increased problems with social integration, including a greater likelihood of felony arrests by young adulthood. A study completed by Stuart Brown, a physician, psychiatrist and clinical researcher, found that 90 percent of 6,000 felons studied lacked "play features" in their childhoods.

Hailing from 41 states, the 213 Playful City USA honorees are making a commitment to play and physical activity by developing unique local action plans to increase the quantity and quality of play in their community.

Buckeye Town Manager Stephen Cleveland praised the Community Services Department’s staff for its creativity in developing programs for children and its commitment to providing good playtime opportunities.

"An important facet of any community is its families, and these recreational programs set the foundation for building a reputation that Buckeye cares about its kids," Cleveland said.

"Many of our recreation programs are filled and have waiting lists, which say a great deal about how the youngsters feel about being involved in them. The waiting lists are a meaningful measure of the success of those Buckeye programs."

Along with the distinctive designation, Buckeye is now eligible for $15,000, $20,000 and $30,000 grants via Let’s Play, a community partnership led by the Dr Pepper Snapple Group, to get kids and families active nationwide. Grant recipients will be announced in early June.

"Gaining the recognition of Playful City USA will give the town a competitive edge when applying for future grant opportunities," Gomez said. "It also recognizes us for being a town that is committed to providing unstructured play spaces in our community."

For more information on the KaBOOM! Playful City USA program, visit www.playfulcityusa.org.

For the fourth straight year, the Town of Buckeye’s Fleet Management Division was named to the Top 100 Fleet Management Divisions in North America.

Buckeye Public Works Director Scott Lowe said the award is testament to the professionalism of the department, which outranked honorable mention recipients such as Tacoma, Wash.; Anaheim, Calif.; Jefferson County, Colo. and Peoria, Ariz.

“We are obviously proud of our fleet management operation and its staff,” Lowe said.  

“All our service technicians are certified by the National Institute of Automotive Service Excellence (ASE), and the program reflects the kind of quality work these employees provide for all of our fleet, from the ladder fire truck to a squad car to our street sweepers.

“In addition, their attention to detail in servicing our vehicles provides a longer life for town vehicles which in turn saves taxpayer dollars.”

The top 20 government fleet programs of those best 100 in the nation will be announced at a ceremony in Denver in June, Lowe added. 

There are about 38,000 public fleets in North America, according to a magazine spokesman.  Some 5,000 of those received invitations to apply for the 100 Best competition.

A panel of fleet manager judges from Troy, Mich.; Coral Gables, Fla.; Portland, Ore., and Hillsborough County, Fla., used a set of 12 criteria to rank the 100 best public sector fleets from the applications received. 

Those criteria included accountability, use of technology and information, evidence of a high trust culture, performance recognition, collaboration, creativity, celebration of successes, doing it right the first time, quick/efficient turnaround, competitive pricing, staff development and resources stewardship. 

Four other fleet management departments from Arizona were named to the Top 100 list, including the Cities of Goodyear, Mesa and Tempe and the Salt River Project.