May 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 47

JuanCarlos Chan/Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks

Outdoor fitness centers, such as this one
in the Glassell Park neighborhood of Los
Angeles, have proven very popular in underserved areas.

per park in Los Angeles, according to
Shull, and much of that cost is due to
altering park infrastructure - such as
grading, concrete work or moving existing sprinkler systems - to accommodate the zone.
The city intentionally placed many
of these outdoor gyms in lower income areas, where people may not
be able to afford gym memberships
or have access to other fitness opportunities. Many of these parks were
newly created.
" We built parks that are completely dedicated to fitness in some cases, "
Shull says. " We opened one park that
only has fitness equipment - there
are no other amenities - and you
drive by in the morning and see a lot
of mothers working out with their
children sleeping in strollers next to
them, and in some cases, there are
lines with people waiting to use some
of these pieces of equipment. "
One councilmember told Shull
that his only complaint was that
there weren't enough fitness stations
and that the lines were too long every morning, Shull reports. Such an-

JuanCarlos Chan/Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks

ness stations in more than 40 new
and existing parks throughout the
city, with about three to eight pieces
of equipment at each park.
" We've found that the equipment
is heavily, heavily used - and the
communities were asking for it, " says
Michael Shull, superintendent of
Planning, Construction and Maintenance for the City of Los Angeles
Department of Recreation and Parks.
Los Angeles' fitness zones came about
through a partnership with The Trust
for Public Land and funding from other partner organizations.
" [Fitness stations are] actually one
of the cheapest, most beneficial parts
of a park that you can build, " Shull
says. Such fitness zones provide good
value for a park department's dollars, he continues, because they cost
(relatively) little to install but benefit
communities immensely. The fitness
zones cost about $20,000 to $40,000

Amenities such as this fitness zone at Los
Angeles' Pan Pacific Park have helped it
garner high online ratings.

ecdotal evidence tells planners that
these outdoor gyms are a success.
Like other park departments, the
City of Los Angeles sought a variety
of equipment to address the whole
body and made many of the stations
ADA accessible. The city is currently
building 50 new parks citywide.
" It's the biggest, most exhaustive
park effort we're aware of in the entire nation, " Shull says. Every one
of those new parks will have fitness
equipment installed. So far, 13 of the
parks have opened since July 2012,
and 20 more are slated to open by
July of this year. " Generally for these
smaller parks, " he says, " the community wants a playground - and fitness equipment. "
Freelance writer Carrie Madren lives in
Northern Virginia (carrie.madren@gmail.com).

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