Women to know: Organizing for improvements at Harry Stone Park playground pushed Casa View mom Jasmine Cadena out of her comfort zone

It all started with a Facebook post from a “memorable zebra.”

Jasmine Cadena was, in fact, that zebra, or that’s what Facebook called her when she posted anonymously in April. The Casa View stay-at-home mom is soft spoken, a little shy and didn’t want to put the spotlight on herself. The contents of her post? Pictures showing the overall crappiness of the Harry Stone Park playground and asking her neighbors if they were as concerned as she was.

“My mom was like, ‘Yeah, did you see that post from memorable zebra?’ And I was like, ‘That’s me,’” Cadena says. “She was laughing. She was like, ‘Oh my gosh.’”

Cadena has moved around a bit but has mostly stayed in the East Dallas area. She recalls fond memories of living in Casa View as a 10-year-old in 2003, with Harry Stone Park being a favorite hangout spot for her and her brothers. They walked to the park, which is next to her former elementary school, regularly.

She particularly remembers the park’s slide.

“We would all try to fit on it,” she laughs. “We wouldn’t really slide so much, but more lay down on it just to rest, I guess, from the walk.”

Her love of the neighborhood is part of what compelled the mother of four to move back to the neighborhood with her family less than a year ago in a house just down the street from the park.

“Then, I saw the condition of the park, and I was like, ‘Oh, this is not what I remembered,’” Cadena says.

A wood panel covered part of the play structure where children are meant to enter after climbing up a small wall. Graffiti could be seen in multiple spots, including at least one example where expletives were used. Overall, Cadena’s pictures show a playground that looks worn out, dirty and outdated.

One of the most egregious examples is a vertically-standing game, where children can turn knobs to race little cars inside. The areas surrounding the racetrack are black. Cadena says the game panel used to be clear, and the black stuff inside was mold.

“That was a definite safety concern for me as a mom,” Cadena says. “I didn’t want my kids, especially my youngest — I have a toddler — to get close to it. … I didn’t want him to touch it.”

These days, her children will use the park for its soccer field instead.

As of writing this, Cadena’s post has since garnered 84 reactions, 44 comments and four shares. The next day after sharing the photos on Facebook, she started a Change.org petition (under her real name since anonymity wasn’t an option). The petition calls for a replacement of the playground with one that is safe, modern, inclusive for children of all abilities and built with environmentally conscious materials. She also mentioned the need for better lighting and benches near the playground, plus concerns about it being so close to the parking lot without any barriers.

“I saw the traction,” she says. “Working with PTA, I know when parents get excited about something, you kind of have to catch it in that window. I guess off a strategy, remembering that, I was like, ‘We need to do this now. People are responding. If they see there’s a petition, they’ll sign.’”

Still, Cadena didn’t expect the response the petition has received — about 100 signatures a day, almost 500 in a week and 883 as of writing this — plus media coverage.

“I was caught off guard because I’m not a very social person. I don’t really like the spotlight,” she says. “I was like, ‘Oh no, what’s going on? What did I do?’ But also kind of pushing myself to get out of my comfort zone because it’s needed, and it’s necessary to get things done.”

Along the way, Cadena met people who had wanted changes for the playground for a while. Neighbor Karen Ramirez recalls taking photos in the past to send to her city council member (in Harry Stone Park’s case, Jesse Moreno), and others have made 311 requests before. But now, there’s a community movement that will be more difficult to overlook.

“I was excited that Jasmine took that initiative to post on there, and that everybody was in agreement,” Ramirez says. “It’s kind of like all these families that go there, or go by there, and they know the condition of it, but a lot of people have just kind of accepted it instead of gathering together. Now, I feel like there’s a movement with that. Jasmine taking the initiative to say the things that was kind of the quiet part that we were all like, not exactly saying in the bigger group was what was needed to get it going.”

Since then, the wheels of progress have been turning. Moreno has met with the group for a walkthrough at the park in April and joined the recently formed Friends of Harry Stone Park for a discussion about upgrades, among other topics, in May. The climbing wall has been repaired and replaced, and the plywood above it has been removed. The movement has also coincided with the creation of the Casa View Oaks Neighborhood Association to address other issues like people shooting firearms and racing.

“The neighbors are really wanting to get involved, look and see what they can do,” neighbor Juan Preciado says. “I know people are really passionate about their neighborhood and their playgrounds, so I think the energy is definitely there now.”

While they continue to push for changes to be made, Cadena and her peers are trying to keep the issue at the top of folks’ minds and continue to engage neighbors.

“That’s pretty much our goal right now is just making sure that people don’t forget about Harry Stone,” Cadena says.

Despite shyness, Cadena says standing up for what’s right has always been part of her personality. She would encourage others to do the same and find their voice as opposed to staying complacent.

“(I’ve) just always been the one to take the initiative, and if something is wrong, speak up about it,” she says. “Our community deserves these things as well as any other community.”