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Of the nearly $30 million in COVID-relief funds city leaders in Wheeling threw at various projects around town, perhaps the best use came at the end, as City Council this past week approved $201,071 for a Market Street Plaza playground project.
While a new playground on its face is nice, the fact this particular project will help with perhaps the city's most pressing need is noteworthy.
The new playground, when complete, will serve as an enhanced outdoor space for the Vineyard Church to move forward with constructing a child care center at 1000 Main St. -- the former home of the Doc Williams Country Store and, in recent years, the Children's Museum of the Ohio Valley. This will help to alleviate a severe lack of child care options in Wheeling.
"We're designing the space for 236 child care spaces, which will add 28% to the overall capacity of Wheeling's child care capacity," Vineyard pastor Chris Figaretti said. "There has to be outdoor green space for children to the tune of, I believe it's 75 square feet per child. … This space does accommodate that for us. And without that space, we can't move forward with the project."
City leaders are right to back this project. These are the types of private-public partnerships taxpayers should be involved with.
"This is a project that I'm passionate about," Vice Mayor Chad Thalman said. "This isn't just a playground, this is a way to give a much-needed service here in the city --which is child care."
As the city continues to rebuild, access to child care is a necessity. This project will help to make possible, and city leaders made the right call.