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City employees show up to work on playground hours after Action News Jax questions its safety

Action News Jax is getting results at a city-owned park, where broken playground equipment was putting kids in danger.

After Navy mother Erin Heatherly spent a month trying to get the city of Jacksonville to fix up Oceanway Park, she asked Action News Jax for help.

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Within hours of Action News Jax investigator Jenna Bourne asking questions, city crews showed up at the playground.

Heatherly said she relies on public parks to keep her 4-year-old daughter Aria entertained.

But last month, in Oceanway Park, she took photos of a hole in a tunnel with a flap hanging down.

“If her leg had gotten caught, she could have cut herself or worse,” said Heatherly.

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She also took photos of a pole at the top of a slide that had rusted away and disconnected at the bottom.

“I saw kids pulling on it as they were going down the slide. And the fact that the bottom part was rusted, I was worried about -- well goodness, what happens if you get cut?” said Heatherly.

She sent photos to the city on Feb. 17, asking the Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Service to fix the slide.

On March 16, she took photos showing nothing had changed and told the city she planned to contact the news.

Action News Jax met up with Heatherly on Monday morning, about an hour after we started questioning the city.

She said the department's director, Daryl Joseph, had come out minutes before to take pictures and had given her his business card.

The city had removed the rusted pole, duct-taped the hole in the tunnel and boarded it up.

“I guess it shows me that they’re working on it. I hope that it actually does get fixed,” said Heatherly.

We still spotted safety concerns, such as tree roots sticking up at the base of a slide.

A half-hour later, a city worker showed up to remove the roots.

City crews also showed up and pressure-washed the playground.

“Per our parks office, the playground vendor has been notified and we are awaiting replacement parts. As you know, some models of playground equipment require additional time. In the interim, the playground has been safeguarded,” said city of Jacksonville spokesperson Marsha Oliver at 5:19 p.m. Monday.