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RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

What was once a joy­ful cor­ner of child­hood—the bright­ly coloured play zone at Irv­ing Park in San Fer­nan­do—has be­come a place of fear.

Slides where chil­dren once squealed with laugh­ter are now draped with tar­pau­lin, a mat­tress wedged be­tween the rails, and oc­cu­pied by a home­less man. Res­i­dents say watch­ing the park’s heart—the chil­dren’s play area—trans­form in­to a makeshift shel­ter has been deeply dis­tress­ing.