Del Monte Manor has launched a grassroots effort to replace a dangerous, aging playground.

In 2014, residents of Seaside’s Del Monte Manor, the largest affordable housing complex on the Monterey Peninsula, were threatened with eviction by incompetent management that almost drove the property into bankruptcy.

Residents and local do-gooders rose to the call, and helped bring in a new management company to set the 192-unit property back on solid financial ground.

But there remained one glaring problem: The property’s aging playground, which was installed decades ago after being removed from a Seaside park, was in disrepair, posing a potential safety risk to children. The one functional swing was partially supported by a padlock that held two chains together.

Residents again rose to the call, and starting in fall of 2016, have been raising funds to get a new playground installed, so that the property’s 80-plus kids, as well as kids from the surrounding neighborhood, cannot only play safely, but also have a playground with dignity.

“The children of Del Monte Manor deserve a better place to play,” says Erika Matadamas, a resident who’s part of the six-member group of volunteers spearheading the renovation effort. “We need to take it into our own hands to make it happen.”

To date, the group, has raised $42,000 toward its $70,000 goal, with an assist from Seaside’s police and fire departments, which held a fundraiser earlier this year to support the effort.

“They’re the heart and soul of our community,” Seaside Police Cmdr. Nick Borges says of Del Monte Manor residents. The current playground, he adds, “is painful to look at.”