Editorial: Engaging shady business

Sunday, June 25, 2006 | 7:51 a.m.

Las Vegas City Council members' decision last week on how to improve the city's parks is cool - by design.

In a unanimous vote, council members set aside $3 million to buy shade canopies and some new playground equipment for 78 playgrounds in 49 city parks. It is similar to efforts by the cities of North Las Vegas and Henderson and the Clark County School District to add shaded play areas in parks and at schools.

Anyone who has visited one of the Las Vegas Valley's parks on a 110-degree summer day knows that a slide or swing can feel as hot as a skillet - especially to little hands and legs. Some shade would provide much-needed relief.

And canopies can offer more than creature comfort. Las Vegas Councilman Gary Reese, who proposed the purchase, said he has had 500 potential skin cancers removed as an adult - growths that he said occurred largely because of the years he spent outside in the sun as a youth.

According to the American Cancer Society, skin cancer accounts for about half of all cancers diagnosed in the United States each year, and about 7,900 people die from it. Cancer experts say sunburns early in life contribute to the risk of developing skin cancer as an adult. Offering our children some extra protection from the intense desert sun just makes sense.