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On Friday night, the rooftop of the Wharton Lofts, 1148 Wharton St., was packed to capacity — more than 200 Philadelphians had come for various reasons, but all of them had a common interest: Columbus Square Park. In two short hours, the Columbus Square Advisory Council managed to pull together approximately $10,500 in donations, a good start for its first fundraising effort since 1st District Councilman Mark Squilla facilitated a $300,000 gift that precipitated a now full-on grassroots organizational effort to collect a total of about $3 million to get the Passyunk Square institution overhauled.
As the sun set over the multi-generational crowd’s view of Center City skylines, Ilene Wilder, the council’s president, and Dave Rumsey, the event’s chair, gave a short presentation with the help of the Community Design Collective’s redesign renderings.
When it was Rumsey’s turn, he started by asking the crowd “How many people have been in this neighborhood for one year?” A handful of hands and shouts went up. “How many have been here five years?” he asked, soliciting another, slightly larger group of raised arms and exclamations. But the loudest and biggest demographic may have been a surprise to some — the 25- and 30-year residents really whooped it up.
“I thought that was pretty amazing myself. I was really excited about that,” Wilder said on Monday of the shows of hands. “It was telling. I had a guy come up to me, who I know grew up in this area, and give me a big hug and kiss and he said ‘Thank you so much for doing this – this is really awesome.’”
What started years ago with crowdsourcing ideas for what an updated Columbus Square would look like now has a dream completion date, albeit a vague one.
“At this point we’re in fundraising mode and we’re hoping to break ground within two years. That’s our goal,” Chris DiCapua, a resident of the 1300 block of South 13th Street and vice president of the advisory council, said. “The time range for the park to be totally done is three to five years.”
With a great deal of support from the community, including donations from Passyunk Avenue businesses like Acme and a significant gift from Conestoga Bank for the event, it does seem possible that the $3 million could be raised as quickly as hoped and that a five-year completion point is merely a safe estimation.
The City of Philadelphia Parks & Recreation Department is on board. So are the Passyunk Square Civic Association, the CDC, and, to the delight and surprise of Wilder, the Passyunk Avenue Revitalization Corporation.
“I can’t think of a better project to be involved in. PARC is committed” and “will be a real strong force behind this project,” Pam Zenzola, a PARC board member, resident of the 1300 block of Federal Street, and the president of the PSCA, said on behalf of executive director Sam Sherman. “You’ll see PARC put out the money and we will be a big interest in this project.”
Mark Focht, the First Deputy Commissioner of Parks & Facilities, preceded the closing presentation saying “We’re thrilled with this project. We’re your partners and we look forward to moving this project forward.”
There isn’t too much opposition to the park at this point and, if at all, it’s with specific design elements.
“The only opposition right now is there’s still some pushback with Taney [Youth Baseball Association] because they want two fields and they’re only going to get one,” DiCapua said.
As SPR reported back in February, at a meeting at the 12th-and-Wharton-streets center, there were a few objections to the revealed renderings. But as Wilder stressed, the planning process was advertised, open to the public, and Taney had signed off on the proposed changes ahead of the winter reveal.
Monica and Jason Marziani were in attendance on the rooftop with their young son Sebastian. They’re residents of the 1600 block of South 12th Street – she a freelance web designer and he a software developer.
“You see a lot of weekend sport stuff happens [at the park], but those fields can be condensed down, I think. Most of the time you’re there it’s two huge baseball fields that aren’t being used,” Jason Marziani said.
His wife ends up taking Sebastian up to Hawthorne Park, 12th and Catharine streets for everything other than use of the park’s tot lot.
“Every time I’ve been over there there’s people who are doing that exact thing – reading books and sunning. I take him up there from time to time just to let him run around,” Monica Marziani said.
The condition of the park is not ideal. There’s a lot of dust, bugs, ditches that collect rainwater and general room for improvement.
“We need better, cooler green spaces. Not just green but cooler, more inviting and with a better design aesthetic,” Curt Alexander, the owner of Urban Jungle, 1526 E. Passyunk Ave., and resident of the 1900 block of South Juniper Street said. “As all these parks start to connect, we start to minimize the distance between parks.”
The corporate life retiree started greening his home and once he found their home on Passyunk, he jumped into the grand task of softening some of South Philly’s hard edges, something he’s taking to task through weeds.
“I want to start a program where I incentivize essentially for people to clean up their neighborhood. Let people come in with their weeds and we we’re just gonna collect them, and they’ll get a stamp and a card,” he explained.
Get enough stamps, and one will be rewarded with a 4-inch plant or gift. His team will turn weeds into mulch.
“We’ve been here 30-some years. When we first arrived there was no neighborhood group,” Mary Ellen Bradley, who calls the 1100 block of Titan street home with her husband Joe, said.
She remembers when Frank DiCicco started an Italian Market West group, but “now we have how many groups?” she mused.
“You can walk anywhere all weekend and never get in a car — that’s what we loved about [the neighborhood].”
She and her husband had come simply to hear more about the project and were overwhelmed by the robust and diverse attendance.
“There are so many young people in South Philadelphia, it’s amazing,” she added.
“There are a lot of people who appreciate the evolution,” Wilder said and stresses that there are many ways to get involved, noting one of the best places to start is their new website (mycolumbussquarepark.org). “You move forward. Everything evolves, things change but that doesn’t mean you’re out of it. Anyone who lives around this park or uses it is part of the fabric of the community.”
Staff Writer Bill Chenevert at bchenevert@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.
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