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Marconi Plaza could be considered the epicenter of South Philly south of Washington Avenue. Stretching from 13th to 15th streets and spanning from Oregon Avenue to Bigler Street, it’s huge. The Olmstead brother-designed 19-acre park is a big, beautiful swath of land at the foot of the Broad Street Line’s Oregon station and split by Broad Street. And ever since the Friends of Marconi Plaza took shape about three-and-a-half years ago, Rich Cedrone says things have been steadily improving.
“It’s taken off over the last few years. We’re pretty proud of the achievements we’ve created for the park,” the president of the group and resident of the 2700 block of South Iseminger Street said.
He ticked off a handful of accomplishments: A booming Love Your Park event with pony rides for kids, new park benches and trash cans, a refurbished children’s playground, a movie night, a rejuvenated Columbus Day celebration, and last summer they even threw a concert with The Business.
“We’re also halfway through the process of creating a community garden. Our next long-term goal is a dog park and that’s going to take a few years to get that up and running,” Cedrone reported. “Another one of our goals is to somehow come up with funding to get more lighting in the park. We want the park used — the more the park’s used, the safer it is.”
With a newfound organized volunteer force in the park, Parks & Recreation is thrilled. In fact, Cedrone is thrilled that he and his peers have a paid seasonal worker to maintain the park’s cleanliness.
“When they recognized us as a friends group, they were able to put a seasonal helper into their funding. He’s there five days a week, and he cleans all through the park and the ball fields. It really helps,” he said.
The friends leader is also hungry for volunteer support and urges area residents to take to Facebook and get involved.
“We have a Facebook page. We’re trying to get people to go on it and look at it and maybe join our group and help us,” Cedrone said. “It’s well-used, which it should be; that’s what the park’s there for.”
There was a lot of love for FDR Park and Burke Playground, which won second- and third-place honors, respectively.
Staff Writer Bill Chenevert at bchenevert@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.
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