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The onset of spring always impels people to clean, but Saturday revealed the end of summer can prove equally inspirational.
The warm day saw 150 committed cleaners devote four hours to the maintenance of Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park, 1500 Pattison Ave, the site of the eighth annual Growing the Neighborhood Volunteer Day. The Philadelphia Parks & Recreation Department and the Fairmount Park Conservancy rewarded their efforts with the announcement of improvement projects and the official opening of an unnamed playground.
The space, the Fairmount Park system’s eighth largest at 348 acres, joined Stephen Girard Park, 21st and Shunk streets, a 2006 selection, as local spots that have gained from the conservancy’s mission to unite corporations and residents for service outings.
“FDR Park is a beloved treasure,” Kathryn Ott Lovell, the conservancy’s executive director, said as the groups, who began at 8 a.m., collected trash and recyclables, mulched new trees and removed vegetation from the sight-line of the park’s lake.
Community members expressed their views on its critical needs at an Aug. 2 meeting at the American Swedish Historical Museum, 1900 Pattison Ave. Already the beneficiary of $4 million over the last decade through Parks & Recreation, FDR Park will receive $195,000 more for a boat, a skimmer to remove algae, three aerators that will pump oxygen into the water and new signage. Visitors should encounter the additions by spring.
“It was really time to come down here,” Ott Lovell said. “This place should become a top destination because parks have the potential to change lives, to become catalysts for positive social change.”
Mark Focht, Parks & Recreation’s first deputy commissioner, agreed with Ott Lovell’s declarations.
“I am pleased with the turnout,” he said upon learning the organizers had run out of shirts to accommodate the attendees. “Everyone is doing a bang-up job.”
The park purifiers convened near the main entrance on Broad Street and Pattison Avenue and chose teams and occupations. The rising temperatures may have moistened brows, but they did not melt away the ambition of the helpers, including many children.
Tracy Beck, the Swedish Museum’s executive director, brought her four youngsters and earnestly tended to the sight-line as a member of the red team.
“I’d been wanting to come to a cleanup for years,” she said.
Beck did not mind not the muck that came with her chore, deeming the task her style.
“I want to see the area revived,” she said. “I love this park.”
Barbara Capozzi, the head of the Packer Park Civic Association and a member of The Friends of FDR Park, desires for the stretch to rival a northern neighbor.
“I want to make FDR Park as awesome as Central Park,” the resident of 19th and Hartranft streets said of the massive New York City destination.
Greg Jacovini, the third-year president of the 13-year-old friends group, acknowledged the conservancy for its attention to the local park, which consists of 77 acres of natural lands, 125 acres of buildings and a 146-acre golf course, and its advocacy for giving his 100-member congregation multiple says in plotting the park’s revitalization.
“We see a difference already,” Jacovini, a resident of 10th and Montrose streets, said of the conservancy’s increased aid.
Ott Lovell, Jacovini’s main contact, noted the capital improvements will help to expand programming and educational opportunities within FDR Park that include the Sept. 23 to 24 POPPED! Music Festival, and The First Tee of Philadelphia, 20th Street and Pattison Avenue, part of a system that assists more than 5,000 children through character development, golf and life skills initiatives.
He and his affiliates chose the park’s fringe to give visitors and passers-by an immediate visual gift.
“We hope the front will excite people,” he said. “Eventually we will target other areas.”
As the gathering hit its midpoint, the children earned rewards for their brief manual labor. Soft pretzels sated their stomachs, but they had to be careful not to disturb their face paintings. Courtesy of Ladder 19, 2301 S. 24th St., they could spend time on a fire truck. A third option involved trying out the playground, which, according to Ott Lovell, has enjoyed immense popularity over its short existence.
The space, which includes the usual assortment of bodily benefactors, also owes its existence to last month’s meeting. It may soon lose its title as the park’s newest attraction, as Ott Lovell revealed the famed boathouse, a remnant of the Sesquicentennial International Exposition of 1926, may become a restaurant, as the City is courting a concessionaire.
Six-year-old Bryan Jumarang showed his love for Spider-Man by having the superhero’s mask painted on his face. Extremely satisfied with his look, the first-grader at St. Thomas Aquinas School, 1719 Morris St., took to the slide and swings.
“I liked cleaning but now it’s time to play,” the resident of the 1800 block of South Chadwick Street said.
A Boys and Girls Clubs of Philadelphia mentoring coordinator, Denise Lawson lent her time to the green team, which picked up trash and recyclables, raked and swept the area just west of the playground.
“I came by here after a Phillies game last month,” the resident of 20th and McKean streets said of the short distance between the park and Citizens Bank Park, 1 Citizens Bank Way. “I was surprised, in a good way, with the updates.”
Fond of community gatherings, Lawson enjoyed being a part of the Growing the Neighborhood event, a joint creation of The Ace Group, an insurance provider, and NovaCare Rehabilitation, a leading offerer of physical therapy services. A mother of two, she also found the youngsters’ presence invigorating.
“It has been a great day,” she said. “Everyone is here for a great reason — community.”
Last week’s rains caused the sequestering of parts of the playground, but Mayor Michael Nutter and other officials and corporate speakers greeted the excited crowd with commendations for their hard work and devotion to aesthetics. Nutter, enamored with changing Philadelphia into America’s greenest city, spoke of adding more beauty.
“Our commitment is to add another 500 acres of green space throughout the city of Philadelphia over the next few years,” he said. “Every piece of ground doesn’t need to have a building on it.”
Michael DiBerardinis, the deputy mayor for environmental and community services, announced the new signs’ impending arrival and, before joining his boss in a ribbon cutting ceremony, stressed the equipment’s role in helping families to bond.
“Come, and enjoy,” he said. “It’s your city and you have asked us to better it. Thank you for your request.”
Contact Staff Writer Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com or ext. 124.
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