After finally receiving enough funding thanks to local donors and grants, contractors will be breaking ground in Clark Park within the next week, adding colorful, new play equipment to the delight of local families.
The upcoming changes to the West Philadelphia park, located between 43rd and 45th streets and Baltimore and Woodland avenues, are part of a larger master plan for the space initiated by local residents and city officials and intended to enhance the surrounding area.
"Six or seven years ago... [the park] was a jungle," said Anne Kringel, a board member of the Friends of Clark Park and co-chairwoman of the Clark Park Renewal Project Steering Committee. "It didn't get mowed very often; there was a lot of trash. The Department of Recreation just didn't have the funding to maintain it well. It was a big problem for kids [and] for everybody because the park just really is... one of the few large green spaces in West Philly, and it's really heavily-used. It wasn't very inviting."
Safe play equipment is "not something the younger children have at the park right now," University City District Executive Director Eric Goldstein said.
The playground project, a joint effort by various local organizations, was prompted by a $100,000 pledge from the city which will go toward a second phase of renovations to the "junior playground" area of the park.
Funding for the current renovations, planned for the toddler playground, came from the acquisition of a $50,000 matching grant from the William Penn Foundation and an additional $50,000 in funding raised by the community to secure the grant.
"The really great thing is it came from all over," Kringel said. "The remainder we raised from neighbors, just a lot of individual donations, a lot of neighborhood businesses donated, and then there were some more large foundation grants."
"I was really happy with the level of support in the neighborhood for that project," Friends of Clark Park board member Todd Sandler said. "It's an awesome park, and it's definitely well-used by the neighborhood.... It'll be great because they'll have a tot playground and one for older kids right next to each other, and it'll be better equipment, up to code and more fun for the kids."
The University City District has managed the proposal and bidding process for finding a contractor, and Moon Site Management will be breaking ground this week, adding code-compliant play equipment for toddlers, and it will also be involved in the eventual replacement of equipment in the junior lot of the park.
"The amazing thing about this whole project is that it's a public-private partnership because the whole renewal project was started by the Department of Recreation and the Friends of Clark Park and the University City District," Kringel said. "The city is working with all of these community members and institutions to kind of do a coordinated improvement of the park."
The new playground equipment is set to be ready for local children by May 1, the date of the annual maintenance fundraiser for the park.
Each year, the gathering usually brings about 350 organizations and families together to raise money for the continued maintenance of Clark Park, according to Goldstein.
