We will have walk-in registration for the spring season of Clark Park Youth Soccer for ages 8 to 11 only on Saturday, April 2nd, 10 am to 12:30 pm, in Rosenberger Hall (brick building on 43rd Street side of the park). Teams for all younger age groups are now full. Please direct questions to clarkparksoccer@yahoo.com.
Cindy Roberts dishing out her historically-accurate (& tasty) Victorian trifle dessert at Dickens’ Birthday Party, 2011.
250 people turned out to remember Roberts, a talented journalist & savvy businesswoman who committed to West Philadelphia when West Philadelphia wasn’t fashionable. She raised a family here and helped transform her community by her hard-nosed, fierce intelligence & her sense of humor.
Roberts played a transformative role in developing the 2001 Revitalization Master Plan for Clark Park, which laid out a long-term investment plan amounting to $2 million. About 2/5 has been implemented so far – close to $1 million of public investment inspired & unleashed by Cindy. She taught West Philly how to look beyond parochial concerns & petty bickering, & build together a public space where all of us can advance ourselves & our city.
The park you enjoy & frolic on today is Cindy Roberts’ fruit. Remember that when next you set foot on its soil.
Our mission, as FRIENDS OF CLARK PARK, is to learn her lessons & to carry out her mission. In helping to build a park & keep it live, you are building & keeping your community alive.
Ours are the actions that will endure after Cindy’s actions have returned to dust. We who love Clark Park as she did, must make an extra effort to carry on her mission of raising West Philadelphia to what it deserves to become.
I’m told the tulip poplar leaves of Clark Park are calling all Andy Goldsworthy types to come make some art. We raked these yesterday.
Monday evening’s Public Membership Meeting will review the problems that contributed to the rising tide of trash in Clark Park this year, as well as FRIENDS OF CLARK PARK’S efforts to come to grips with it.
It is a complex problem, with many pieces and many players. We need members of the community to put their heads together and help us look for solutions.
Please come to the Oct. 19 meeting at 7 p.m. in Griffith Hall. That’s the big old building with classical columns on 43rd St across from Rosenberger Hall and the Kingsessing parking lot.
The next meeting of the Friends of Clark Park Membership will be Monday, October 19, 2015, from 7 PM. The meeting will be held in n Griffith Hall Lecture Room A, 600 S. 43rd Street, on the University of the Sciences Campus.
There are two main items on the agenda. We will start with our annual business meeting, with elections scheduled for President, Vice President, Secretary, and half of our Board Members. We will launch into a discussion of trash removal and associated problems. Finally, we will announce the various upcoming projects including folding chair replacement, new Chess Tables (to be installed with revitalized stone fines for the Plaza area) and planning for the Party for the Park next spring.
Please let me know if you have any questions or want further information.
Frank L. Chance, Secretary, Friends of Clark Park
chancefl@gmail.com
From Sep 27 through Oct 4, visitors to Clark Park may notice a green tent-like structure in the southwest corner of the park. The Jewish festival of Sukkot (“booths” in Hebrew) is a harvest festival and takes place for 7 or 8 days (length varies by Jewish sect) each fall, 2 weeks after Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. During Sukkot, it is traditional to build a sukkah, a temporary structure that symbolizes the huts lived in by the Jewish people as they wandered in the desert for 40 years after their liberation from Egypt. Kol Tzedek Synagogue, which meets at the Calvary Center at 48th and Baltimore, is happy to have their sukkah in Clark Park for the 2nd consecutive year.
Come to the Friends of Clark Park general membership meeting this coming Monday, 7/20, at 7 PM in Griffith Hall Lecture Hall A. Griffith is the big USciences building across from the park just north of Woodland.
We’ll talk about trash in the park, summer garden maintenance, and lots more exciting topics. You can join at the meeting if you’re not a member yet.
The Philadelphia Cultural Alliance & Parks Alliance teamed to host a mayoral panel discussion at the Free Library last Monday. It was the best chance for park supporters to hear the candidates’ thoughts on parks.
Phila. Parks Alliance Exec. Dir. Lauren Bornfriend introduces mayoral panel on parks & culture at Central Free Library. Jim Kenney, Tony Williams, Lynne Abraham & Melissa Bailey were on stage then; Nelson Díaz & Doug Oliver arrived shortly thereafter.
Lynne Abraham pressed her fondness for Independence Mall as the ideal park. She hailed the influx of private-charity money from the Knight Foundation & the William Penn Foundation as the best way to fund park improvements. Current PPR Deputy Mayor Mike DiBerardinis is “a keeper,” in her words, whom she would seek to retain as Mayor.
Melissa Bailey, the Republican candidate, runs her 4-year-old child in Starr Garden’s youth-soccer program. She insisted that education comes first in the City budget but said the PPR budget could be increased.
Nelson Díaz is drawn to the Forbidden Drive, where he ran for many years. He deplored the dilapidation of too many rec centers & vowed he would increase the PPR budget by 10%.
Jim Kenney said his dream park is Franklin Square, which he called “the best children’s park in the USA.” He called Rec workers “heroes” who had inspired him as a youth. He thought advertising & other marketing opportunities could boost revenue for parks.
Doug Oliver grew up in Germantown & vividly recalls hitting home runs in Vernon Park. He insisted that Philadelphia’s top budget priority is schools but stated that PPR’s physical training was an essential complement to the School District’s academics.
Tony Williams grew up across from Cobbs Creek Park & still lives in that house. His mother, a science teacher, founded an environmental center in that park. He would increase the PPR budget by $1 million. Like Kenney he advocated private-sector funding opportunities such as branding, & tapping famous Philadelphians to give back to their city.
There are more meetings to attend on 4224 Baltimore! Going to meetings is our best means of showing our support for U3’s exciting mixed-use development project in the vacant lot at 43rd and Baltimore.
First is a City Planning Commission hearing, Tuesday, April 28th,1 PM to 4 PM, 1515 Arch Street, room 18-029.
The most important meeting, the meeting to attend if you’re only going to attend one, is with the Zoning Board, the body that will actually decide whether the project can happen. It’s Wednesday, April 29th, 4 PM, 1515 Arch Street, room 18-002.
See you there!
Don’t forget to come to the Friends of Clark Park general meeting this coming Monday, 4/20, at 7 PM in Griffith Hall, Lecture Hall A. It’s the big USciences building on the east side of 43rd Street just above Woodland. We’ll talk about upcoming climactic zoning hearings on 4224 Baltimore, and volunteer opportunities for our Party in Clark Park beer garden on May 16th, and so much more.