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Though the City deemed May 12 to 19 “Love Your Park Week,” a dearth of monetary endearment for the Philadelphia Parks & Recreation Department prompted Lauren Bornfriend to announce May 16 that she and other residents have had their patience maxed out.
Their City Hall gathering aimed to have Mayor Michael A. Nutter fulfill a 2008 pledge to use parking tax increases to help to swell his municipality’s parks and recreation budget to $56 million.
“Our parks and recreation facilities have suffered decades of neglect and underfunding, and now, four years of broken promises,” Bornfriend, Philadelphia Parks Alliance Executive Director, said.
The Germantown dweller’s organization began its campaign to acquire the money in March, the same month Nutter’s Fiscal Year ’13 plan proposed allotting $47.8 million to Parks & Recreation. As $2.1 million of that counts as outside resources, the true $45.7-million tag represents the same tally from ’10.
“My colleagues and I are brainstorming to achieve resolution,” 1st District Councilman Mark Squilla said.
The resident of Front Street and Snyder Avenue has worked to rejuvenate Burke Playground, Second and Jackson streets, using its proximity to him as a symbol for the convenience the higher appropriation could continue to provide for his constituents and others.
“It is a blessing to live close to a walkable facility and enjoy it,” the Whitman resident said, “so let’s move from the past and focus on now.”
Squilla suggested a $2 surcharge on parking violations, a move that could generate nearly $2.2 million. He mentioned conflicting legal takes on the proposal yet vowed to press on even if his plan proves futile.
While she understands the recent recession’s hampering of many cities’ options, Bornfriend noted previous promises to offer help have bred ineffectual results.
For Fiscal Year ’10, Philadelphia had a total park expenditure of about $99.6 million and a population of 1.5 million yielding a $64 per resident total that situated it 13th out of 14 metropolises, according to The Trust for Public Land’s Center for City Park Excellence. The city spent an average of $8,906 for 11,186 parkland acres, earning it 10th-place distinction, and has four employees for every 10,000 residents, a statistic that garnered it the 12th spot.
The department’s received funding since ’08 totals $43 million fewer dollars than the Five-Year Strategic Plan Fiscal Year ’09-’13’s suggested apportionment, according to the alliance.
“People are fed up and burned out,” Bornfriend said.
The Department of Recreation and the Fairmount Park Commission merged in ’09. The 609-member workforce, a 30 percent dip since ’00, must address 465 basketball courts, 405 ball fields, 254 playgrounds, 220 miles of recreational trails, 197 neighborhood and recreational parks, 156 recreation centers and 70 pools, among other amenities. Volunteers often cover sites, amassing 220,000 park hours last year, which amounts to $4.8 million in sweat equity, according to the nonprofit Independent Sector.
“In their present state, Philly’s parks and recreation generate more than $1 billion annually in income and savings for the City and its citizens,” Bornfriend said. “Imagine how much more that could be.”
2nd District Councilman Kenyatta Johnson, of the 1800 block of Manton Street, knows, as Bornfriend iterated, the sites facilitate neighborhood cohesion by encouraging exercise; enhancing safety; keeping air and water clean; and slowing erosion, flooding and runoff.
“I had a childhood affinity for Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park,” the Point Breeze product said, recalling walks to the spacious realm, Broad Street and Pattison Avenue. “Today is about re-establishing a commitment to our future. A promise was made, and if a promise was made, we need to revisit it and start funding these parks.”
Mark Berman, of the 300 block of Manton Street, is an alliance disciple who acts as president for the Friends of Manton Street Park and Community Garden, one of the department’s 80 friends groups. He and his neighbors signed a Feb. 17 agreement with developer U.S. Construction to sustain 405-07 Manton St. as a pocket park, ending confusion over the identity of 405-11 Manton St., which the City included in a Nov. 23 sale of empty lots.
The accord will see Berman and his friends yielding claim to 409-11 Manton St., which will go toward home construction, and continuing to tend to the garden lot and the park, formerly the Redevelopment Authority’s and the Office of Public Property’s possessions, respectively, which recently joined the department’s inventory.
“Our goal is to continue to involve the community and keep this as a friendly, open green space and not let it fall into disrepair and neglect as it had in its previous life,” the Pennsport dweller said.
U.S. Construction has vowed to provide a monetary contribution toward landscaping and fencing. That makes Berman covetous of an alliance victory, as more good news could result in much more than an $8 million supplement to the department.
“Hopefully the alliance will win this battle and be able to provide more maintenance for our parks to keep them cleaner and protected,” he said. “With clean parks, you get healthier neighborhoods, less neglect, less crime.”
Bornfriend lacks any idea how or by when funds might arrive yet believes resolution will come, as areas whose residents suffer from economic woes will be in further peril if resources dwindle and the department’s responsibilities increase.
Etrulia Gay resides in one such community. The chairperson of the Friends of Wharton Square, 2300 Wharton St., hopes her Point Breeze land can continue to delight youngsters.
“We’re not asking for a specific allotment,” the resident of the 2200 block of Gerritt Street said. “We need wrought-iron fencing and hope the finances are there.”
Gay, whose site includes a tennis court, discussed opportunities with the U.S. Tennis Association’s Katherine Perrin, whose employer oversees action at local sites such as FDR Park.
“Eight million is a big number,” Perrin said. “We’ll be lucky if we get half of that.”
Bornfriend would not mind such luck.
“The message is we need these funds back,” she said. “Enough is enough.”
Contact Staff Writer Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com or ext. 124.
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