November, 2013

Dear Philadelphia Parks & Recreation Colleagues:

After months of information gathering, staff review sessions and numerous revisions, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation has a new brand. The collective examination of our commitment to helping children succeed, our high aspirations around the stewardship of natural and built resources, along with our deepening connections to citizens has helped crystallize just who we are and what role we play in the life of the City. We are in the process of planning the new brand’s official launch, and we will be sharing more information about the brand and the launch event in the near future.

And as we prepare to publicly share just how we help people grow, we have been quite active in providing resources and opportunities for our own staff to grow. We recently launched our Parkland Forest Management Framework at a well-attended event at the Academy of Natural Sciences. Numerous Program Division staff members also recently completed professional development training offered by the National Institute on Out-of-School Time as well as participated in in-house training regarding REACH, the department’s new approach to youth development programming. Operations Division and Stewardship Unit staff are nearing the completion of year-long Sustainable Landscape Maintenance Training provided under contract with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Several workshops for Advisory Councils members are also being planned as an outcome of the community organizing training in which two cohorts of Program staff participated. We have provided incredible benefit to the City through our merged efforts and have laid a strong foundation for continued progress and growth. Thank you for your daily contributions to our collective success.

Fall TreePhilly Yard Tree Program

Help make Philly a “City of ‘Arborly’ Love” by requesting a free yard tree through our Fall 2013 Yard Tree Program. Individual property owners can request up to two free yard trees, and community organizations can request up to 10 free yard trees. Also this fall, for the first time, we will have a limited number of fruit trees! Register between now and October 31st, and pick up your tree at one of the four events in November (see dates below). You must pre-register to be eligible for a fruit tree, but tree choice is first-come, first served at each event.

REGISTER FOR YOUR FREE TREE NOW!

The yard tree pick-up dates and locations are as follows:

• Saturday, November 9, 10 a.m.‐12 p.m., 12‐2 p.m., 2‐4 p.m., Pennypack Environmental Center (8600 Verree Rd. 19115)
• Sunday, November 10, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Columbus Square Playground (1200 Wharton St. 19147)
• Saturday, November 16, 11 a.m.‐1 p.m., Overington Park (4600 Leiper St. 19124)
• Sunday, November 17, 12‐2 p.m., West Oak Lane Library (2000 Washington Lane, 19138)

Fall LOVE Your Park Day

As of our publication date, more than 60 neighborhood parks are participating in LOVE Your Park Day on November 16. Please find your local participating park and join your neighbors in prepping Philadelphia’s green spaces for the winter.

This Fall’s signature LOVE Your Park Day sites are Manton St. Park and Community Garden, Jefferson Square Park and Sacks Playground.

• The LOVE Your Park celebration coincides with Manton St. Park and Community Garden’s grand opening ribbon cutting ceremony and block party, featuring Mayor Michael A. Nutter. Manton St. Park and Community Garden is a brand new park that was the Fairmount Park Conservancy’s Growing the Neighborhood featured grant winner last year. Read more about the Manton St. Park and Community Garden project.
• On November 16, all three signature sites will host service day activities from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., converge on Manton St. for a ribbon cutting ceremony at noon and then enjoy a neighborhood block party at 4th and Manton Street in the afternoon.
• Service day activities will include raking, tree and bulb planting, painting, mulching, and general cleanup. The block party will include the L.L. Bean Bootmobile, food trucks and activities for children.
• LOVE Your Park sponsors include Ace and NovaCare.

Open Call for Artists in LOVE Park's Art Gallery!

We are pleased to announce a great opportunity for known and up-and-coming artists interested in displaying their work in the Fairmount Park Welcome Center Art Gallery in LOVE Park.

Students, professionals and academics are welcome! There is no cost to the artist(s) to participate, and the potential for consignment art sales exists. The Fairmount Park Welcome Center is a public facility that caters to locals and tourists Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Learn more about this opportunity.

Philadelphia 76ers visit MLK Recreation Center

Today at 4 p.m., 76ers players and coaching staff, the Sixers Flight Squad and Dream Team, World B. Free, City Council President Darrell Clarke and PPR First Deputy Commissioner Susan Slawson will host an NBA Cares event at Martin Luther King Recreation Center. The event will include a ribbon cutting ceremony for the recreation center’s indoor basketball court, as well as fitness activities (basketball, dance and exercises), heart screenings and healthy eating demonstrations for children ages 6 through 15.

This event is part of the Sixers Fit to Win program, which focuses on engaging kids in fun interactive ways to live a healthier lifestyle through a series of events, programs and resources that motivate, reward and challenge students to achieve their fitness goals. It is also part of Sixers Blue Week presented by Independence Blue Cross & SIXERS STRONG.

Fall in Overington Park

On the afternoon of September 28, the Friends of Overington Park hosted “Art Under The Trees”: 19 children competed in the park’s chalk art contest, interpreting master art works into their own chalk creations. All participants took home an art supply, and winners received a sketchbook and additional supplies. In addition, community members drew artwork to be placed into Meals on Wheels deliveries, and a local artist displayed her work for the more than 40 neighbors who attended.

In addition to giving out pretzels and promoting the park’s upcoming events, JR ROTC from Frankford High School took home a prize for their LOVE chalk art (pictured above).

On October 19, Friends of Overington Park continued the fun with a Fall Festival, including a pumpkin patch, a craft project, candy and more.

On November 16, the group will host its LOVE Your Park clean-up, a TreePhilly yard tree giveaway and a gardening workshop.

Forest Management Framework

On October 7, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation released its Parkland Forest Management Framework with an event at the Academy of Natural Sciences featuring Emma Marris, author of Rambunctious Garden.

This Forest Management Framework serves as a guide to long-term, holistic management of the forest resources. The framework provides a broad-brush ecological assessment of the Parks’ forest ecosystem, focused mainly on the stream valley and estuary parks, as well as a select number of neighborhood parks with significant canopy. It addresses issues associated with natural resource needs and opportunities. Its focus is on resource conditions in need of ecological enhancement, restoration and management. Its aim is to protect, restore and maintain the natural forestlands of the parks for the benefit of the citizens of Philadelphia and the surrounding region. The framework includes chapters summarizing assessment, adaptive management, future needs, and pilot projects. It is intended to guide management for a 10-year time horizon, during which time it may undergo periodic updates based on progress, emerging needs and resources addressed by adaptive management measures.

Download the Parkland Forest Management Framework

Program Overview: Grow Up Green

Grow Up Green is an environmental education program being presented at various Philadelphia Parks & Recreation Tot Recreation sites. Each week, a Grow Up Green Instructor visits these sites and does various nature-related activities with the children in these programs. Using a wide variety of hands-on activities, the Grow Up Green Instructors encourage the children to explore the outdoors and the natural world around them. By picking up leaves and discussing colors, counting the trees on the playground or listening to the birds up on a wire sing, the Grow Up Green activities and lessons help connect the preschool-age curriculum already being taught at these sites with nature.

This is the second year for Grow Up Green. In collaboration with the Fairmount Park Conservancy, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation has been generously awarded another grant from PNC to continue again for this school year. In March, Grow Up Green received an Excellence in Programming Award from the Pennsylvania Recreation and Parks Society.

“Grow Up is Green is great because it shows the children that the outdoors is just as important as the indoor classroom,” said Ed McLaughlin, facility supervisor at Palmer Playground. Palmer, along with Max Myers, Junod, Carmella and Cohox are all returning to the program again this year. In an effort to expand the program out to other areas, the Tot Recreation programs at Houston Playground in the Northwest corner of the city and Columbus Square in South Philadelphia have been added to the program this year as well. Grow Up Green has also had a presence at various events held at Sister Cities Park, located at 18th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

Historic Strawberry Mansion Celebrates Grand-Reopening after Four Years of Renovations

On October 17, Historic Strawberry Mansion celebrated its official grand re-opening after four years of restoration and preservation efforts, including its unique collection of antiques, fine art and collectible treasures from the 18th and 19th century. In addition, a never-before-seen mural painted by Dot Bunn and Patrick Connors titled The Portage Trail to Strawberry Mansion was unveiled.

Then, on October 19, The Committee of 1926 unveiled Historic Strawberry Mansion’s historic marker during its official Dedication Ceremony. Since 1946, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has administered a program of historic markers to capture the memory of people, places and events that have affected the lives of Pennsylvanians over time.

The Historic Strawberry Mansion is the largest of the seven historic Fairmount Park Houses. Formerly known as “Summerville,” Historic Strawberry Mansion was built in 1789 by Judge William Lewis, a well-known lawyer and abolitionist, as a summer home along the Schuylkill River. In 1825, its second owner, Judge Joseph Hemphill, added the first of two Greek-revival style wings to the home. The structure of the house remains largely unchanged to this day, and has become one of the most celebrated, historic houses in Philadelphia. Built and expanded in both the Federal and Empire periods, the mansion houses antiques, fine art and collectibles from the 18th and 19th century. In 1930, in an effort to celebrate the magnificence of the extraordinary home, the Committee of 1926, a group of public-spirited women, restored Historic Strawberry Mansion and opened it to public as an historic house museum the following year. The Historic Strawberry Mansion celebrated its Grand Re-Opening and Dedication in October 2013. Tours of the house are available now.

Urban Youth Academy: FDR Ballfields

Phase I construction of the Urban Youth Academy, a partnership with Major League Baseball and the Phillies, should be completed by the first week of November. This phase entailed physical improvements to FDR Park’s Richie Ashburn baseball field as well as the construction of a NCAA regulation-size baseball field directly adjacent to Ashburn field. These two fields, along with the two existing Softball fields at FDR Park, will be the centerpiece of the sports component of the Academy’s program offerings.

Additional programming of the Urban Youth Academy will be conducted at Marian Anderson Recreation Center where physical improvements are also planned. Academy programs at Anderson Rec Center will include year-round physical training, educational opportunities and hands-on career exploration.

Learn more about this project: "City, Phillies team up for $4 million youth project in S. Philly," Philadelphia Daily News, October 20, 2013

Restored Italian Fountain

On September 11, City and elected officials gathered for a ribbon cutting ceremony to unveil the renovated historic Italian Fountain (Fountain of the Seahorses) at the Fairmount Water Works. The Fountain of the Seahorses was originally a gift from Mussolini’s Italy in 1926 to commemorate the Sesquicentennial of America and had been inactive since 2006. It is a replica of the Fontana dei Cavalli Marini (c. 1740) attributed to Christopher Untenberger in Rome.

The new design focuses on eliminating the physical barriers to the fountain, adding new paving surfaces and a seating area and changing the basin grade, keeping in mind the original design intent. The landscape was designed to highlight the foundation while framing views to the fountain from the public spaces around it. Further site improvements include new fountain walls, light fixtures, plumbing, and new electric.

The fountain was reactivated immediately following the ribbon cutting.

Learn more about the Italian Fountain restoration Project

View other Philadelphia Parks & Recreation sculptures

Vogt’s John Brady Bodyslams Cancer & Alzheimer's with Wrestling Fundraisers

The cure for cancer or Alzheimer’s will probably be found in a lab, but the road to getting there is found in places like Vogt Recreation Center.

On October 4, Rec Leader 3 John Brady held a pro-wrestling fundraiser and raised $700 for Alzheimer’s research. Brady’s father died of the disease in 2000. Brady has also organized these family and community-friendly events to raise funds for MS, which his wife Claire has, and cancer, a disease for which Brady himself was operated on two years ago.

Continue reading about John Brady

Benjamin Franklin Parkway a “Great Street”

The Benjamin Franklin Parkway was selected as one of the American Planning Association (APA)'s top ten "Great Places in America: Streets."

The APA noted:

“Monumental, grand, and expansive, Benjamin Franklin Parkway has changed the face of Philadelphia. Since it was conceived in 1871, the parkway has been an urban planning and architectural triumph, providing Philadelphia with one of the country's most iconic and acclaimed thoroughfares. Today, the parkway has evolved into an economic, educational, and cultural treasure, annually drawing more than 3 million visitors.”

Each year during National Community Planning Month, APA’s Great Places in America program names 30 exemplary streets, neighborhoods and public spaces to highlight the role planning and planners play in adding value to communities, including fostering economic growth and jobs.

What’s Hot in the Program Division: REACH

On Monday, October 7, 79 Supervisors and After School Program staff were brought together for an overview of the REACH System. REACH is Philadelphia Parks and Recreation's youth development system that includes its After School, Summer Day Camp and Youth Workforce programs. The REACH system will be piloted in 21 facilities this school year. Please check out the video from this event!

Video created by the indelible John McBride. Hire him here: www.voices.com/people/JohnMcB

Schuylkill River Parks Connector Bridge Receives Regional Award

The Schuylkill River Parks Connector Bridge has won an ENR Mid-Atlantic (Engineering News Record) award as “Best Small Project” in the 2013 Best Projects competition. This regional award covers Delaware, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia.

The independent ENR jury recognized 26 winners in 17 categories. Sixteen projects, including the Schuylkill River Parks Connector Bridge, were awarded the high honor of “Best Project” in their respective categories. Those projects will advance to the national competition to be considered for a “Best of the Best” national award.

These projects will be featured in the December issue of ENR Mid-Atlantic and honored during an awards event on December 17 in Baltimore. One project will also be honored as our Best Overall Project in the region.

Take Me to the River

PPR Department of Urban Forestry & Ecosystem Management annually applies to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation & Natural Resources (DCNR) for grant funding to plant trees and shrubs in riparian areas. Riparian areas are the lands that parallel our streams and rivers and provide important ecological functions, such as stormwater filtration, shading and wildlife habitat. It is extremely important to protect the vegetation within these corridors in order to maintain the health of the associated surface water. The DCNR awarded PPR $34,000 for tree and shrub planting during 2013. Sites that will receive trees during 2013 include Fox Chase Farm (tributary to Pennypack Creek); Schuylkill River Trail (Schuylkill River); Glen Foerd (Poquessing Creek); Lincoln Drive (Monoshone Creek); and closed trails along the Wissahickon Creek. The best time to plant is in the spring (March 15-May 1) and the fall (September 15-November 1).

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Celebrate Your Heritage through Art Contest

Each year, children in the various After School Programs throughout the city develop two or three-dimensional artwork relevant to any aspect of their cultural heritage. This could include a drawing of an ancestor, relative or individual(s) engaged in an activity specific to their ethnic group, family, neighborhood, region, or country of family origin (e.g., dancing, creating music, craftwork, athletic activity). This year’s artwork is on display now on the 10th floor in One Parkway Building.

Photos: Applefest at Fox Chase Farm

The award-winning Applefest event at Fox Chase Farm was hugely successful again this year, attracting over 3,700 adults and children from all parts of the city on Saturday, October 19. The apple-themed day featured apple cider making, apple butter, apple assault, hayrides, pumpkin painting, live music, and fiercely competitive potato sack races coordinated by Pennypack Environmental Center’s enthusiastic teen advisory council. Children climbed over hay bales, played in the leaves and wound their way through an eight-foot high corn maze. Over 150 volunteers, from teens to grandparents, helped with the family-friendly activities.

View photos of Applefest (Photo Credit: Lindsay Deal, Out of School Activities Volunteer Coordinator)

Beyond the Paint: Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Exhibition

Beyond the Paint: Philadelphia’s Mural Arts is the first major museum exhibition to present the evolution of the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program’s community-engaged art-making over a 30-year arc. Installed in the first floor galleries of the Hamilton Building at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the exhibition positions Mural Arts’ artistic and programmatic efforts within the national and international realm of socially-engaged arts practices.

The exhibition features archival and documentary material and images from the earliest years when the program was part of the Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network to the most current Mural Arts Program projects and initiatives, including some still in process. A large mural-making studio offers the public an opportunity to meet muralists and participants, and contribute to a current project. Highlighting themes that have emerged over thirty years of working with communities and organizational partners all over the city, Beyond the Paint celebrates the people, the places and the projects that have participated in the hundreds of public art projects that have been part of this city-wide art program.

In recent months, the Mural Arts Program has started or completed projects at the following PPR sites:

• Twilight Tales at Starr Garden (Oct. 29 dedication)
• The Butterfly Effect at Hancock Recreation Center
• The Jewel Box at Towey Recreation Center
• Autumn Revisited at Palumbo Park
• Mander and Gathers Recreation Center
• Shissler Greenway
• Hissey Playground
• Francisville Recreation Center

Learn more about the Beyond the Paint exhibit.

Murphy Recreation Center Congratulates Howie Briskin

The staff at Murphy R.C., George Sumner, Jessica Porco and Mark Coleman, along with the many previous staff members, would like to congratulate ARL Howard “Howie” Briskin on his 20th anniversary at Murphy Recreation Center in South Philadelphia.

Howie epitomizes the dedicated Philadelphia employee. Over these twenty years, he has affected the lives of many in the Whitman/Murphy community. Howard has become a mentor, coach and a friend to a diverse group of young men and women in the area. He has educated them in a myriad of life skills, and he has accomplished this in a professional and dignified manner. Mr. Briskin is a positive role model in every sense of the word.

Way to go, Howie!

The Energizer Bunny Calls It a Day: Happy Retirement, Lisa-Anne Kenny!

It’s 10 p.m. on October 17, 2013, and the Waterfall Room at Swan Caterers in South Philadelphia is winding down. Country crooner Toby Keith is singing his raise-your-drink anthem “Red Solo Cup,” and about a dozen Parks & Recreation staffers do just that and raise a well deserved toast to Lisa-Anne Kenny on her retirement after 37 years of service to the Department.

They surround her in a circle, the women who not only worked by her side these past four decades but also served on her retirement party committee: Maryellen Brogan, Diane Daly, Anne Marie Dunne, Terri Kerwawich, Patty McCole, Donna McKinney, Kathleen Muller, Beth Perkowski, Christine Reilly, Eileen Sheridan and Lisa Whittle serenade her as her coworkers and family snap pictures and laugh at the impromptu karaoke performance; a great ending to a night full of accolades and appreciation for Lisa-Anne Kenny.

Nicknamed “The Energizer Bunny” and “Tinkerbell,” Kenny was lauded as a staffer who gave 150% and was on the ball 24/7.

Continue reading about Lisa-Anne Kenny

Parks and Recreation Commission Member Profile

Name: James B. Straw (Jim)

Professional Background: Historical Architect, Principal, KSK Architects Planners Historians

Community: Society Hill, Center City

Favorite Philadelphia Event: There are so many extraordinary Philadelphia events these days, it is impossible to choose one above the others. Leading my list are: Diner En Blanc (the first Diner in 2012 was at Logan Circle); the Twilight in the Garden Gala at Bartram's Garden; and any beautiful summer night listening to music at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts. Each place affords stunning views of the city coupled with a great social/cultural experience.

Best Park or Recreation Experience: By far my best park/recreation experience was in 1975, when I met the beautiful woman who would become my wife on public tennis courts at Seger Park Playground on Lombard Street in Center City. My wife still plays there every week in the summertime, and I am pleased to see the extent and quality of improvements made there in the past several years. Seger continues to be a valued community recreational resource for Center City residents. It also has a great Friends group.

Commission Insight: My experience as a Commissioner has been one of the most rewarding volunteer experiences of my life. I have toured and experienced neighborhoods throughout the city previously unknown to me. It has been most enjoyable to mix it up with the residents and to see the quality of the Park and Recreation system's professional staff. In terms of giving back to the community, I have valued my experience working with other Commissioners in finding ways to enhance the park and recreation experience, as well as to solve some of the challenges facing us.

How I “Park & Recreate”

I was very recently on a trip to Texas for a workshop near Dallas and decided to leave a day early, take the long drive, and see what our namesake in Houston has in terms of recreation. To my dismay there was no ‘Houston Playground’ in the city of Houston, but there is Sam Houston Park, which for my recreational needs worked out just fine!

The park is nestled among the skyscrapers and City Hall in downtown Houston. It is a place where the local downtown population goes to catch a breath of fresh air, sit on a park bench reading the paper or enjoying any number of events they host in the park. With almost two miles of walking path in the 20-acre park, there was plenty of time and distance for me to stretch my legs after a long drive. Much like we have the Historic Houses of Fairmount Park, Sam Houston Park has a number of historical houses. These houses (including a pre-Texas revolution cabin and a house that served as a private school until 1877), as well as the fact that Sam Houston Park is the first and oldest municipal park in Houston, helped it achieve protected landmark designation in 2007.

So even when you get away from the city and need a chance to unwind, sit on a park bench or even stretch your legs, you can always find somewhere to park and recreate--and who knows, you might just find some similarities to ours!

Communications Update

On September 24, the Communications Unit convened its first meeting with the internal Communications Working Team. Members discussed communications strategies and tactics, as well as necessary resources and challenges.

Communications Working Team members include:

• Joi-marie Beaver (Administration)
• Archell Bowman-Fulton (Planning, Preservation & Property Management)
• Debbie Carr (Environmental Education)
• Joe Fricker (Programs, District 2)
• Mary Grace Gorman (Programs, District 7)
• Alex Hughes-Taylor (Programs, District 6)
• Rob Jackson (Programs, District 8)
• Robin Klink (Urban Forestry & Ecosystem Management)
• John McBride (Programs, District 2)
• Jon Rocks (Programs, District 3)
• Bill Salvatore (Programs, District 4)
• Katie Wimsey (Programs, District 1)

This cross-divisional team is an outcome of the Communications Coherence Framework Project. Members are responsible for contributing information to Department communications channels; distributing Department information (e.g., press events, special events, human resources information, newsletter deadlines) internally and externally; generating story ideas to be considered for media pitches and Department newsletters; and helping to implement the Department's new brand.

If you have a story idea or tip to share, please reach out to your work unit’s representative. We are finalizing a “Communications Notice” form, which the Communications Working Team members will distribute to colleagues for this purpose

We hope this collaborative team will increase our knowledge of every unit’s work. If you know someone whose inclusion would make this group more representative of the department, please email parksandrecreation@phila.gov.

In the meantime, we thank Debbie Carr, Joe Fricker, Mary Grace Gorman, Robin Klink, John McBride and Bill Salvatore for contributing or suggesting stories in this issue.

Coherence Project Update

Coherence framework project sponsors will meet on November 4 to provide updates on their teams’ projects, discuss learnings thus far and plan for the future. A full report on the projects will be available soon.

Branding Update

Our new logo and tagline are finalized, as well as the accompanying style guide and video anthem. The internal branding team is busy making plans for our launch and will share details once they are confirmed.

PPR Food Drive

Between October 31 and December 13, the Human Resource Management Division will hold its third annual food drive in conjunction with Philabundance. Donate your nonperishable food (no glass) in one of two receptacles that will be placed in the Tenth Floor reception areas of 1515 Arch Street. Program and Operations staff members should ask their District Managers how to participate.

For more information, please contact Romesha Wilson in the Human Resource Division at (215) 683-3680.

LOVE Park Planner

The staff of Philadelphia Parks & Recreation is accustomed to juggling multiple projects and interests; it’s a part of our normal professional lives. We learn tricks from each other when we gather for meetings or informally because we understand our shared challenges. For many of us, however, the job focuses externally toward constituents, customers or consumers who do not share our fundamental understanding of how one entity can mean many different things. Because of this it’s important for us to clarify, and simplify, our overlapping purposes to both increase community access to programs and illustrate our complexity.

Sometimes the simplest approach is the most elegant and effective! Since the start of the Summer in LOVE 2013 program on May 1, we booked 107 free concerts on our outdoor stage, hosted 358 Food Truck appearances and exhibited three indoor Art Gallery Exhibitions in the Welcome Center. This is in conjunction with daily tourist concierge services and almost every weekend’s special events. One of the most common questions we heard was “What’s going on today?” Typically, the answer is “Everything!” I know that is not the most precise answer, so we developed a solution that works 95% of the time. On our home webpage we developed a simple grid called the LOVE Park Planner with attractive color coding to show visitors what’s going on, one week at a glance. See for yourself at www.LOVEPARK.PL. No matter what your interest is: Lunch, Music or Culture, the information you need is one click away. More importantly, visitors discover the other popular programs available on any given day, expanding their interest base. The result is faster consumer satisfaction and higher efficiency in program participation, when the public is better informed!