Parkside Fields Announced as One of First Rebuild Projects to Start Later This Year
PHILADELPHIA – Today, at an event at Parkside Evans Playground, Mayor Jim Kenney was joined by Councilman Curtis Jones and City officials to announce Parkside Fields as one of the first projects to launch under Rebuild.
The project will create two new public fields that will serve the schools and sports programs in and around the Parkside community – many of which have limited options for home fields to practice or play on.
“Too often I hear stories about our youth sports teams who have to travel to the suburbs to compete,” said Mayor Kenney. “They don’t have fields that are good enough to play on in their neighborhood, so they are forced to travel to the suburbs to play. Our kids should have the same quality facilities as the teams they compete against and have the opportunity to play in their own community. They deserve a place they are proud of.”
The Parkside Fields project will be completed in two phases. The first phase will convert a grassy area near the Parkside Evans Playground on Parkside Avenue into a public practice field for many of the neighborhood sports teams. The second phase of the project will renovate a second field that will be used for games.
“For some, it’s a field of dreams,” said Councilman Curtis Jones of the upcoming Rebuild project. “For inner-city youth, it’s a pathway to scholarships, college campuses, and a better life.”
The first phase of the project will start this year as a part of a small set of sites that will launch using the $8 million in funding that has already been approved for Rebuild in the City’s FY2018 capital budget. Most projects, including the second phase of the Parkside Fields project, will begin after the majority of Rebuild’s funding becomes available through bond proceeds that will be repaid by the Philadelphia Beverage Tax. The bonds won’t be issued until after the tax has been upheld by the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court.
The other Rebuild sites expected to start this year will be announced in the coming weeks.