Fairmount Park Conservancy

Image title

Clearing away invasive plants around Centennial Lake

Growing the Neighborhood

Founded in 2004 by ACE Group and NovaCare Rehabilitation, Growing the Neighborhood (GTN) is a program of citizen-initiated park improvements to the neighborhood parks of the Fairmount Park system.

  • Through this program, communities identify capital improvements that they would like to see in their neighborhood park.
  • Once a year, GTN brings together corporate volunteers with neighborhood volunteers to clean-up the neighborhood park in preparation for capital improvements.
  • The goals of this program are to create new park amenities that will increase proper park usage, while also providing the community with the resources to become stronger stewards of their park.

Year 7 (2010) Project: Hunting Park

This year Hunting Park has been selected for the program.  Hunting Park is an 87-acre, Class One recreational park in eastern North Philadelphia.  The park is bordered by Roosevelt Boulevard on the north, Old York Road on the west, W. Lycoming Street on the south and on the east by N. 9th Street. 

This year's project will make capital improvements to the park based on the recent Master Plan for the revitalization of the park completed by the Fairmount Park Conservancy.  These improvements will help connect the park to its adjacent neighborhood by improving the safety of the park and the quality of the amenities that it provides for the local community.  These capital improvements will lay the foundation for community and educational programming. 

Proposed improvements:

  • Creation of a new multi-use recreation field
  • Landscape maintenance throughout the park – pruning, removal of diseased trees, earthwork

Year 6 at Concourse and Centennial Lakes a Success

In 2009, Concourse and Centennial Lakes were the focus of Growing the Neighborhood. The lakes, bordered by Parkside Avenue, Belmont Avenue and 52nd Street are adjacent to the West Parkside neighborhood.  This is a section of the larger West Fairmount Park and a part of the Centennial District. In August, Concourse Lake was completely drained so garbage and general refuse that collected at the bottom of its waters could be removed, and also to allow the formation of a marsh area around the island within Concourse Lake. Development of this marsh area will introduce a number of wetland and meadow types of plants that will enhance the ecology of the Lake. The Lake would be continually filled by stormwater. In September, a Volunteer Day was held that included both corporate and community supporters, who joined together in sprucing up the area around the lakes. Invasive plants were uprooted while trash and debris was cleared away from around the lakes, making room for a variety of non-invasive species to grow.

The project ultimately succeeded in connecting the park to its adjacent neighborhood by improving the physical access to the area, increasing the usability of the lakes and laying the foundation for community and educational programming that focuses on the lakes in the future.   

Completed projects:

  • Restoration of Concourse Lake
  • Removal of invasive trees and shrubs around Centennial Lake
  • Marsh planting at Concourse Lake

Past Parks & Neighborhoods of the GTN Program:

  • Year 1 (2004): Fernhill (SW Germantown), Kemble (West Oak Lane), Palmer (Fishtown)
  • Year 2 (2005): Fisher (Olney), Cloverly (Germantown)
  • Year 3 (2006): Wingohocking (Logan), Girard (South Philadelphia)                                                  
  • Year 4 (2007): Penn Treaty (Fishtown), Cobbs Creek (Callowhill)
  • Year 5 (2008): East Park (Strawberry Mansion), Tacony Creek Park (Lawncrest – North East Philadelphia)
  • Year 6 (2009): Concourse and Centennial Lakes, West Fairmount Park (West Parkside)

Lead funding is provided by ACE Group and NovaCare Rehabilitation.  Additional funding is provided by PRWT Services Inc., U.S. Facilities Inc. and the Albert J. Lofgren & Antoinette Farrar Seymour Donor-Advised Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation.  Growing the Neighborhood is administered by Fairmount Park staff and the Fairmount Park Conservancy.  

 

Baseball field before and after the 2008 GTN Volunteer Day at Tacony Creek Park