Fall 2008 Brian Siano, Editor Frank Chance, Publisher PO Box 31908, Philadelphia, PA 19104 Telephone 215-552-8186 Website: http://www.clarkpark.info Bulletin Board: http://www.clarkpark.livejournal.com Calendar Park A Plan Meets the Neighbors Sat. Sept 20: Music and Arts By Brian Siano Festival (Amplified Sound), 11:00 am to 8:00 The Park A Revitalization Project reached a milestone this July 16th, when design- pm ers Lisa and Bryan Hanes presented their design scheme to the neighborhood at our Sat. Sept. 27: Youth Soccer General Membership meeting. This design is the culmination of several years’ worth Begins of community polling, study, and evaluation by the FoCP Planning Committee. Due Sat. Oct 4: Bark in the Park to the enthusiastic reception by those present, the Board of the FoCP endorsed this Sat. Oct 4: Farmer’s Market 10th Anniversary plan as the basis for the reconstruction of Park A. Sat. Oct 11: Uhuru Solidarity PlanCom Chair Matt Grubel brought everyone up to date on the process. A few Flea Market days before the public meeting, the Haneses presented a set of three alternative de- 9:00 am to 5:00 pm signs to the Planning Committee. From these, PlanCom selected the design which ad- Wed. Oct 15: FoCP General dressed these issues best. The day before the public meeting, the design was presented Membership Meeting to the Partners, which include city officials and agencies, such as the Horticultural Society, which also endorsed the plan. “Then when we’re done, and we’ve finished the schematics, the Haneses can go on with design development. This will get into more details about layouts, materials, plants, specifications for the features within the park, and estimates of probable costs.” “In Schematic design, we’ve basically taken all the information that’s come from the past,” Grubel explained, “going all the way back to the Master plan. Then we talked about some very basic concepts about what A Park should be. It should have a civic plaza, preserve quiet uses, etc. We also incorporated practical things, like soil tests and tree assessment, and city requirements, and we also picked up additional information Sat. Oct 18: Spiral Q People- hood Parade (Continued on Page ) Presented by the University City Arts League and the Spiral Q Puppet Theatre General Membership Meeting October 15th Sun. Oct. 19: Lutheran Settle- The Friends of Clark Park will be holding a General Membership Meeting on ment House’s Festival of October 15th, at 7 p.m., at USP. Hope Historically, our October meetings have been well attended, as they are a good 1pm to 4pm time to evaluate the park right after the summer season, and plan for next year. Sat. Nov 08: Veterans Day Com- memoration They’re also extremely important meetings, because we’ll be electing new Board 11 AM members. There are six slots opening (including two Officers, the Vice-President and Mon. Nov 17: FoCP Board Orien- Secretary), so if you’re interested in helping to shape and maintain Clark Park, don’t tation, Board Meeting hesitate to get on the ballot and get involved! 5 PM This is going to be a momentous year for Clark Park. We have the Park A project Mon. Nov 17: Tree Planting 9 AM which, events and money willing, may see us breaking ground within the next two Wed. Nov 19: FoCP Board Meet- years. The city is considering merging the Parks and Recreation departments into ing one, which will have a considerable impact on how well Clark Park is maintained. 7 PM So you can see why this particular meeting is so important. We need to give you a Wed. Dec 17: FoCP Board Meet- ing comprehensive State of the Park report, and we want more of our neighbors to come 7 PM out and get involved in our park’s future. The Park A Proposal outlined by Bryan and Lisa Hanes, July 008. about community use.” The previous the early action items are on the recon- ago, we wouldn’t have considered plan- month, the City and State have pro- struction. There will also be further re- ning for it. “What we’re trying to do is vided grant monies, totaling more than view by such city agencies as the Water plan in for some flexibility. As these uses $450,000, to implement portions of the Department and the Art Commission. and users come along, the park is going design. This requires us to decide what Once this has been settled, the archi- to be flexible and able to make an op- tects will develop detailed blueprints. It portunity for those uses.” Surveys con- is entirely possible, said Grubel, that we ducted by the FoCP show that people may see construction by next Spring. enjoy a wide range of activities in Park A. People like to come here and do Designing for the Community nothing, sit, and relax. Some play chess Lisa Hanes outlined the issues in- or volleyball. But they also came here to volved. “It’s a well-loved park,” she enjoy the social atmosphere of the Park, began, explaining that Park A is a very especially the opportunity to hear music successful public, open space, and peo- at the drum circle and the shopping and ple love to come here and play. “But social life at the Farmer’s Markets. it needs some rehabilitation. And our Historically, many public spaces and main goal is to not take away from the parks in the United States go back to a main character nor the uses that hap- Beaux Arts style of planning, similar to pen, but to very much support it.” that of Rittenhouse Square, with large She cited the Capture the Flag play- promenades and tree-lined paths. Madi- ers to illustrate an important goal of the son Square in New York City is closer to design. It’s a popular and important ac- the design of Clark Park, with paths that tivity in the park now, but three years An 1860 map illustrating the Mill Pond outlines. meander as they reach from corner to Friends of Clark Park corner. Clark Park reflects this fashion as for the central plaza. There was concern well. Maps of the park from the 190s over its size, and whether it should be show more pathways and pavement, designed to accommodate events such which reflect the activities of strolling, as the Flea Markets and May Fairs. Also, seeing-and-being seen, etc. the Plaza would be paved, and the size But Clark Park’s history also reveals and permanence of the feature made a large role for water. The park used to decisions even more difficult. Last year, be the site of the Mill Pond, and maps the plan was to extend and widen the drawn in 1860 reveal that the pond cov- Plaza into a promenade similar to those ered the region of Park A. Also, although at Rittenhouse Square, running from the mill creek has been covered, the behind the Dickens Statue and towards Schuylkill is still only three city blocks the Gettysburg Stone. away. The original plan for the park Ultimately, the Haneses suggested proposed a lily pond, and photographs a circle of stone finds. “We call it fine from 1910 show willow trees in Park A, gravel or very large sand,” said Bryan, which are low-land, water-loving trees. adding that it’s used at Logan Square and in parks throughout Europe. (Also, Paths and Plazas it won’t choke, smother, or disrupt tree Bryan Hanes then discussed the roots.) The disk is a kind of non-design, overall features of the proposal, which The Dickens Statue, 1910. Note the willow trees. open to multiple uses that’d be deter- were derived from the Planning Com- mined by the people using it. The design for incorporating storm water control, mittee’s work over the past two years. proposes the use of moveable chairs in both in the park and on the streets sur- The concept incorporates two main av- the plaza area. Bryan presented draw- rounding the park, which s greatly de- enues connecting the opposite corners, ings of this space, and compared it to sired by the Water Department. Photos a large path loop around Park A, and a the way NYC’s Bryant Park is used. One of water catchment systems, such as tree central plaza. Green space was a high enticing but optional feature is the pro- wells, were presented as examples, and priority: by moving the west-side path posed water feature, which would be a one of the more radical proposals is to closer to the HMS school fence, green flat area of stone where water would run build a stone catchment basin under the spaces are larger and more contiguous, thinly over the surface. This would pre- sidewalk of the Farmer’s Market, similar and benches and planting areas can be serve the quiet of the park, while offer- to that under the basketball court. placed along the fence line. ing a new water feature that would keep Over the past two years, the Planning the nearby area cool. The Community Responds Committee had considered several ideas The Hanes’s proposal was greeted Bryan also discussed the proposals Water control proposals for Clark Park. Left: Tree wells. Right: Water catchment system for 43rd street Farmers’ Market area. Friends of Clark Park Bryan Hanes’s sketches illustrating the Central Plaza. with general enthusiasm during the wheelchair-friendly, and some paths the bigger open spaces may encourage question-and-answer period.