Tony
I am curious if you know if an exception was made for alcohol in the
park? It is my understanding that alcohol is strictly forbidden in
Fairmount Park without the written permission of the executive director.
Doesn't the distribution of alcohol at an event like this convey the
message that certain people are allowed to have alcohol in the park,
while others are not?
Will alcohol be allowed to be drank during the orchestra event, or any
other event? I have never seen alcohol served at any other event in the
park, for as long as I remember. Only at the party for the park.
Regards,
John Ellingsworth
Anthony West wrote:
It'll be fun to see so many of you at "Celebrate the Treasure: Party
for the Park" this evening, Thursday. Starting at 5:30pm, we'll have
the usual jolly neighborhood get-together under a pavilion on USP's
Kingsessing Mall, on 43rd Street, at the campus' main entrance. The
weather promises to be warm and fair as twilight filters through the
lively park across the street. You can show up in jeans or an evening
gown. The anointed will mingle cheerfully with hoi polloi. Kids are
free. The bar is open. Everybody goes home (or to Curio Theatre's
Green Bird) by 8:00.
Why is this night different from all other nights? It's a party with
a purpose, and that purpose is much more important than the party.
This is how the community repairs the damage done by the grievous
slashing of basic City maintenance that was imposed on Philadelphia
in the '90s. Party for the Park needs to net $40,000 to pay for the
extended maintenance contract with Moon Site Maintenance, which does
what the City quit doing.
Most of this 9-acre park is a greensward, heavily trampled and
littered by intense usage: 600,000 visitor-days each year! No
private lawn takes a pounding like this, and the Recreation Dept.,
which is designed to serve year-round indoor rec centers and seasonal
athletic fields, doesn't provide the kind of heavy-duty seasonal
maintenance such a park needs.
Party for the Park fills the gap. Each year it pays to aerate the
soil, seed and fertilize new grass. Moon mows the greensward often
enough that you can see over the grass when you lay a blanket down on
it. Moon provides basic tree care. Moon removes the extra trash
during the peak season (Rec is only funded to clean the park in July
as if it were still January).
It's costly work. But it's work your tax dollars don't do (or should
I say "gave up doing"?). And it's work that will rot any neighborhood
when left undone.
The "broken window" theory is true. If a large public space at the
heart of a community is surrendered to physical decay, the whole
neighborhood around it becomes imperiled. The good will start to shy
away from that heart; the bad will start to flock into it. And when
the heart goes, the body won't last long.
So I'm asking you to do whatever you can to help preserve the heart
of the neighborhood. While everyone is welcome at the Party, its true
purpose is to draw donations. So if you can't make it to the Party --
you're busy tonight, or just not up for a gala -- you can still drop
by, say hi and contribute. Or send a poor but party-loving (and
park-loving) neighbor in your place!
Tickets are $75. Friends of Clark Park members get a break, paying
only $60. What are you buying with that $60? Basically, you're
nurturing and cleaning a plot of parkland about 14' wide by 34' deep.
That's the floorspace of two rooms in a typical University City twin
that so many of us live in. We maintain our homes, and pay to do so;
why not our park?
Some people just don't have that kind of money. You can still donate
anything you can afford to this cause, if Clark Park is an important
part of your community and your life.
Friends of Clark Park is active with Philadelphia Parks Alliance,
which is fighting to advance parkland in the scuffle for scarce City
budget dollars. A new Mayor is coming in; that may bode changes in
spending priorities -- IF we all speak out!
But change can't come in time for spring and summer 2007. We must act
now. So let's act; and have some fun in the process. After all,
what's Clark Park -- what's our neighborhood -- without a spot of
fun?
-- Tony West
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