South Philadelphia: Refreshing Catherine Park

A rusty metal fence surrounds the cement-covered lot on the corner of 22nd and Catherine streets. Despite the “Neighborhood Park” sign hanging on the wall of this enclosed area, Catherine Park has been gated from the public for 30 years. After all of this time, Chris Fanelli, a neighbor who has lived across from the lot for four years, has been persistently trying to revive the park and make it accessible for the community.

“I’ll come in and I’ll trim and weed pull,” Fenelli says. “I have a couple neighbors that will help me and when the leaves start falling. We’ll rake things up just to try and keep things as tidy as possible until we can get the renovations on the way.”

She first became interested in this project when the property was being pursued for demolition to construct commercial buildings. Fenellli protested this because she believed that the lot should be left as green space for the surrounding community.

According to the City Planning Commission, the neighborhood where Catherine Park is located is very much lacking in its publicly accessibly green space. Andrew Dalzell, program coordinator for South of South Neighborhood Association, has also been a big supporter of the parks clean up. He believes the lack of green space is slowing down the growth of the neighborhood.

Dalzell explains how the 22nd and Catherine streets’ block has three vacant commercial buildings on each corner. If the lot was cleaned up, the park’s appearance would attract businesses to invest in the vacant space, which would further the community’s growth.

Currently, Catherine Park is taking part in the Pepsi Refresh Project, which is a year-long competition that various community service projects can take part in. Within this program, Pepsi is offering 32 grants, which totals $1.3 million.  To enter this competition, different community service projects post their mission statement online, and anyone can vote for the one they think deserves the prize. On Sept. 30, the voted top ten programs each receive a $50,000 grant. Whoever places in the top 100 spots automatically stays in the running until the Pepsi Refresh Project is officially over.

The Catherine Park clean up is currently in 91st place. If the project were to receive Pepsi’s grant money, there would be many drastic improvements to the lot. They would use $3,150 for the demolition of concrete, $8,400 for the acquisition and installation of brick pavers, $1,600 for the acquisition and installation of rubber paving, $4,838 for planting shrubs and perennial beds, $690 for planting soil, $7,320 for benches, $8,050 for low fencing, $3,000 for installing underground electric, $9,000 for playground equipment, $1,500 for water proofing the adjacent foundation, $1,500 for the alley way fencing and $952 for the wall-mounted lights.

Even though Dalzell has already sponsored this project with $15,000, this isn’t even close to the amount that is really needed to completely transform the park. He explains that the circulation of the park is a key aspect to the clean up. There would still be a low fence, but there would be at least three access points where people could enter and exit. This would create a comfortable atmosphere where people wouldn’t feel trapped.

“I think it would just be a great place for the people that have lived here to have somewhere nice to sit and relax,” Fanelli says.

Some of the members of the community believe that fixing up the park would just create another area where criminal activities could take place. Dalzell disagrees with this statement completely and argues that it would actually create a safer atmosphere for the area.

“Why not give something to 99.5 percent of the neighborhood or community just because .5 percent might use it badly,” he explains.

Cleaning up Catherine Park would make the area more appealing for parents and their children, which would discourage criminal activity. Dalzell also believes that rejuvenating the park will attract more businesses to invest in the vacant buildings surrounding the block. By having less abandoned areas, this would eliminate the places that usually attract illegal activity.

By spreading the word about Catherine Park’s rejuvenation and the Pepsi Refresh Project, both Fanelli and Danzell hope to inspire other communities in Philadelphia to do the same. Michael Nutter, the mayor of Philadelphia, has a goal of having 500 new acres of publicly accessible green space in the city. Though this particular park is a small chip off of that goal, it proves that anyone can take part in cleaning up green space in his or her community.

“Its a real ripple effect up the chain in terms of scale from the site itself, to the court, to the block, to the corridor, to the neighborhood, to the city at large,” Danzell says. “It really can start from something as small as 975 square feet.”