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South Philly community gardeners scramble to save park
Earlier this year, South Philly residents turned a city-owned nuisance lot into a community garden. Now, development could bury the pocket park for good.
South Philly community gardeners scramble to save park
Just about everyone agrees that selling off blighted city-owned land is critical to Philly's future. But when the neighbors aren't notified — and when they've devoted countless weekends to turning that vacant land into community gardens — things become decidedly less clear-cut.
That's the case at 405-11 Manton Street in South Philly, where residents have spent the last seven months weeding, cleaning and planting, turning what they say was an overgrown vacant lot into a community garden and pocket park. At the same time, the land was being cleared for sale by City Council Ordinance 110384 and placed on the auction block.
Now, the park-tenders have launched a petition, are planning a protest and have been visiting City Council representatives, urging them to do what they can to stop the sale. Jessica Calter of The Friends of Manton Street Park and Community Garden says she's been informed that the auction has concluded, but that the high bidder hasn't yet made a settlement. Getting information from the city has been a challenge, according to Calter, who found out of the pending sale only by accident. "A couple weeks ago, one of our members saw building surveyors in the park and asked them what was going on. They said they were surveying for a building structure to be built — and that’s what began our investigation."
The rally will take place this Sunday afternoon at the park. Full details below:
SOUTH PHILADELPHIA RESIDENTS RALLY TO SAVE PARK FROM CITY SALE
(Philadelphia, PA December 1, 2011) Friends and neighbors of the Manton Street Park and Community Garden fight to save a beloved neighborhood park. At 4th and Manton Streets in South Philadelphia an abandoned pocket park that sat vacant, overgrown, and rundown has renewed life thanks to a dedicated group of volunteer friends and neighbors. Over the last seven months, these volunteers have weeded, cleaned, and planted to transform the dilapidated lot into an open public park where the neighborhood gathers. On November 23, progress on the park was halted by the discovery that the City Philadelphia via Ordinance 110384 sold the park with no public notice to the neighborhood. The Friends of Manton Street Park and Community Garden have turned there attention from weeding and planning their holiday fundraiser to halting the sale of the park and saving their community open space.
Friends and Neighbors of Manton Street Park and Community Garden will gather on Sunday, December 4 at 1pm to rally to save the park. Mark Berman, President of the Friends of Manton Street Park and Community Garden said, “After living in this neighborhood for 15 years it was a joy to see the neighborhood band together to make real change. It’s a shame to see this progress snatched away without any warning.”
The rally follows a week of visits by the Friends to City Hall to meet with City officials including the 1st District Councilman Frank DiCicco, who authored the bill that bundled and sold the park, as well as the Department of Parks and Recreation Commissioner, Michael DiBerardinis. Information about the sale of the park has been slow to be released to the Friends and they have been sent from agency to agency with minimal result. With little help form the powers that be, the Friends will do what they do best and band together in the park to create strength in numbers to halt the sale.
For information regarding Manton Street Park and Community Garden please visit www.facebook.com/mantonstreetpark.
Established in October 2011, Friends of Manton Street Park and Community Garden is a volunteer organization created to support and maintain Manton Street Park and establish a community garden. With over 25 volunteers, from recent additions to the neighborhood to long-time residents of over 40 years, the Friends of Manton Street Park has brought together a community.
The pocket park at 405-411 Manton Street has been in existence for over 50 years. The past 20 years it was badly neglected and became a hotspot for illegal activities. However, in the past decade, the illegal activity faded and park became home to trash and abandoned shopping carts. The dilapidated house on the adjoining lot was razed and new construction added mounds of dirt to the concrete foundation and broken brick retaining walls, and thick ivy grew rampantly, strewn with litter.
In June, 2011, Mark Berman and Jessica Calter distributed 50 fliers asking neighbors to help renovate the park and build a community garden. Within two weeks, they received almost 20 responses. In just eight weeks over the summer, an ambitious and eager team of volunteers mobilized and removed the ivy and dirt by hand, power washed the concrete, and created a future plan for embellishing the park and creating a garden of raised beds.
The most incredible impact of this transformation has been the meeting, befriending, and sharing the experiences of neighbors who live doors away that might have otherwise remained mysterious strangers. People from completely different pasts, working hand in hand to improve their surroundings, sharing their experiences and their commitment to shape a better future for their neighborhood - this is proof that a public park and community garden renovation is more than just a source of beauty and an excuse to get outside. These are the building blocks of a thriving community.
Manton Street Park Recent Timeline
April 21, 2011 First contact to Sally McCabe at Philadelphia Horticultural Society
May 2011 Initial Contact to Councilman DiCicco’s Office – Nick Shamaneck
June 6, 2011 Started recruiting volunteers via fliers and checked BRT & OPA websites for property ownership
June 18, 2011 First meeting of the volunteers at the park (continued to do weekly ‘clean-ups’ Tuesday evenings from 6:30pm- dark until November)
June 24, 2011 Email correspondence with Grant Johnson of the Jefferson Square CDC 
July 28, 2011 Email correspondence with Barb McCabe at Department of Parks & Recreation
September 6, 2011 Friends met with Barb McCabe of the Department of Parks & Recreation and TammyLeigh Dement of Philadelphia Horticultural Society.
September 10, 2011 Manton Street Park featured on the South Philly Garden Tour
October 16, 2011 Officially established as a Friends Association
November 5, 2011 Participated in PHS LOVE YOUR PARK Day with an official banner and constructed 10 garden beds
November 10, 2011 Surveyors spotted in the park
November 11-23, 2011 Friends send letters and make calls to find out about surveyors
November 23, 2011 Friends informed of property agreement of sale
November 29, 2011 Friends go as a group to City Hall to stop the sale
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