Outside of Philadelphia’s Rebuild initiative, which aims to invest in more than 70 parks and recreation centers in the city, the path to upgrading city-owned parks and playgrounds is not entirely straightforward.

Philly has more than 500 public parks. Over 400 of those are overseen by the Department of Parks and Recreation. Notably, Parks and Recreation does not have its own budget to directly fund park improvements. Almost all upgrades are funded through the City’s capital budget in partnership with City Council members. According to Philadelphia’s 2024 capital budget, 60 percent of funding is allocated toward “building thriving neighborhoods,” which includes upgrades to Park and Recreation facilities.

Philadelphia residents wanting a change in their neighborhood can contact Parks and Recreation to request an upgrade, but the best first step would likely be a call to the local Council member. Funding for park projects needs approval by a Council member, unless funded by an outside private source, such as a nonprofit organization.  

Council members weigh the needs of their entire district within their pool of City funding. Therefore, it can take some time to get park projects started, as evidenced by a playground improvement request in Mt. Airy.

Christopher Moore is president of Friends of Cliveden Park. Group members volunteer their time to maintain park grounds and the Cliveden House. It also hosts events for the community. The group recently played an important role in the city-wide Love Your Park weekend in early November. Cliveden Park was chosen as a “Signature Site” and hosted more than 100 clean-up volunteers.

Moore, a long-time resident of the neighborhood, became president of the group in 2016. The following year he petitioned Parks and Recreation to renovate the park’s key feature: the playground.

Cliveden Park playground consists of one main structure situated on artificial turf with a separate swing set. Today, the turf has holes in it, the monkey bars are loose, and the slide heats up to extreme temperatures in the summer. According to Moore and his wife, Sam, it’s been that way for a while.

“We moved to Britton Street in 2005 and our kids were playing [on the playground]…back then. And they’re adults now. It still looks the same,” Sam, also a Friends of Cliveden Park member, recalled.

At the time of the initial renovation request in 2017, Parks and Recreation came out and surveyed the playground. “Because the process is that… even if you get somebody to fund it, they (Parks and Recreation) have to come out, and then it has to go up for bid to do the project and they have to do blueprints,” Moore explained. At the time of the survey, Parks and Recreation informed the group it did not have funding in place to make the changes. It was suggested that the group try and make the upgrades themselves.

Moore and the Friends group proceeded to request sponsorship from Home Depot, but never received a reply. They also attempted fundraising, but with a price tag of several thousand dollars, were not able to raise sufficient funds.

Each following year, Moore attempted to get the playground renovation realized. He and his wife viewed it as a safety issue. “Every year something happens to a kid on that playground. Every year,” Sam said. “The monkey bars need to be fixed. That’s how the kid broke his arm. He slipped and fell,” Moore added.

In 2023, Moore was volunteering as a voting machine operator at Cliveden House and met a resident who happened to be friends with local Council Member Cindy Bass. They helped arranged a meeting, and Bass and representatives from Parks and Recreation performed a playground site visit in late 2023.

The Friends group explained the site’s health hazards, and Bass agreed to fund a new playground. Her office submitted the official project request to Parks and Recreation, who now owns the project.

“The improvements to Cliveden Park Playground have long been in the works,” Bass stated. “We’ve visited several times with Parks & Recreation staff requesting substantial changes to the very old and antiquated playground equipment. I’m pleased and proud to be able to say that we’ve been able to get some designs and begin to move forward with this process,” Bass continued. “We expect that in spring 2025 this project will be fully underway, and a new playground should spring from that site, which the community desperately needs. It’s been a long time since there’s been any major improvements, and the community really deserves a better play space.”

The plan includes a new playground structure, new safety surfacing, and new amenities such as benches, security cameras, and trash cans. As is typical to the City process, Parks and Recreation hosted a community meeting in January 2023 to present project blueprints and gather local feedback. Community members voted for the color scheme of the new playground and shared suggestions.

Jane Anderson, the architectural projects coordinator overseeing this project at Parks and Recreation, said, “We are impressed with the dedication and advocacy the Friends of Cliveden Park have demonstrated towards improving the playground at Cliveden. In January, we held a productive community meeting where a large group of residents came together to provide the City with critical insight into the park’s needs and to share their vision of a new playground. We are excited about transforming the park into a place children and families can enjoy, and thankful to Council Member Cindy Bass and her staff for not only being partners on the design proposal, but for playing an instrumental role in securing funding for the project.”

The next step is putting the project up for bid, so the department can select one of its contracted vendors to perform the work. Construction is set to begin in the spring of 2025 and take around four months to complete. The estimated budget for the playground renovation is $232,000.

Moore and his wife look forward to witnessing a new playground for the children to play on. “This has been a thorn for the longest for me and it’s finally getting done. I said like three years ago. ‘This is it. I’m not being the president [of Friends of Cliveden Park] anymore.’ My wife said, ‘Well, you need to stick with it ‘til you get the playground done.’”

Despite issues with the current playground, “the kids still come out here and play faithfully,” he added. “With so much going on in the city right now, you want to have a safe place for the kids to come. The kids are our future and we have to treat them right, give them something good.”

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