A crowd of nearly 25 people attended the Friends of Pop’s Park (FOPP) meeting at Cione Rec last night to discuss the future of the playground/dog park/skatepark at Trenton Avenue and Hazzard Street. The playground has been chosen to be part of a citywide initiative to reduce stormwater pollution. Residential homes along the Huntingdon Street side of the park also suffer from flooding due to poor drainage. The proposed rain garden and an improved sewer system will alleviate the flooding. This project is scheduled for completion about one year from now.

Throughout the meeting neighbor Andy Ortega commented on potential investors interested in helping Pop’s Park.

“People have money to invest,” Ortega said. “They just want to make sure it won’t go to waste,”

Sgt. John Massi of the 26th Police District was a guest speaker at the meeting. The largest concerns voiced by many of the park’s neighbors in attendance were skateboarders, truant kids, homeless individuals and drug users who come to the park to get high. According to those who live near the park, the situation is becoming dire, especially if the park is about to be revitalized. Sgt. Massi urges neighbors to call 911 to report this kind of activity in any park.

“Call 911,” Sgt. Massi said. “You’re not bothering us.”

The group is setting some goals to show they are serious about change. Ortega and Demi are taking the reigns and looking to incorporate FOPP. On the ground level, getting the park secured nightly is the top priority. Currently the park is not locked after curfew and multiple holes and breaks in fencing allow anyone to enter and leave the park at all hours of the night. Poor lighting isn’t helping either. One measure that was suggested was installing a sharps disposal box where intravenous drug users can safely discard needles. Sgt. Massi said the 26th District works with groups that do similar things and helps to dispose of the needles, but they do not install the boxes themselves.

The task of cleaning up the park falls largely on the surrounding community. The Friends of Pop’s Park are organizing cleanup days and the first one is this Saturday, November 14th from 10AM-2PM. But you don’t have to wait for a cleanup day to do your due diligence. According to FOPP, if you go into the park and bag up some trash, you can put it outside the gates on the Hazzard Street side on Wednesday night and the city will pick it up.

Pop’s Park is a space that is valuable to the community and with more and more young families moving to East Kensington, the need for a viable playground is evident.

“It’s not an insurmountable thing,” Ortega said. “We just need some good volunteers.”