THE COMMONS
A Pocket Park Hat Trick? After cleaning up Moyamensing Point and Beck Park, residents have set their sights on Mary Street Park By Lucy Erdelac
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wenty-five years ago, the intersection at 2nd and Christian streets was looking rough. Cars were directed by a traffic light that many neighbors saw as an impractical eyesore, and the little asphalt island between Moyamensing and 2nd Street—what we now call Moyamensing Point—was an unkempt slab with no champion to care for it. Now, it’s a beautiful amenity. Volunteers were key to the efforts, and they plan to use the roadmap they’ve created at both Moyamensing Point and Beck Park to clean up a third location, this one called Mary Street Park, which is at Front and League streets but goes by its historic name.
Starting small, but with a big vision The key steps to creating any pocket park are having the vision, sharing it, and get-
QUEEN VILLAGE QUARTERLY CRIER \\ SPRING 2019
In our largest "pocket park," Friends of Mario Lanza
ting the support of volunteers, donors, the City, and then some. In 1995, QVNA volunteer David O’Donnell saw pocket park potential where others could only see blight. David shared his vision with QVNA volunteers Marge Schernecke and Alan Hunter and together their vision was to add natural beauty and pedestrian safety to the meeting point of Moyamensing, 2nd and Christian Streets. Within a year, the committee raised $4,000 from neighbors, developed an action plan, a garden design, and even a plan for a traffic island to help pedestrians safely cross 2nd street. By the end of 2001, the committee had been endorsed by Councilman DiCicco and received state funding through Senator Vince Fumo. In 2002, with funding secured and volunteers lined up, the real work began on what would become Moyamensing Point.
Park volunteers keep 200-year old trees healthy.
Creating Friends It’s one thing to create a pocket park, it’s quite another to give it the continuing care it deserves. In 2005, John Weir launched Friends of Moyamensing Point, an energetic group of volunteers who tend to the park year around. Soon after the Friends group started, four trees were planted and wrought-iron fencing was installed to circle the garden. Quality brick sidewalks and new benches made the little island more inviting. They even added a rose pot on the north side of Christian Street.
Their vision moves north In the meantime, not long after the committee finished its work on the Point, its attention was drawn to what had be-
