Philadelphia City Council Press Conferences, 19 Jul 2018

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From YouTube: City Officials Dedicate New Play Equipment at the Cecil B. Moore Recreation Center 7-19-2018

Description

City Council President Darrell L. Clarke (5th District) and Parks & Recreation Commissioner Kathryn Ott Lovell were joined by community members on July 19, 2018 as they hosted a dedication ceremony at Cecil B. Moore Recreation Center. The dedication ceremony marked the completion of more than $312,000 in capital improvements to the facility. Improvements to the site include new play equipment and new a safety surface.

The new play equipment includes the following features: a climbing web, a stand ‘N spin, a dragonfly rocker, and swings. In addition to the play equipment, new fitness stations were installed as well.

A

Hi, how are you guys I forget where we are today? Does anyone know Phoenix camping? What's the name of this rec center and playgrounds, anyone know Cecil B, more, that's right, see something more kcb more. How are you guys doing? How are you doing in there? How do you like this new playgrounds? It's pretty nice hi everybody. My name is Catherine I'm, the Commissioner for Parks and Recreation. I am so excited to be here at CB, more Camp, Phoenix, I love that name like a phoenix you are rising.

A

That is a perfect name for this camp. We are so excited to be here today and see be more because we're here today to dedicate this amazing and extraordinary and beautiful and very special new play space. I was here about two years ago and I gotta tell you this did not look like this back. Then it was a sad little play space. Wasn't it right? Was it fun not that much fun?

A

You still manage to have fun here, because I saw some of you having fun here, but it wasn't nearly as fun and now it's just absolutely spectacular. It's one of the nicest playgrounds I've seen anywhere in the city and I visited hundred of hundreds and hundreds of playgrounds, so you guys are really lucky and I want to thank each and every one of you for being here today. I want to thank you for being part of our summer camp. Are you having a great time in summer camp?

A

It's a really big one right, yeah, awesome and I want to thank, especially all of your your teachers and your counselors in your summer camp, a big round of applause for them.

A

So projects like this don't happen just because we pray and wish for them. They happen because people who can make decisions make really good decisions about where to allocate resources and we're so lucky that we live in a city with great leadership. We have a great mayor, Jim, Kenny and Jim Mayor Kenny and City Council, our council president, your council district councilmember Darryl Clark. These fell.

A

These gentlemen have to make really hard decisions every single day, but one decision they made was something called the rebuild initiative, and this will be a half a billion dollar investment in parks and rec centers, and play grunts and libraries all over the city so that investments like this projects, like this playgrounds, like this- aren't the exception but they're the norm- that you guys don't have to wish and pray for. Things like this to happen, because you'll show up at your local rec center and you'll have an extraordinary new play space like this.

A

That's we want us what we want to see happen in every single neighborhood of the city, but you guys are getting at first. You guys are first on the list and you're are off. You are on that list because of one leader in in City Council and in our city, who cares so deeply and so passionately about this space, but also about all the spaces in this district, but certainly has a special place in his heart for CB.

A

More and that's our council president Darrell Clarke and I want to thank council president Clark for his amazing vision, his leadership and his incredible willpower to help make projects like this happen. We are so grateful to him for his leadership and so grateful to him for making the resources available to transform this amazing new space. So without further ado, please join me in welcoming our city council president and your councilman Darrell Clarke.

B

Thank You, commissioner, how you guys doing good good you like this? Oh you like this yeah all right, that's what I'm talking about. So this is a really exciting development. I want to thank everybody involved, and particularly I want to thank the local residents because they brought us up here in that affect your advisory council. President came down us to a city council, public hearing, I, didn't know him right. He was like yo.

B

What's up when you go to take care of this seats will be more Rec Center and he called us out so one day, I'm riding down 22nd, Street and I said you know what let me go check it out and I walked in and he was there right. I said wow, you know, I see what he's talking about. So then we went to a community meeting cook cook. He called me said: yeah they're on there come over and they said what are you going to do?

B

Then we got with the Commissioner and the folks, and we said we're gonna. Do this rebuild announcement? We had to rebuild announcement about William pending all the other things right. It's! Okay, okay, they said well, we hear all that there was some one certainty. It may happen at some point. They said. Well, we really appreciate the rebuilding. This is it, but what do you want to do like right now right? So we made a commitment.

B

I want to thank a Poorna and francesco and all the folks in the Department of right, we're getting out here and doing this as quickly as possible. I gotta tell you when we made the commitment, we're a little nervous about the timeline, so we won't be able to get this done in time. They said absolutely so. I want to thank all of the folks on the Department of Parks and Recreation, your Advisory Council, all of the people and, more importantly, young people for being on point and making sure that we get this done.

B

This is awesome day. I want to thank you so much for your participation and I'd like to introduce my colleague on the state level, councilman Curtis councilman, Curtis Thomas, who has been a good partner, making sure that I know you see it. I know you stay pumped out. Call you Councilman right! I'm, sorry, you tell retired yeah Curtis I got a courtesy works of me. Calvin state representative, Curtis, Thomas, Oh who's. Here, cursed councilman, you want to say 165 councilman,.

C

Let me thank council president Clark. Let me thank the recreation commissioner, and let me thank all of the people. That's here today is God. Looking out for us he's God looking out for us, there's no rain. There's only sunshine and I am I, am happy to be here, because I've always taken the position that, based on what we do for children today, would determine what children do to the world tomorrow, and this is a giant step in making this happen.

C

I remember when final redistricting took took place and I learned that this would be a part of the 180 first legislative district, and so as soon as we had a chance to come up and meet with the Advisory Council when the staff up here and- and they made it clear that there's a list of things that need to be done. The councilman Clark was on it and that a number of the people was working with us.

C

So we wanted to just kind of get in and and and make sure that we become a part of the team to make this a reality, because dreams are only good when they become real, and so this has been a dream for a while, but it is real today and so to the young people enjoy yourself, learn as much as you can.

C

This summer go back to school in the fall and get all of those A's and math English and reading and all those other classes, and if nothing else, love one another and look out for one another love one another and look out for one another. Thank you and god bless you.

A

So, as I said, the projects like this don't happen, but by ourselves there's so many people working behind the scenes. They don't often get a lot of credit, but I'm gonna give a big shout-out to council president Clark's amazing staff. I wanted Curt and Jane, and here I don't know. If anyone else here raise your hands guys. I want to thank round of applause. These are the guys that work behind the scenes really hard, Jeff and janae, and everybody else on the council president F.

A

He is he's an amazing staff and we love working with them and we're so grateful to all of them for their amazing support. I want to thank the great staff at Parks and Recreation, our head of capital projects, Aparna Palatino, along with Stephanie Craig, head Francesco, Sarai and also jamika Smith, who managed this project a big big round of applause for Tamika. Who is the architect that worked on this project? Thank you. So much I want to thank your rec leader, Sam Owens, where Sam thank you Sam and bath Borkowski.

A

Your district manager I want to thank the other staff here at EDC, Bmore where's, Odessa Tate. She here miss Barbara Bell as well. Jasmine Hatcher I want to thank coach coach cook. Thank you so much Edie hon everybody who has helped to make not you know these folks, don't just help to make projects like this possible, but they're here every single day making sure that this is a safe and and beloved space for everybody in this community. So, council, president Clark is right when he says that mr. Ron Lewis is no shrinking.

A

Wallflower he's not someone that that that is behind the scenes. By any stretch of the imagination, he is right out in front and he is working hard every single day to bring resources back to this community. Specifically, here to see me more I met him here right when I started in this job.

A

This was one of my first visits and I came out and saw Sam and and Enron, and they let me know in no uncertain terms that this needed to be a priority for this administration and and I promised you guys- and it might not happen overnight, but you know we're gonna we're going to be here to support you 100% and seeing this not just this investment, but other investments to come to see be more. We want to make this a showcase Center in North Philadelphia.

A

We want to make this up destination where young people can thrive and grow up and learn and experience new things and have amazing experiences. It is an absolute treasure. This is a beautiful, beautiful, old building. This building is almost a hundred years old right. It is.

A

It has such history in this community and it's up to us to transform that to reimagine that and think about how we can make sure that everything we do in that building is relevant to this community today and when we will work to do that, I will work to do that together. But without further ado. Please join me in welcoming a man who represents this rec center, so well in its Advisory Council Ron Lewis.

D

Well, good afternoon, everyone I'm so ecstatic to be here right now, because this is a moment that we waited for for a long time.

D

I'd like to thank the commissioner state rep and you know, I- have a special special thanks for this other gentleman, because that did go to City, Hall and I said all kinds of things about what we need and how we needed and things of that nature, and he shocked me and he came down here one day on his own unannounced and when he walked in and seen everything that was going on, that we told him about.

D

He made us a promise, something that he would do and uh coach cook who y'all knows an icon here cook been here for over thirty years, doing everything cookers everything here to be honest, with chocolate right, but cook stood up. It's cook said: listen, that's my man, president Darrell Clarke! If he tell you he gonna do something he gonna try to get it done and most of all he gonna get it done and guess what he got it done. He got it done. I gotta say that he got it done.

D

You know and us in the neighborhood this is just the beginning for us y'all. They promised us a whole lot more with this, but see we waited so long. So we really didn't believe I gotta, pinch myself and see that I'm still here with this, you know I mean, but when I see all they faces these little kids, that's what I talked about down. City Hall, the kids that came here and didn't hand under play with no swings, no, nothing going to other playgrounds and things of that nature.

D

Now we got our own and we're very happy. Are we very grateful? No are we very grateful? Y'all know what I told y'all to say on three one: two: three Thank You mr. president, Clark.

D

Listen, there's no more to say than what they just said this now. You know what I mean I'd like to thank everyone. We have well. We are humbled and grateful for this new establishment we have now and we looking forward to the future. Thank everyone appreciate that. Thank you all.

D