Volunteer groups clean up Seventh Ward Playground
Seventh Ward Playground got a makeover this week, after Washington Council decided last week to close it temporarily.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
From left, Braedon Greenleaf, 13, Katie Grabiak, 12, Vernon Walters, 17, and Jess Ashmore, 18, move mulch during the cleanup of Seventh Ward Playground.
A nonprofit collaboration of churches, called The Dreamers Company, brought several youth group students to the park Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as part of a cleanup program called Mission Washington. The two main churches that participated this year were Life Church, at North Main and East Chestnut streets, and Washington Alliance Church on Sanitarium Road.
Aaron Miller, an associate pastor with Life Church, said the group, along with community partners, invested between $12,000 and $15,000 into the park this week.
“We’re working with the city on a plan to get the park reopened and a plan to make people comfortable with the park to be open again,” Miller said.
City council voted July 12 to close the park under a nuisance ordinance, after several residents complained about a large group of children that congregate in the park at night and destroy park property and private property of the surrounding neighbors. One resident said her fence was ripped down, another said rocks were thrown at her house.
Residents also complained there wasn’t enough of a police presence near the park. Police Chief Robert Wilson said he would have more patrols at the park and once it was temporarily closed and fenced off, his officers would start arresting any trespassers.
“We’ll take the playground back,” he said during a meeting last week.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Abigail Mikec, left, and America Burris, both members of Life Church Washington, help clean vines from a fence at Seventh Ward Playground in Washington.
7th Ward Park Cleanup
Miller’s group of volunteers put down several truckloads of mulch, cleaned up glass and garbage, and trimmed trees and bushes to help with visibility. He also said the group planned to help have new lights installed and improve the playground equipment.
Miller said Mission Washington is a week for youth groups to choose projects and share the cost of those projects. He said two years ago, the church invested time and money on the Eighth Ward Playground.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Larry Miller of North Franklin Township helps clean up Seventh Ward Playground in Washington by trimming low-hanging branches from the trees in the park.
“We’ve been dreaming about this park,” he said about the Seventh Ward Playground. “We know that there’s a behavioral problem going on with some of the students in this area, and we know that Washington has a drug epidemic. Taking away community space doesn’t help that. Collaboration is the best way forward.”
Miller said he’s been in conversations with city officials to start programming in the park “to make it beneficial to the city instead of a nuisance.”
“We’re talking with the city about making plans for some programs in the park and opportunities to invite not just kids, but some older people as well,” he said.
It isn’t the only group with plans to fix the playground either. Community activists Suzanne Kelley and M.J. Markley have organized a group of churches and volunteers to continue cleaning up the playground from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Kelley said they may also work on establishing a community watch group for the park.