The downtown business improvement organization known as the
Center City District has been working to improve the experience of an afternoon spent wandering along the
Benjamin Franklin Parkway for well over a decade now. But as the organization's CEO, Paul Levy, explains, the Parkway has always had one major downfall. "(It's) a wonderful cultural district," he says. "(It's) perfect in postcards, and great to drive on. But it's always been seriously lacking in pedestrian amenities."
And that's one major reason why Levy and the CCD have decided to seriously transform Philadelphia's 35-year-old Sister Cities Park, which is located on Logan Square. It's also just one small aspect of the $19.9 million renovation of the Parkway that will also include the forthcoming installation of the
Barnes Museum, and the upgrading of the
Rodin Museum.
Constructed in 1976, and located directly in front of the
Cathedral-Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, Sister Cities Park was originally intended to celebrate Philadelphia's relationship with its 10 international
sister cities, which include Florence, Tel Aviv, and even Douala, Cameroon. But as Levy points out, "If you ask 99 percent of Philadelphians, 'Why is it (called) Sister Cities Park, and what does it say about sister cities?' there was virtually nothing (informational) there--just some names on stones."
In order to rectify that situation, a series of educational signs will be installed at the park. A fountain will also be added, with various plumes of water representing each of the sister cities. Landscaping and a set of benches will surround the fountain, and a garden designed especially for children's play will be constructed nearby.
The $4.6 million project, Levy says, which is expected to open in the spring of 2012, was funded by an especially wide range of donors, including the
Pew Charitable Trusts and the
William Penn Foundation.
Source: Paul Levy, Center City District
Writer: Dan Eldridge
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