Post Date: 04/20/2018 12:00 PM

Community-driven parks planning process continues to produce results

Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki today joined with West Side Grows Together to celebrate the community-led renovations that are planned at Wilmington’s Father Tucker Park on the City’s West Side. A groundbreaking ceremony was held this morning to highlight the renovations underway at 9th and Scott Streets. The renovations are expected to be completed early this summer.

Today’s groundbreaking ceremony included remarks from the Mayor, Wilmington City Council President Hanifa Shabazz, U.S. Senator Thomas Carper, Senator Robert Marshall, Representative Gerald Brady, 6th District City Council Representative Yolanda McCoy, Christina Fabris of Friends of Father Tucker Park, and Sarah Lester, Director of Cornerstone West CDC.

The park’s renovations will include removal of all paving, play equipment and fencing and installation of new play equipment with wood fiber safety surfacing, exercise pathways, benches, picnic areas, and a spray shower with colorful stained concrete. Also part of the work will be a storm water management plan to direct water off site and divert it to collection areas away from the playground.

Upgrades to the 20,000 square-foot playground area total a little more than $600,000, half of which comes from a National Parks Service grant of $306,000 for construction and design improvements.

Mayor Purzycki today acknowledged the remaining contributors to the Father Tucker Park project which, in addition to the City of Wilmington, include West Side Grows Together, the Delaware State Legislature, the Friends of Parks Groups, Locus Partners, RAS Landscape Architects, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) , 5th and 7th District Neighborhood Planning Councils, the Nemours Foundation, the Longwood Foundation, Bank of America, the Wells Fargo Regional Foundation, and the Delaware Economic Development Office’s Neighborhood Building Blocks Fund.

West Side Grows Together is a coalition of Wilmington's West Side residents, businesses, churches and community groups working together to improve and strengthen their neighborhoods. In 2012, the West Side Revitalization Plan was unveiled which outlined the community’s vision for its future and the steps needed to make that vision a reality. Partners work together in five main areas: community pride, businesses and jobs, youth opportunities, great parks, and housing choices. Father Tucker Park is another example of engaged citizens bringing together resources and other citizens to improve neighborhood green spaces.

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News and information from the Office of Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki

John Rago

Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Communications

Mobile: (302) 420-7928

Email: jrago@WilmingtonDE.gov



Paul Ford Jr.

Communications Specialist

Mobile: (302) 530-2171

Email: plford@WilmingtonDE.gov



Dan Sanchez

Digital & Social Media Manager

Mobile: (302) 605-0026

Email: dsanchez@WilmingtonDE.gov