A group of individuals are trying to unseat the current board of Manayunk Neighborhood Council. Their reason for this is to drop the appeal against the Cotton Street Landing development on Venice Island. They have been promised monetary gains for some community projects if they are successful.
One project is Pretzel Park. Manayunk Neighborhood Council began working on Pretzel Park in the summer of 1998. Kay Smith, Executive Director of the Manayunk Development Corporation, arranged meetings between us, the Department of Recreation and Councilman Nutter's office to discuss improvements to Pretzel Park. Since then, support for the park progressed at a splendid pace especially given the stories of previous attempts that failed.
The Friends of Pretzel Park group was formed in August of 1999. The group is a coalition of Manayunk Neighborhood Council's Garden Club, Manayunk Development Corporation, and the Canal Day Committee.
We applied for and received two grants from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) and a state grant with the help of State Representative Kathy Manderino. The grant money, about $25,000, is for fencing for the dog run and play area, and plant materials. PHS also donated their landscape design services.
Meanwhile, the Department of Recreation advanced its plans to rebuild the sidewalks in the park, reconnect the water, and build a garden house. The construction costing around $200,000 is nearly complete. The process may have taken longer, than we would have liked but the wait was worth it.
New trees were planted and volunteers worked on a regular basis. Last year the Department of Recreation allocated money to pay for a Seasonal Maintenance Attendant to work 20 hours a week in the park from April to October. The program is "being repeated this year.
Tom Connelly and Dennis Maloomian of the Cotton Street Landing development took this opportunity to get involved in the community. They offered to make additional improvements to the park if the appeal against their development was dropped. They had a landscape architect draw up plans for the park and presented them at a meeting on January 18, 2001. At the same meeting, Sharon Dendy, a landscape architect for PHS, presented plans she had done for the Friends of Pretzel Park. The plans were strikingly similar.
Mr. Maloomian told the group the day he put a shovel in Venice Island, he would put a shovel in Pretzel Park. The saddest part of the story is that the Friends of Pretzel Park were doing a fine job and the bulk of the renovations are almost finished.
The next project was to redesign the play area. Now it seems, rather than having community groups and residents work together in a healthy and productive manner, a "Sugar Daddy" has come to break us apart. It will be hard for me to see the beauty of the park with its great stone entrances, grand old trees, open lawn, and happy, residents. The park has been clouded over with hate and greed.
If Manayunk Neighborhood Council were to drop its appeal against the Cotton Street Landing development, it would not stop the appeal. There will continue to be five other parties left appealing the development.
A couple of the ring leaders of the opposition have longstanding animosity toward Manayunk Neighborhood Council and have actively worked against us for several years. It is not surprising that they took this opportunity to connect with a few people interested in Pretzel Park to fight the civic.
Manayunk Neighborhood Council has actively been working on the Venice Island issue for over three years. We requested that offices be built with no help from the group now supporting 270 apartment units. Their involvement began in January. Nothing has changed with the development issue other than the appeal hearing is getting close Where were all these people that support the development last year during the many zoning hearings? They weren't interested.
At the Council's April 4 meeting the opposition group was asked why they supported the project. The reasons all centered on getting money from the developers. One person mentioned an increased tax base for the City. No one said anything positive about thebuilding,, structure or the need for. 270 additional apartments in Manayunk. It was said repeatedly that we will lose our appeal so the community should get the money.
Do these people really think the developers would be working this hard against us if we were not a very big threat? They want us to drop the appeal because they expect the judge to support our position. Manayunk Neighborhood Council is not appealing to get compensation. The payoff that some have taken to heart is only on the table as a result of the Council's dedicated efforts and hard work to protect the community.
We are very close to winning this one. The developers, by their actions, bolster our confidence. We may lose our board seats for a year but we will not give up on working for the good of the community that includes stopping irresponsible developments.
Jane Glenn
President
Manayunk Neighborhood Council