Barkan Park

Barkan Park has a rich history in West Philadelphia.The park was named in hounor of Ben Barken who was the founder of the Garden Court Comunity Association. Barkan and the Community Assiocation were intramental in preventing the area from being populated by gas stations. The park was once a tennis court. When Ben Barkan died in the early 1970's, it was agreed that the park should be named after him.The Friends of Barkan Park was founded in March of 2000

Barkan Park . It forms a retangale bordered by Spruce St, 50th Street and St. Bernard St. It currently has play equipment on the eastern side of the park that borders St. Bernard Street. The playarea has 5 benches that surround the play area in a semi circle. On this side of the park are two entrence ways in the park. In the center of the park is a small hill that rises several feet. At the western end of the park are two small gardens created by the friends of Barkan Park. The first along 50th Street is a herb garden. We call it the Healing Garden. At the corner of Spruce and 50th Streets is another garden. There are two entrences to the park at the western end of the park The paths make a circle around the perameter of the hill. It is referred as a passive use park since a majority of the park use is used for relaxation.

Our first projects involved pruning of some of the trees and improving the basic appearence of the park. We painted the wooden benches, painted over the graffietti, and removed rubbbish. Also we worked with the city's recreation department to improve the lighting around the park. We received a grant from the city's free paint program for the paint and supplies.

The friends of Barkan Park then enbarked on an abitious project of increasing profile and name recognition of Barkan Park. Our group found that many people in the surounding neighborhood did not know the name nor though much of the park. The first part of this project was the replacement of the old wooden benches with bright colorful new red benches with matching blue recepticals. We were inspired by the work done in Malcolm X park. We had new benches installed with "Barkan Park" spelled out on back of the benches. Both the benches and the recepticals matched the red and blue of the play equipment. Following this, the Friends of Barkan Park came to the consensis that banners along Spruce Street would also increase name recognition and brighten up the area as well. The group worked with a local company called Parellel Design to come up with the design of the banners. The company did not charge for its consulting nor services. The company worked with the manufacture and the UCD to apply for ciiy permets. The result can seen along Spruce Street between 49th and 50th Streets. Just this past year, we made major turf improvements to combat errosion.

To accomplish these projects took the combined efforts of our park group as well as members of the community. The Garden Court Communitiy Assoication has provided monies and ongoing support for our projects. The Walnut Hill Community Association also provided monies for the improvements . The UCD has helped with clean-ups and is currently providing cleaning. The Pennsylvania Horticultual Society Philadelpha Green program has been the biggest catelyst for change in our park. Though its Parks Revitalizatoin Project, PHS has afforded park groups such ours and Malcom X begin and continue the improvements. These improvements affect the neighborhood at large. People respect the park and the neighborhood around it since the park looks cared for. PHS has provided thousands of dollers and staff expertise to the Friends of Barkan Park. They have made suggestions and given material to accomplich our tasks. They have allowed the group and the community to decide what it wants, never being overbering

We have created a master plan. We have found that this plan is fluid and changes are made to meet conditions. These conditions can range to financial to imput from different members of the community. The recreation department and the PHS also have suggested various changes to the master plan. In other words it is not set in stone. The basic plan is to expand the gardens, improve and expand the playarea and place fencing in the paramenter of the park

Our challenges can be summed up to three items: Fundraising, increasing active membership/leadership and maintance of the park. These all tie in togather. The challenge to increase membership has been daunting. We find that the same people do all the work it takes to advocate for the park. This has caused periods in which our group when there are no activities nor outreach. Park groups with active retirees show more consistant activity and outreach. Due to the problem of increasing membership, the enenry for consistanct fundraising has been lacking. This is our biggest challenge and one in which little progress has been seen. Maintance of the park is a challenge as well. The gardens need to be watered during summer dry spells and weeded. Also keeping the park clean and drug-free calls for vigilent efforts that if not kept up will get us back to square one.
Despite these challenges, the Friends of Barkan Park are hopful for the future of our neighborhood park.
We recieved over $100,000 to install new playground equipment, repave the pathways, remove dead and dying trees and to improve the lighting in the park. We the members of the Friends of Barkan Park want to thank Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell in sucuring funding
for these improvements which were just completed this Summer 2005