Morning Headlines: 5 Philly Parks, Including The Rail Park, Get Boost in Funding

Rendering via Friends of the Rail Park.
The William Penn Foundation will partner with The Knight Foundation to donate $11 million to five city parks, according to a report from Inga Saffron in The Inquirer. The announcement will be made formal today and give a shot in the arm to some special projects, including the funding of the landscaping at The Rail Park at North Broad at Noble Streets. According to Saffron:
All five projects are shovel-ready, have raised most of the necessary construction funds, and can be completed relatively quickly, in less than two years.
The money will go to the Fairmount Park Conservancy as part of the Reimagining the Civic Commons initiative in an effort to realize five projects:
- $1 million for landscaping at The Rail Park
- $6 million towards the creation of creative playground called Centennial Commons in Parkside near the Please Touch Museum. According to Saffron, the “development includes a climbing wall, a mini-mountain range, and a spray park that turns into a winding ice-skating track in winter.”
- $250,000 to help kickstart Bartram’s Mile along the Schuylkill in Kingsessing
- $1.75 million towards the Lovett Memorial Library project in Mount Airy
- $1 million for an Audubon/Outward Bound program in the Discovery Center in East Fairmount Park
Foundations partnering to enable railroad viaduct park [The Inquirer]
Other can’t-miss news stories…
- Saving face: Commission votes to protect Blue Horizon facade, not interior [PlanPhilly]
- Apartment building aimed at students planned for 46th and Walnut [West Philly Local]
- UCD unveils new social seating at 36th and Lancaster [West Philly Local]
- More demolition, more units proposed in South Ardmore development [Main Line Times]
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