Joey D has staked his entire political career on a strategy of improving parks in Essex County. (And having the press show up and snap pictures.) So when the Friends of Anderson Park (FAP) shot him a message that something had gone wrong, drastically wrong, it was a little like Oprah asking James Frey for a sitdown. Essex County Executive Joseph Di Vincenzo made an appearance at the park today with an entourage of county officials and contractors to observe first hand the wacky “improvements” that have taken place. Twenty-two FAP supporters, many of them arms crossed in the official “show me” stance, accompanied the county executive as he toured the park, recently overpopulated with garbage cans and park benches. DiVincenzo admitted there were far too many cans (ya think?), and that benches facing homes and the street would have to be taken out.
DiVincenzo also assured residents that the number of sporting events will not increase, that forthcoming public restrooms will be staffed, and that the county will actually buy some more trees for the park. Hallelujah! We’ll come take pictures when it happens.
Saw Joey D on News 12 New Jersey this evening. The story was really about the Presby Iris Gardens’ recent grant that my friend Linda authored. She was interviewed, too. GO LINDA!
Will Joey D also have the concrete pads under the garbage can and benches that he’ll have removed taken away as well?
Kevin and the Friends of Anderson Park- great work!!!!!
I am one of the founders of Friends of Anderson Park. I would like to first say that Mr. Divincenzo has been very cooperative in helping us to reverse some bad design decisions. The concrete pads will be removed in the spring at the sites of the removed garbage cans and benches. The FAP is a dedicated group working to restore the original historic Olmsted landscape design. If you would like to be part of this exciting work or would just like to be kept informed because you care for our Park please email me. Our members include certified tree experts, environmentalists, scholars, artists
lawyers, members of the Montclair soccer
club, members of the Montclair lacrose club and others. We really do reflect a wide variety of people who all have an interest in the restoration of our Park.
god rest the soul of coretta scott king…we have lost a gentle giant
Kudos to FAP! And much appreciation goes to Mr. Divincenzo for taking to heart a conern of us all.
Does anybody else see the irony in FAP parents lobbying for a cap on sporting events, while their sons and daughters use the Park to imbibe crack and so forth?
Walleroo, while I agree that restricting the park is wrongheaded (but boy does this tolerant town *love* to restrict things) it seems to me more than a tad unfair for you to say “thier sons and daughters…”
I have no doubt, ROC, that it is the very same children of FAP parents who would have played sports in the park if it werent’ for the caps, and that these are the very same kids who are now doing crack. At least that’s how I’m writing the screenplay…
Okay, how’s this:
Does anybody else see the irony of capping sporting events while at the same time OUR sons and daughters use the Park to imbibe crack and so forth?
Are the concrete pads the right size for hop scotch and jacks? If not sporting events maybe the kiddies could be persuaded to go back to the good old days of street play but in a safer and cleaner environment.
Did the “designers” of this renovation miss the memo on trash cans and terrorism? Have they never noticed the systematic disappearence of said cans from many forms of public transportation both here and in NYC? Not that the threat of a ‘dirty garbage can bomb’ looms too largely in Upper Montclair but other kinds of mischievousness could ensue. And oh yeah, it’s just plain stupid to have that many “containers” sitting around waiting to be filled.
To set the record straight the FAP have not lobbied to put a cap on sporting events but to maintain a balance so that both groups will be able to utilize the Park. People, who probably outnumber the sports participants, who want to use the Park as a relaxing get away cannot do this when the Park is being used for sports. That is why we recommend balance. As a matter of fact we have members of our group from soccer clubs and lacrosse teams.
Great job Scott.
What kind of trees will be planted?
Kudos to Scott and Joey D for their work on the park plan.