PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A new 10-acre public park is open along the Delaware River in Bridesburg, fulfilling the long-term vision of its namesake. Borski Park, the dream of former Congressman and Bridesburg native Robert Borski, was officially dedicated Friday.
Borski, a Northeast Philadelphia congressman from 1983 until 2003, envisioned a network of city parks and trails more than 20 years ago.
"This has been a plan of mine for an awful long time," Borski told KYW Newsradio. "My wife just found an article — a column from the Inquirer in 2000 about Bob Borski's vision for what can happen on our waterfront. It's not all the same, but it's pretty damn close.”
"All major cities in the world celebrate their river," Borski continued. "We in Philadelphia hid it from everybody, so we're trying to reconnect folks, and this is just a prime example. The views here are spectacular."
At a site just north of the Betsy Ross Bridge, where coal was once stored and concrete dumped, Borski Park now welcomes visitors.
"What we're standing on is a vacant concrete factory that we have turned into a public park," said Stephanie Phillips, executive director of the nonprofit Riverfront North Partnership, which Borski founded.
"It includes a multi-function lawn area which is a blank slate for the community," she said. "Then there's about four and a half acres of a meadow area that was here, but we just decided to keep it natural and take care of it. And it's a wonderful natural area for a part of the city that doesn't have that resource."
"We're going to have a full roster of programs between now and November, which will include yoga, outdoor movie nights. We're going to have Parks on Tap here," Philips said.
The park was developed with $7 million in public and private money. Borski Park represents the final part of a plan to reconnect Philadelphia neighborhoods with the riverfront.
"This is an 11-mile greenway. This is the eighth and final park of the original plan in 2004," Phillips explained.
"It has everything that a community could want. The beautiful meadows and this fantastic lawn space, and the incredible views," Borski added. "It's been a long haul, but it's enormously satisfying to see it come to fruition."