PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The city is officially getting underway with renovations to the Miles Mack Playground in Mantua, another project of the city’s Rebuild program.
Mayor Jim Kenney’s $425 million Rebuild project has been upgrading dozens of Philadelphia parks, recreation centers and libraries, as well as increasing jobs, engagement and inclusivity among the communities they serve.
He said the oft-delayed program — part of his signature beverage tax-funded anti-poverty program — is going slower than he would like, but it is working as he envisioned.
“These centers can be the change agent for a neighborhood that deserves better and can get better when we pay attention to people’s needs and what they really want,” he said.
To date, work is ongoing in various stages at roughly 60 sites across the city, according to Rebuild Executive Director Kira Strong.
“I think it’s going great, to be honest,” she said. Two more groundbreakings are scheduled for this fall — Waterloo Playground and Fishtown Recreation Center — as well as four ribbon-cuttings to celebrate the completion of work at Disston Rec Center and Gifford, Hayes and Hancock playgrounds.
“We count ourselves very fortunate that we’ve been able to keep work going,” said Strong. “When everybody went to desk work in March, while there wasn’t construction happening just then, we were able to keep working and keep advancing projects.”
Contracting, behind-the-scenes community engagement, design, architecture and engineering were able to continue through the coronavirus shutdown — an important element of the program, since part of the goal from its inception was to create jobs with robust women and minority participation.
“We’re exceeding our minority participation (goals) on our professional services contracts. We’re exceeding our female participation — roughly 55% minority and female participation,” Strong said. “We’re meeting our minority construction contract goal, and we are exceeding our workforce participation goal. We’re hitting just over 45% in minority workforce participation.”
Kenney first proposed the Rebuild program more than four years ago, touting it as a once-in-a-generation investment in city-owned facilities, like recreation centers and libraries.
A portion of the sweetened beverage tax is earmarked to pay debt service on bonds to fund the project. A lawsuit against the tax delayed the bond issue for almost three years. Last year, the first round of bonds raised $85 million.
The project has also attracted philanthropic funding, including $100 million from the William Penn Foundation. Last week, JP Morgan awarded the program $5 million to support its diverse workforce goals.
Kenney admitted he was often frustrated by the delays, but he sees it coming together now.
“I slam my hand on the desk and say, ‘What is going on with these places?’ And everybody tells me, ‘We’re working on it,’ ” he said. “Then I see it starting to emerge like a flower coming out of the ground in spring. It really does make you feel like we can get through this and at the end of the tunnel, we’re going to have really good stuff to enjoy and to bring our communities together.”
The Miles Mack Playground was one of the first projects to begin community engagement, back in the spring of 2019. With construction launching on Tuesday, it will soon be upgraded with a new playground, basketball courts, bleachers and other improvements throughout the recreation center.