Wissinoming Park
needs more help

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

If you think staying on top of the chores in a typical postage stamp-sized Northeast Philadelphia yard can be difficult at times, imagine having to take care of a 45-acre yard.
Not just any 45 acres, mind you, but a tract containing five baseball diamonds, six basketball hoops, a roller hockey rink, a tennis court, a kids playground, a water "spray" park and acres upon acres of trees and walking paths.
Now, imagine that thousands of people come to stroll, play and loiter in your yard every week.
That’s how Pete and Nancy Tweed think of Wissinoming Park. Pete is president of the park’s neighborhood advisory council. Nancy, his wife, is a part-time caretaker employed by the city’s Department of Recreation.
As recently as eight months ago, the park, at Frankford Avenue and Comly Street, got about 75 man-hours of maintenance a week, Pete Tweed claims. But in November, the rec department pulled a full-time caretaker from the park, which is the largest recreation center by area in the city, he says.
Without a dedicated full-timer, the park’s maintenance hours were almost cut in half, he says. And that’s simply not enough.
"I don’t even care about (the park) going forward," Pete Tweed said. "I don’t see us maintaining what we have if something isn’t done."
Several recreation department officials called by the Northeast Times last week did not return messages. But Chris Creelman, legislative aide to City Councilwoman Joan Krajewski (D-6th dist.), says he spoke to the department’s No. 2 man, who indicated that the plan is to supply Wissinoming with a new full-timer.
The paperwork is now being prepared, said Creelman, citing a conversation with William Carapucci, deputy recreation commissioner for programming.
The full-timer will be assigned year-round on renewable six-month assignments.
Tweed, who has spent months trying to get information on the staffing status, remained skeptical. Some part-timers work full-time hours in the summer but do not work in the winter, he explained.
"Until I see something different, I won’t believe it," Tweed said. "I have to see this actually happen before I believe it."
The problem with Wissinoming, according to the board president, is that despite its massive size, it’s not classified as an "A" or "B" recreation facility. That’s because there is no pool or gym. Only "A" and "B" sites are supposed to get permanent full-time maintenance help.
In light of that restriction, Tweed is at a loss for why Wissinoming had a full-timer on-site for more than three decades.
Around the time the longtime full-timer retired last summer, one of the part-timers at the park was promoted to full-time status, Tweed said. He spent five days a week at the site until November, when he was reassigned for three days a week to another site.
Now, Nancy Tweed works weekday mornings at the park. She doesn’t work weekends or holidays because part-timers can’t earn overtime.
Meanwhile, the full-time maintenance man shows up two days a week, leaving the weekends totally unstaffed.
"Where we really lose the hours are Saturday and Sunday, which are the busiest days," Tweed said.
Trash builds up all weekend, leaving Mondays as Nancy’s busiest for cleaning. But every day is busy with a park so big. She usually arrives around 7 a.m.
"First I clean up the fecal matter," she said.
That includes dog and human waste. Some of it is in the public bathrooms and some is scattered around the park.
"And where there’s glass, I go for that because it takes time to clean that up. You don’t want people to get hurt or cut," she said.
Tweed targets the most-used areas first, including the parking lot, basketball courts, kids playground area and picnic area. Other common items include beer and liquor containers, drug containers, needles, condoms and assorted trash dumped in the park.
"It’s a lot to clean," Nancy Tweed said. "A mother doesn’t want her toddler or baby to pick that up or see that."
Pete Tweed views the reduction in staffing as a case of the rec department being penny-wise but pound-foolish. That is, the department places all of the park’s valuable assets at risk by cutting the cost of a maintenance man.
The park usually gets three or four grants of up to $5,000 from outside sources each year, he said.
Three years ago, the park won a state grant of $187,000 for replacing damaged storm drains and new asphalt in the children’s play area.
In the warm weather, the park is popular for picnics and family gatherings, as well as nightly pickup basketball action. The park plays host to summer camps, along with the Wissinoming Boys Club baseball and football teams.
Pete Tweed has already seen some elements of the park in decline. A fence separating the hockey rink and basketball courts is badly in need of repair and a potential safety hazard.
Six new basketball rims erected on the site are already showing major signs of wear with bending and missing nets. The swing sets used to have six swings. Now there are only three.
"I want nothing new from the Department of Recreation," Pete Tweed said. "All I want is to keep up with what we do have." ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com