James Tang ’18: On February 23rd, a Tuesday morning in Philadelphia, love was in the air: literally. A work crew hoisted the iconic thousand pound LOVE sculpture to its temporary home across the street to Dilworth Park as the renovation of the John F. Kennedy Plaza, more commonly referred to as Love Park, began. A popular destination for tourists and locals, Love Park will be undergoing a 16.5 million dollar revamp over the course of the next year.
According to an article by Christie Ileto posted on 6abc Action News, it was reported that both tourists and locals can expect to see the installation of a renovated welcome center and a new focal point of Love Park in the form of an oval shaped fountain with a splash pad equipped with LED lighting. Love Park will also become more accessible with the plans of removing the steps leading up to the park.
There have been previous concerns expressed by members of the Philadelphia Art Commission about the downfalls of Love Park’s previous design about its safety at night. In addition, some of the concrete areas in Love Park will be transformed into rain gardens and other similar grass spaces, which have been one of the most requested changes surrounding its renovation. However, there are a select group of people are opposed to this specific change.
Photo Permission of Wikipedia
According to Philly.com, skateboarders including Jesse Rendell, son of former governor Ed Rendell, protest that they feel misrepresented by the construction project because this area previously served as a quintessential place where all avid skateboarders are able to congregate. Nevertheless, skateboarding in Love Park is illegal, and skateboarders from around the city frequently came to the park to hang out, skate, and meet new people. With these new renovations, skateboarding will no longer be possible at the site.
However, to offer some compensation for this loss, the under-utilized granite from Love Park will be donated to the Franklin’s Paine Skatepark Fund for other parks around the city. The ban on skateboarding was also lifted for the park’s final few days, allowing skateboarders to freely ride around the park one last time.
For many though, the park simply served as a place where both visitors and local people would stop by to quickly have their picture taken in front of the iconic LOVE sculpture with friends, family, or loved ones. This sentiment is undoubtedly extended to the Episcopal community.
Nick Horbowy ‘17 recalls, “I’ve only been there once and it was a more unconventional experience, because I went during Christmas when the Christmas Village was in the park, but I was really put in the holiday spirit.” He continues by mentioning, “The park was nice but something had to be done about the large amount of homeless people that hang around there. We shouldn’t have that in one of the biggest tourist destinations in Philly. However, I really enjoyed the friendly vibe that all the people in the park tended to have.”
Becca Archambault ‘16, adds her thoughts on the park, exclaiming, “I’ve been to Love Park numerous times, whenever I find myself strolling around Philly with family or friends. The best experience I had there was after we went ice skating and found Philly Jesus and made it on to the Philly Jesus Twitter page. But, overall, I have found the park to be quite underwhelming and lacking very much in beauty.”
Archambault approves of the work being done, noting, “I think the renovation is a good idea because the park is sort of run down and broken. It would be nice to have grass to sit on, a working fountain, and a pretty sight for Philadelphia’s symbolic statue to sit in.”