Regarding “How Wilmington neighbors rallied to keep Rodney Reservoir a park — and succeeded,” DelawareOnline.com, March 24:
On March 24, the Delaware News Journal reported the City of Wilmington’s recent announcement of intentions to create a community park at the Rodney Reservoir. This public commitment to create a park is just what the neighborhood has been asking for. However, the fact remains that the city’s current plan for the site, as presented at City Council’s Public Works Committee meeting on Jan. 18 is to demolish the Rodney Reservoir and create a large, flat, seeded vacant lot.
We believe that building a flat, vacant lot in the middle of our dense urban neighborhood is a mistake. Green for the Greater Good, our community group, is asking the city to work with the community to turn the site into a vibrant city park that builds on this historic site and its sense of place. We are asking the city to engage residents in a visioning and design process while securing the funding to build the future Rodney Reservoir Park — before demolition begins.
Many in our neighborhood consider the Rodney Reservoir a treasure. The 3.78-acre site is home to an old city reservoir surrounded by sloped open land located at the top of a hill at the meeting point of Wilmington’s Hilltop, Little Italy and Cool Spring neighborhoods. It has never been privately developed — despite an attempt in 1911 that was successfully opposed by residents like us. In fact, the Rodney Reservoir is one of the city’s oldest parks, dating to 1866. It has hosted many public activities and facilities–from professional football games, concerts, and dances to an observation tower, skating rink and basketball courts.
The site was fenced off from the public after 2000. It was not until 2010 that a group of neighbors gained permission to build a community garden on a section of the site, which has hosted community activities such as concerts, harvest parties, and more recently a gardening program for students at Lewis Dual Language Elementary.
Moving forward with demolition before undertaking comprehensive site analysis to review available options for the space is not just short-sighted. That the city is not taking real steps to collaborate with community residents is not just disappointing. These actions in fact violate the terms set forth by the FY2023 Bond Bill legislation funding the project. The bill states: “Prior to initiation of this project, the city of Wilmington shall engage in comprehensive planning, including public engagement, to determine the best use for the property before any future development is begun.”
Engaging residents and community groups to partner with the city to create a vision, design and budget for the park–before demolishing features that could be incorporated into that design–is the path forward for the Rodney Reservoir. Research shows that engaging potential users of green spaces in their development, building site-specific parks with amenities for social gathering, and planning programs that encourage use leads to the creation of spaces that are vibrant and well-used. These factors play a role in public health outcomes and motivate beneficial behavioral changes such that residents begin to use outdoor spaces for the first time. Mounting evidence indicates that successful greening lowers crime, benefits residents’ physical and mental health, and even improves student learning outcomes.
The Rodney Reservoir is surrounded by a diverse community that includes a solid mix of homeowners and renters from a wide range of racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds. Over the past year, we have come together to form Green for the Greater Good. We have been meeting weekly, reaching out to partner organizations and experts, and talking to neighbors. We have begun to imagine the site as a place where local residents and the entire city could come together to experience nature and have fun engaging in recreation, citizen science, expanded community gardening, urban food production, ecological education, and more. The possibilities are many, and the community should help decide among them.
We are eager to participate with our neighbors alongside experts in landscape design and historic preservation for a true community design process to turn the entire Rodney Reservoir site into a beautiful public park for the neighborhood and indeed the whole city. We call on the City to follow through on their statements and collaborate with the community to undertake this important work.
Learn more about Green for the Greater Good at www.greenforthegreatergood.org. Or join us for weekly meetings at the Church of the Holy City at 1118 N. Broom at 10 a.m. on Saturday mornings. All are welcome.
Jamila Davey is a resident of Wilmington’s West Side and an active member of Green for the Greater Good.
