08072010 - News Article - Gary park getting well-deserved makeover

Gary park getting well-deserved makeover

Post-Tribune (IN)
August 7, 2010

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GARY -- City Council President Ronier Scott wants to restore Pittman Square Park and deliver a safe, family-friendly playground to its neighbors by the end of the summer. 

Scott and Community Development Director Jacquelyn Drago - Hunter were joined at the park by other local leaders Friday to formally announce the renovation already under way. 

"You'll see a transformation," Scott said. 

Drago - Hunter said her department budgeted as much as $100,000 in federal Community Development Block Grants for the renovation, but she said she could make more money available if it's needed. 

Gary's Board of Public Works and Safety agreed last month to pay Kidstuff Playsystems Inc. $50,000 to install new playground equipment at Pittman Square Park. 

In addition to the new playground, project manager Tracey Gillis said its old tennis court will be converted into two basketball courts. The park pavilion will get a new ceiling, floors and doors. 

"This pavilion will be open to the public," Gillis said. 

A new picnic shelter is already going up where children used to play in a wading pool. Gillis said restoring the pool would have been too great a financial commitment between maintenance and equipment. 

"The money is not there," Gillis said. 

Finally, Scott said the Gary Police Department will maintain a presence around the park to make sure it's a safe place for children and families to spend their days. 

"The residents, they will run this park," Scott said. 

Gillis compared the Pittman Square Park project to a new park built by Community Development at West 17th Avenue and Adams Street. Scott also said he wants to target Junedale Park at West 50th Avenue and Madison Street, next year. "This is the beginning, not the end," Scott said 

Drago - Hunter said she has no citywide plan for park renovations beyond Junedale. Instead, she said she plans to take the parks one at a time. 

As a news conference wraps up in the background on Friday, Olijuwon Champagne, 12, of Portage, enjoys an old swing at Pittman Square Park in Gary. Champagne was visiting relatives who live near the park which is being renovated and getting new playground equipment. -- Stephanie Dowell/Post-Tribune 

Rodolfo Munoz of ATA Enterprises, a Gary business, works on a picnic shelter on the site of a former pool at Pittman Square Park in Gary.