We have lots of connections to Juniata Park!
There’s a busy gateway to Tacony Creek Park at the intersection of I Street and Ramona Avenue, which is right around the corner from the Ferko Playground on Cayuga Street. The Frankford Creek Greenway will begin at this gateway, with a protected bike lane along I Street up to Cayuga Street. We host programs in the park that meet at I and Ramona. We’re also very excited about the potential of the greenway, which will connect to the Delaware River Trail.
Along Cayuga Street, the Philadelphia Water Department has installed a series of planted bumpouts to manage stormwater, with a basin under the ballfield. And to top it off, there’s a big rain garden that welcome folks to Juniata, at the Cayuga Triangle (intersection of Castor Avenue, Cayuga Street, and East Wingohocking Street). Through the Soak It Up Adoption Program, we clean and care for the rain garden, as well as the bumpouts.
The city’s largest Combined Sewer Outfall is also located behind the Ferko Recreation Center. This neighborhood provides an amazing opportunity to showcase how our creek interacts with our sewer and stormwater systems, as well as how green stormwater infrastructure is helping to improve the health of our creeks. Juniata Park neighbors are also welcoming and committed to their community!
Our Community Cans project is bringing even more awareness to the importance of keeping our streets and storm drains clean, for cleaner creeks and a cleaner Delaware River, our source of drinking water. We look forward to working with community members, on place-making opportunities and connections to Tacony Creek Park.
We are excited to be partnering with Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, the City’s Managing Directors Office, the Philadelphia Water Department and Clean PHL on this project. We will install 20 decorated, colorful trash cans in this area. Most of the cans will be along Cayuga Street to reduce litter. The other trash cans will be provided to surrounding local businesses in Hunting Park Avenue and Castor Avenue.
We received submissions from local artists interested in creating the artistic design for the lids. The artist will be inspired by the positive words that community members express to describe their neighborhood. Soon, community members will meet together to select an artist for the project. Once the design is created, we will host a painting day for community members to paint the trash can lids.
Stay tuned for the painting day in October!
To raise awareness about this project, we held a cleanup in Juniata Park last Saturday. We cleaned along Cayuga Street and at the Ferko Playground. We collected 8 bags of litter! We also installed these awesome street art stickers to remind people about why they shouldn’t litter! We are thankful for each of the community members who attended. Their advocacy for Juniata Park is continuously making a difference!
Special thanks to SWEEP, Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, Philadelphia More Beautiful Committee (PMBC), Oak Street Health, & Keep Philadelphia Beautiful for providing community resources and being so welcoming. Thank you to Councilwoman Quiñones-Sánchez for stopping by to support us.
For pictures, visit here!
If you have any questions or comments about this project, please contact nagiarry@ttfwatershed.org.
For general information about the Community Cans Program, visit Clean PHL.
