North New Castle News

Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki and Director of Parks and Recreation Ian Smith joined with West Side Grows Together (WSGT), the Cool Spring Tilton Park Neighborhood Association (CSTNA), and the Friends of Tilton Park along with City officials, invited guests, and local residents for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the completion of renovations to Tilton Park, located at 8th and Franklin streets. These include a new, state-of-the-art playground and adjacent amphitheater completed in May at a cost of $996,000.
 
In addition to the ribbon-cutting, the June 22 celebration featured remarks by West Side Grows Together Neighborhood Planning Manager Britt Salen, Mayor Purzycki and Parks Director Smith, President and CEO of Cornerstone West Sarah Lester, CSTNA President Thomas Natoli, 5th District Council Member Bregetta Fields, and Nathan Durant, past president of CSTNA, followed by a live performance from singer/songwriter and former neighborhood resident Sug Daniels.

“I continue to be impressed and encouraged by the outpouring of support and participation by the community for projects like this one,” said Mayor Purzycki. “Tilton Park is a great source of pride for this section of the City, and neighbors have long taken a special ownership interest in keeping the park a clean and safe space for area children and families. We made this park a priority so that our younger residents would have a first-rate place to play, and we couldn’t be more pleased with the results. With the opening of this new playground our young people once again have a safe, attractive, welcoming place to play.”

The Mayor thanked Parks Director Ian Smith and his team, as well as West Side Grows Together, the CSTNA, Friends of Tilton Park, and the City’s many other partners for their invaluable contributions to this project, which was the product of years of collaboration between community leaders, government officials, and neighborhood residents. The Tilton Park upgrades, which come on the heels of renovations to nearby Cool Spring Park and together total about $1.6 million, are one more example of what can be achieved when communities and government work together to address a pressing need.
 
With support from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) and the City, West Side Grows Together hired landscape architects in 2017 to empower residents and develop a community-led playground design to replace equipment that was dilapidated and outdated. Moreover, stormwater management issues rendered the park unusable after a heavy rainfall, and in 2021 the green stormwater management portion was completed with support from the New Castle County Conservation District and State Senator Elizabeth “Tizzy” Lockman.
 
The Tilton Park playground serves children and families in the surrounding neighborhood, affectionately referred to as “Tiltlandia” by residents. It is designed for folks of all ages and abilities and features inclusive, transparent, graduated risk and challenge, swings and slides, as well as mini outdoor amphitheater.
 
In addition to the City of Wilmington and West Side Grows Together, the Tilton Park renovations were made possible with the support of the State of Delaware, New Castle County Conservation District, Cornerstone West CDC, the Longwood Foundation, Inc., the Welfare Foundation, The Chemours Company, the Delaware Community Foundation, Red Clay Consolidated School District, Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC), State Senator Elizabeth Lockman, 5th District City Council Member Bregetta Fields, SME Contractors, KOMPAN Inc., RK&K, Ground Reconsidered, and funds raised from a crowdsourcing campaign centered on the song “Tilton Park,” written by Sug Daniels and Rob Pfeiffer, and many individual donors. 

Original source can be found here.