March 17, 2009  

Ralph R. Ortega

The Star-Ledger

Maria Ballico flung a flying disc at her young nephew across the newly-laid grass of Newark's Elwood Park today, a place she had difficulties enjoying the past three years she has lived in the area.

"It was just a few trees, and a place for walking your dog before, not really a place for children to play. It's a beauty now, the kids love it," said Ballico as 3-year-old nephew, Justin Vallico, held a balloon he received at the park's official re-opening ceremony.

The festivities in the predominantly Hispanic neighborhood of Newark's North Ward briefly interrupted those already using the park since construction was finished in December. A grandmother was out for a walk in the park with a baby stroller. A dog walker pampered a Chihuahua on one of several new benches. Aging men enjoyed the warm sunny day eating donuts and coffee on tables set up for dominoes. "In the North Ward, our residents have been waiting for the restoration of Elwood Park for a long time," said the area's councilman, Anibal Ramos Jr., in both English and Spanish, when he addressed a crowd attending the noon ceremony. The park, renovated at a cost of $665,000, is the first to be completed in the North Ward under a $28.8 million plan for renovating almost two dozen, long-neglected city parks. Nearly 45 percent of the money has come from private donors, most rallied by Mayor Cory Booker. So far, the city has completed the renovations of Boys' Park, First Street Park and Thomas Silk Park in the Central Ward, and Liberty Park in the city's East Ward. It is the most ambitious undertaking of its kind in 40 years, and made possible by Booker's national fund-raising ability. Without the financial resource, the mayor said the park's rebirth might not have been possible.

Aristide Economopoulos/The Star-Ledger       Jesus Gomez holds 'Sandy,' while on a bench on the edge of the re-opened and renovated Elwood Park.

 Booker spoke of the city officials, engineers, designers, contractors and residents, who worked together to rehabilitate the triangular park.

"This is what Newark is about right now, all of us coming together, for the common vision for who we are, with a common vision for what our city stands for," he said. "Literally transforming the geography of our city, making it greener, making it safer."

The park also has had a significant history. The site had been once used as a campground by George Washington when he retreated his troops from New York in 1776, and later became part of the John Morris Phillips estate.

Phillips, a 19th-century ironworks magnate, had admired Napoleon Bonaparte, and planted a willow tree at the site that allegedly was drawn from a transplanted shoot from Napoleon's original burial site on the island of St. Helena.

n 1892, the park was presented to the city. Over the years, it had become the site of several music performances and festivals.

With a new fence around its perimeter, City Architect Robert Dooley spoke of how the park remains a public space, now with new seating, tables and lighting, that were requests from the community. Eventually, he said, security cameras would come too, as part of the Newark's efforts to boost outdoor security.

Juliana Ballico, sister of Maria Ballico, who was playing in the park with her nephew today, welcomed the surveillance, because of past crimes in the area.

"Cameras are a good thing," she said. " There used to be muggings out here, and my car was even stolen."

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