This article originally ran in the November 2012 Cedar Park Neighbors newsletter. Want to receive the newsletter delivered to your doorstep (or directly to your email inbox)? Join CPN today at http://www.cedarparkneighbors.org/join-cpn-donate/cpn-membership-form/ In October, the neighbors who share the St. Bernard Community Garden learned that their garden was threatened. They were about to lose their garden due to foreclosure. They quickly organized and, with the help of Councilwoman Blackwell, saved their garden.
After a horrific crime one night at 48th Street and Springfield, neighbors came together to organize a neighborhood watch group to look out for each other. They organized porch hops and monthly potlucks and frequently attended the court hearings to ensure that the voice of the immediate neighbors was heard. This month, they celebrate their one year anniversary working together.
Earlier this year, when Mariposa Food Co-op, which has been in Cedar Park since 1971, was looking to grow, they turned to their members. Members loaned the Co-op thousands of dollars and, on March 17, the Co-op opened in the old Belmont Trust Company building. Today, close to 1500 people belong to Mariposa.
These three examples are not alone. It seems like Cedar Park has always been a neighborhood where community members come together to improve their block, their neighborhood, and their city. Cedar Park Neighbors, which celebrated its 51st anniversary this year, is happy to support neighbors helping neighbors.
This fall, the Philadelphia City Planning Commission will be developing a new plan for the “University/Southwest” District that includes Cedar Park. (It also includes the neighborhoods of Powelton Village, University City, Saunders Park, West Powelton, Spruce Hill, Walnut Hill, Garden Court, Cedar Park, West Shore, and Kingsessing.) This plan will be used by the City to help develop a new zoning map and determine where public resources, such as libraries and playgrounds, should be devoted. To inform this plan, Cedar Park Neighbors just finished surveying 500 community members about what they like about Cedar Park and where they want our neighborhood to go in the future. We’ll be releasing results of this survey soon.
For more information about the district planning process, check out phila2035.org. For more information about our survey, visit our website at cedarparkneighbors.org or our Facebook page.
There’s always something good happening in Cedar Park.