By GAVIN JACKSON
Published: June 09, 2011
Almost a year to the day Florence Mayor Stephen J. Wukela, Florence City Councilman Ed Robinson and other Florence officials broke ground for Levy Park improvements, they celebrated the project’s completion with an official ribbon cutting Thursday.
The ceremony was not only for the for the new 3,600-square-foot youth center, but also three newly constructed basketball courts, two new tennis courts and a new picnic shelter at the park off East Pine Street in Florence.
“We have gotten a victory,” Florence School District 1 Trustee Pat Gibson-Hye Moore said during the event. “We have a brand new Levy Park and it’s to be celebrated.”
Dozens of children from the city’s summer playground camp for youth were playing pool, air hockey or other games in the activity area, working on computers in a classroom or watching a movie in another classroom area.
The center will be open Mondays and Wednesdays until 7:30 p.m. and Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. for teen programs and activities.
“This is a means of giving them positive instruction,” Robinson said. “This is something that’s absolutely necessary.”
In addition for giving children in the neighborhood a safe place to go, Robinson said, he sees the new construction and renovation of the park as a boost to the neighborhood.
“A new facility will … change the perception of the community, because the perception of the community is bad,” he said.
The design, construction and renovation of the park and its improvements by Gilbert Construction and Collins/Almers Architecture cost $713,000. Funding came from $378,000 in Section 108 funds, $290,000 in general funds and $45,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds.
Renovations to the existing community center will begin next week and will include interior and building updates for the senior adult program.