Southern/BOK Athletic Field Renovation History

• ► October 2, 2008

  Article in the South Philadelphia Review concerning problems with BOK/Southern field events Scoring negative points by Caitlin Meals Weeks after the athletic super site opened, the community has a list of concerns several organizations are working to address. click here for complete story

• September 24, 2008
      The SPCCA has been working together with the school board and athletic directors for several years and is continuing to work with them.   The school board representatives made it repeatedly clear that the Philadelphia School District is committed to resolving all of the issues that had been brought to their attention by the neighbors.
   

• September 9, 2008
        Games have begun being played at the field and the following problems have been occurring:
             - Abusive language to some neighbors by kids going to and from the games
             - Banging on cars as the kids pass through the neighborhood
             - People tailgating in the athletic field parking lots
             - School buses dropping off kids on Bigler St. instead of 10th St.
       Tony has been communicating these issues to the school board as they have been reported to him.  These will be addressed at the September 24th meeting with the school board. 
   

• August 29, 2008
        The inaugural football game between Bok and Southern high schools.  Other teams have begun practicing on the field.   Questions about the use of the parking lots during Phillies games have been submitted to the school board.

• sJuly, 2008
        Work completed on field and practice games scheduled for early August.

• May, 2008
         Many finishing touches are being completed in the BOK field complex.   The water drainage problem in the baseball field is being looked into by the school district.
   

• February 21, 2008
       The construction of BOK field is nearing completion and the 'Southern-BOK Supersite Committee'  has been formed.  The first meeting was held at the SPCCA office on 2/21/08.
  
              This committee is made up of administrators of the School District of Philadelphia,  representatives of the SPCCA (Tony Greco, Chuck Putnam), 4th district Police representative, Phila School District Security Unit  and representatives from the offices of Council President Anna Verna, City Councilman Frank DiCicco, State Senator Vincent Fumo and the Sports Complex Special Services District (John Sfrisi, Joseph Messina).
  
            Our first meeting covered (1) planning and general security of the facility: responsibility of the securing the facility will be jointly shared by the 4th District Police Dept along with Phila School District Security Unit  (2) conditions for the use of the field: The school district will manage the permitting process and the committee will monitor the organizations that will be applying for the use of the facility. Note: Organizations that are granted use of the facility will be charged a fee per event or per game.  They will also have to provide insurance for liability and property damage. (3) Decorative fencing for the facility was scheduled to be erected in June.  The SPCCA has been notified that this may begin sooner.  No firm date has been announced yet.
   
           The school district announced at this meeting that they have committed additional funding for the installation of an irrigation system for the two 'natural turf' baseball fields.  This will assure that these fields will be properly watered to maintain a natural grass growth.
  
           This committee will meet on an 'as needed' basis to address field operations, permitting and general
  issues regarding the usage of the field and facilities.  The application process for the use of the field is being clarified.         

• May, 2007 Renovation finally started!
   

• January 16, 2007 Update
  Construction was been delayed because the Water Department had not yet approved the water plan permits.  After Tony Greco called several times in December and January, councilwoman Verna's office called several times at Tony's request.
  
  Tony received a call this week from the Ron Cohen at the Philadelphia School District.  He called to say that the Water Department has now approved the project!  Mr. Cohen stated that the permits should be ready for pickup shortly. Hopefully construction is not too far off at this point.
   

• Monday, June 12, 2006 - Stella Maris School Hall - 7:00pm 
   The purpose of this meeting was to report to the community the staging activities and the
   actual construction that will take place over the next year.   The project architects and managers made presentations and informed residents as to what to expect and to help us maintain quality of life during construction.
   

• 6/15/06  Fielding concerns at 10th & Bigler - South Philadelphia Review
   

• May 8, 2006 
    The renovation of the offices of the school district and the SPCCA has been completed.
    Furniture is being ordered and the final details of the office are being worked out.
    We may possibly have our June meeting in the new space.
  
    March, 2006
    Pictured are Joe Russo of Citizen's Alliance,   Ruth Arnao,
    Executive Director of Citizen's Alliance, Tony Greco, President
    of SPCCA and John Sfrisi (SPCCA Board Member and Sports
    Complex Special Services District Representative)
  
    The Citizen's Alliance For Better Neighborhoods granted to the
    SPCCA a check for $10,000 to be used for operating and towards
    expenses of rehabilitating the new office at Southern/Bok field.  
   

• Summer, 2005 - Winter 2006: Environmentally hazardous waste was found and was removed from several areas in the BOK field complex.  Final plans for the field design were approved and sent to architects for fine tuning. Work on the offices of the field house are scheduled to begin in Spring of 2006.
   

• April, 2005 - Tony Greco received the $50,000 grant from the State of PA for the rehabilitation of the office building on the BOK field site so we can relocate the SPCCA office there as we promised the community.
   

• March, 2005 - It was announced that bidding on project scheduled to begin in early June, 2005
  and work would begin in August, 2005.
   

• 1/10/05   Community Meeting on Southern/Bok Field Renovation The purpose of the meeting was to present to the community the final design of the facility and to convey as much information as possible on the construction plan, future usage, security and any other relevant information.
       The following organizations and individuals were at the meeting to speak and answer questions: School District officials, Fr. Olivere from Saints John Neumann/Maria Gorretti High School, Capt Zaffino, 4th Dist Police and leaders of the South Phila. Communities Civic Assn. and the Project Committee.
       There were presentations by the architects for the renovation and the company installing the lighting for the athletic field. 
   

• 12/2/04  Southern/BOK Field Makeover - South Philadelphia Review
   

• Dec. 16, 2004 - Southern/Bok Field committee meeting: Details of the revised design were  reviewed and discussed.  Several concerns were brought up, discussed and will be addressed at the community meeting.  Planning details were begun to clarify additional information to be presented at the community meeting on January 10th, 2005.
   

• Oct., 2004: The planned renovations for Southern/BOK field have gone over budget.  Renovations can not be started until this is resolved.  The plans are currently being reviewed to determine where costs can be reduced.  This will not affect the money allocated for new fencing.
   

• Sept. 15, 2004   The Sports Complex Special Services District held a meeting and as part of their agenda approved allocating approximately $286,000 to be used for fencing at Southern/Bok field.
  
        Also, Tony Greco has been notified by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Economic Development, that the funding application the SPCCA filed for $50,000 has been approved. As soon as a contract can be forwarded to Tony Greco for his signature, the State will allocate the funds.

   
     John Sfrisi and Tony have met with the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Philadelphia to discuss plans for the RDA to perform any work on the project that we the community wish to have done.
  
      The first order of business was to have fencing installed with the funds that are being provided by the Sports District. The funds from the state will be used to rehabilitate the office building at the field so that the civic association can move their office on site. Funds for the project will not be deposited with the School District, but will be deposited with the Redevelopment Authority when they are prepared to perform work requested. The details will be worked out at a later date.
   

• Summer 2004: Plan was revised including suggestions from the SPCCA committeei
   

  Surveyor at the field May, 2004

  Environmental Research being done to assure the safety of the renovations for our community.

• September, 2004: $286,000 approved for fencing.
   

• 03/02/04 BOK Committee Meeting reviewed rehabilitation plans and presented concerns to the athletic directors from Stella Maris School and Saints John Neumann/Maria Goretti High School and members of the boards of the Sports Complex Special Services District and the Citizens Alliance for Better Neighborhoods.
   

• In November 2003, the South Philadelphia Communities Civic Association was contacted by the School district of Philadelphia at the request of President Anna Verna.  The reason for contacting the SPCCA was to explain their plans to rehabilitate the fields at the Southern/Bok athletic facility. The school District made a very professional and impressive presentation to the civic association.  Since it has been a long time goal of the SPCCA to improve the decaying and deplorable conditions at the facility, we decided to partner with the School District on this very worthwhile project in order to beautify and improve the neighborhood, help increase the value of our homes and to provide a state of the art facility to be used by the entire community, especially our own children.
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• On January 12,2004 a community meeting was held at the Stella Maris School Hall where the school District made a formal presentation to the neighbors.  The meeting and the project details were reported in the South Philadelphia Review as the front page story on January 15, 2004.
   
•  At the meeting the School District reported that it has a budget of about 2.5 million that would allow for the installation of a synthetic field with a rubber track on the Southern field location.  It would also include such items as new grandstands, fencing around the field/track, security lighting, a new scoreboard, re-seeding of the Bok field and the basketball courts (courts will be eliminated) and the revitalization of the toddler play are along Bigler Street.
   
• This alone would be a great accomplishment, however the SPCCA wants to see the entire facility improved since we have the opportunity, and which may never present itself again.  Therefore the SPCCA is working very hard to obtain additional funding so that additional items can be improved.  Those items would include secure maintenance-free fencing around the 13th street driveway and moving the entrance from Bigler Street to 10th Street.
   
• More improvements can be done depending on the amount of funding the SPCCA is able to secure.  The additional improvements done as a result of the funding secured by the SPCCA, will be done on a priority basis.   
   
• The problems we have had in the past were due to the lack of routine maintenance to the field, and no patrolling by School District Security or Police.   Another important item that contributed to our past problems was the lack of involvement and control by the community.  To correct this going forward, the SPCCA formed a "Revitalization Committee" made up of several area neighbors, representatives of the civic association, a police representative, members of the School District, the athletic directors from Stella Maris School and Saints John Neumann/Maria Goretti High School and members of the boards of the Sports Complex Special Services District and the Citizens Alliance for Better Neighborhoods.
   
• The initial purpose of this committee is to deal with the issues that arise during the planning and construction stages of the project, and then the operation stage when the project is completed.  During the operations stage the most important duty will consist of direct involvement in the permit process. This would include controlling the use of the facility, the conditions of such use and the time period of usage.

Top of Page             Overview of BOK Field Renovations