FAQ’s

In 2019, the FDR Golf Course announced it would close after 80 years, citing declining sales and frequent flooding. After the closure, The Meadows emerged organically: COVID stalled development plans, giving the land an opportunity to rest and regrow. As the pandemic drove the community to seek access to outdoor space at unprecedented levels, the Meadows quickly became a beloved local oasis. Today, the Meadows has emerged as a magical space — one of the only re-wilded areas inside the city limits that doesn’t force you to enjoy yourself in prescribed ways. The Meadows is the only large, unmanicured green public space in South Philly.

In August 2022, 70 acres of mature tree canopy and habitat were razed to the ground. We’re still grieving the abusive, greedy, and heartless loss of so much that was so dear to so many. This habitat destruction is just the beginning of the land grab: Parks and Rec is implementing a controversial Master Plan that includes development, clearcutting, and astroturfing of the entire Meadows, and a complete restructuring of the park as a whole.

The proposed plan and the opposition is complex and nuanced. Click here for some thoughtful and accurate reporting that starts to cut through the spin and greenwashing. Read on below for clarity on what's happening in FDR: the details, facts, and rebuttals you deserve to know. We promise to not keep you in the dark or tell you only half the story. That’s our commitment to you, the land, and to the justice we all deserve.

Parks and Rec and Fairmount Park Conservancy plans to clearcut another swath of the meadows: the whole area to the west and south of Bellaire Manor, including the picnic grove and nearly 50 irreplaceable heritage trees among hundreds of others. It’s the next phase of this $256 million plan, “Pattison Fields,” with nine artificial turf athletic fields in the northern section of the Meadows, plus roads and parking lots.

*90 acres of Meadows remain, and are accessible via the new trailhead at 20th and Pattison*

YES, there’s still plenty left to save! Half of the Meadows - 90 acres - remains as a thriving habitat for many species, and has been named an important birding area by Audubon. Native plants abound, including two species that are required to be protected under PA State environmental law. Endangered monarch butterflies abound. It’s home to the most significant tree canopy in South Philadelphia with many thriving heritage trees that are 40-80+ years old that are legally protected. Although this space has played many roles in its history, it’s now one of the last unmanicured green spaces in South Philadelphia - a rare amenity for residents who seek a quiet walk away from the hustle and bustle.

100% of the 150 acres of Meadows is slated to be developed: 86 acres of sports, 33 acres of manufactured wetlands to offset the airport expansion, and just the in-between slivers left for trees, plants, and waterways. 70 of these acres have already been clearcut and are actively under construction today. Although the next phase is unfunded, it’s slated to begin in 2023.

Outside of the Meadows, the rest of the park will also be fundamentally changed. There are some very reasonable upgrades proposed: road repair, upgraded playgrounds, and basic amenities such as restrooms. This is mixed with several problematic plans that involve privatization of our public spaces, a chronic problem in Philadelphia.

Of this massive $250 million project, only the first phase of the Meadows destruction has been funded - a bloated and overbudget $30 million to clearcut the southern woodlands, remove the soil, and pile it in the northern meadows. Future phases would take at least 10 years to complete - yet with no funding and no contracts, they may never be completed. The athletic fields are not funded, but this phase is slated to begin in 2023.

The airport, FIFA, Friends of FDR, state funding, and Kenney’s slush fund are the key funding sources today. The Knight Foundation and Penn Foundation are regular funders of Philly’s parks, but have expressed reservations in approving new grants as this project continues to be controversial.

$250 million is TOO MUCH to invest in the southernmost corner of the city while most parks are neglected: we need to push back on funders and ask them to spread their investments equitably across existing city facilities that are in desperate need of maintenance instead of on this single gentrifying development.

Parks and Rec has celebrated the plan as a victory for the environment because it includes construction of 33 acres of wetlands, but that’s not the whole story. The airport is currently expanding its cargo operations to support businesses such as Amazon with a massive 400 acre development. PHL airport is federally mandated to “replace” the wetlands they destroy in their unchecked growth. Between these two projects, the airport will develop 197 acres of natural land in Tinicum, 40 of which are emergent wetlands and waterways; clearcut 70 acres of mature tree canopy and wetland in FDR; and will “create” 33 acres of manufactured wetland. That’s a net loss of 234 acres of natural habitat…can you say greenwashing?

YES. The city offered FIFA its choice of six possible sites for FIFA practice fields; FDR park was the only build-to-suit option. Although FIFA has not formally selected any site (check back in early 2023), backroom handshake deals have certainly secured this site for World Cup practice play. FIFA is not permitted to publicly fund the project, but they will supposedly make a “donation” to have this space built to their specifications. Why is Parks and Rec so eager to engage with an institution known globally for its corruption?

What we really need is maintenance for the sports fields we already have. Parks & Rec is moving quickly to invest in new athletic fields at the southernmost tip of the city, while hundreds of neighborhood parks and playgrounds are still waiting for repairs and staff, and remain chronically underfunded. Though there are 21 multi-use fields in South Philadelphia; most are neglected, underused, and often locked.

The City says the fields are for Philadelphia's kids, but they decided to put the fields as far from the BSL line as possible - a 20 to 30 minute walk across the park. Any sports fields at FDR Park *for children* should remain where they are now, close to the subway.

The budget for FDR Park - just one park - is almost 4x the total budget for ALL of the rest of the parks in Philadelphia. How can Parks and Rec justify spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in the farthest corner of the city, instead of equitably throughout neighborhoods, where it’s needed and where the community can actually access and use the fields?

NO, not without paying. Philadelphia Parks & Rec plans to rent out their fields, courts, picnic areas, tables, etc. for a fee - they are not designed to be available for South Philadelphians to use. They claim these fields are “for the kids” but the plan calls for them to be rented for tournament play by out-of-towners 20 weekends a year - with Philly winters, that is around half of the playable weekends!

This plan is first and foremost focused on private revenue, not their claim of creating access for youth leagues to play. The rest of Philadelphia’s fields are kept under lock and key; what reason do we have to believe that this site would be different?

The community does NOT want artificial turf - it’s unhealthy, unnatural, outdated, and will only endanger our safety and the environment. Cities everywhere are banning artificial turf because of the risks:

• Astroturf increases heat island effect, increases the risk of flash flooding, decreases groundwater retention, and promotes pollution.

• On warm days, turf fields become superheated to temperatures from 120° to 160°F. Playing on synthetic turf can melt shoes, blister hands and feet, and induce dehydration and heatstroke.

• Synthetic turf contains known carcinogens and PFAS. These ‘forever chemicals’ are linked to serious cancer-causing effects - especially in children.

• Astroturf is dead space for animals and plants, and can degrade surrounding habitat quality.

• PPR is claiming astroturf is budget-friendly. But synthetic turf costs more to install, almost as much to maintain, and has to be replaced once it wears out. Used turf ends up in the landfill.

• It’s a bait and switch: Park ambassadors and other sports orgs were not told there would be artificial turf when they discussed sports fields. Maybe it was because Parks & Rec knew it would be controversial.

The Meadows is fundamentally a habitat of native plants: within a few minutes you can find milkweed, goldenrod, aster, joe pye weed, boneset, pokeweed, buttonbush, serviceberry, sumac, and many species of heritage trees. Join our iNaturalist project to help us identify more!

In fact, the presence of invasive species is a key indicator of use (see page 4), according to Parks and Rec themselves. Invasives thrive in disturbed zones…yet the scorched-earth method of clearcutting creates just such a zone. A restoration truly concerned with the park’s ecological quality would involve caretaking and stewardship, selectively removing plants rather than clear cutting and foolishly thinking that regrowing from scratch solves the problem. Invasives will always find their way back in, just as they have in every site in our park system.

Although the new master plan is heavily greenwashed, the fact is that habitat and tree canopy will be nearly eliminated in the new plan. The plan calls for clearcutting nearly every inch of the meadows and replacing these mature trees with saplings, but science shows us that it takes 269 saplings to replace one mature tree. Park’s claim that they will plant 7000 new saplings is environmentally equivalent to only 26 mature trees - a huge net loss.

Community engagement was cited as “critical” in creating this controversial Master Plan - so why is there such a lack of transparency around the planning process?

Sports fields were the community’s least important priority but they represent an outsized part of the controversial Master Plan. In a survey conducted by the Philadelphia Parks Department with 1,300 participants, none of the participants said they use the park for its current athletic fields. Instead, 65% said that they use the park for walking, biking, and hiking. Respondents wanted the park to be upgraded with bathrooms (92%), trails & paths (87%) and observation/overlook areas (77%)

So why is over half of the Master Plan devoted to 23+ athletic fields, including astroturf multiuse and hardscaped courts, when respondents listed athletic fields as the lowest of all offered priorities? And as if that weren’t enough, this level of support for fields was achieved by specifically INVITING team orgs to participate in the survey (8 of 12 stakeholder groups were athletic organizations)!

Parks & Recreation and the City of Philadelphia has not been transparent about their methods of community engagement— they offered none of the racial, linguistic, or economic Information from their data collection. Despite making a big fuss out of translating their survey into a number of languages, only 8 surveys were actually completed in a language other than English (3 in Lao, 5 in Spanish). Most egregiously, the process was entirely one-directional - community members were never given the opportunity to verify that their interests and input were represented in the final plan. We wonder if that’s because the plan doesn’t actually represent what the people truly want…

Were our voices actually “critical” in the process? Or did Parks and Rec stroll in with their own priorities, pushing their own agenda from day one? Knowing that they’d already made handshake deals with PHL airport and FIFA?

The plan was completed in 2018, before COVID-19 changed our relationship to public green space - so why can’t we update the plan accordingly? Only 1300 people completed a survey for the plan while many thousands have already signed petitions calling for reevaluation.

Eastwick is a Philadelphia neighborhood known as one of the most impacted by environmental injustice: landfills/brownfields, poor fill conditions, and chronic flooding. Although it sits within the floodplain, city planners long ago chose Eastwick for development so that they could push poor black residents into it after being displaced by West and North Philly gentrification; planners knew that many homes would be underwater before their mortgages were paid off. It sits near the Tinicum marshes that the Airport is developing for its cargo expansion project. This PHL Airport growth is projected to only accelerate harm to this front-line community which is at highest risk from climate crisis effects. Those residents should not have to bear the brunt of this unchecked growth. Eastwick was excluded from the public comment period for the PHL Airport's Environmental Assessment, continuing a longstanding pattern of exclusionary, racially-biased decision-making.

The current bulldozing and excavation in FDR is a direct result of Parks and Rec enabling the PHL Airport to offset its wetland destruction by ‘creating’ wetlands in FDR Park. Why didn’t the PHL Airport create wetlands in a place that would help with the flooding in Eastwick instead of make things worse?

YES. Not only has Kenney starved Philadelphia’s parks of funding throughout his tenure, he’s responsible for appointing a commissioner with NO environmental experience to manage our natural lands. This absentee mayor doesn’t deserve a pet project named after his failed leadership. Mayor Parker, why would you continue to execute this flawed plan?

Parks and Rec is pushing a gentrifying and greenwashed project that doesn’t reflect community needs and doesn’t serve Philadelphians equitably - while spending $250 million of your tax dollars to remove mature tree canopy and habitat, replacing it with astroturf.

1) There is still plenty to save.

2) Our voices were not truly represented in the Master Plan for FDR.

3) The City is planning to spend $250 million (of your tax dollars) on renovations and new athletic fields at FDR Park while they continue to ignore the parks and sports fields that we already have in our neighborhoods.

4) Astroturf is toxic: it’s unhealthy, unnatural, outdated, and will only endanger our safety and the environment.

5) Parks & Rec intends to make money from this park - the new FDR Park will no longer be free to use for all.

6) The so-called ‘FDR wetlands’ project is about money - it’s not about environmental protection, and is actually a huge net loss for the environment.

7) Habitat and tree canopy is rare in Philadelphia; sports infrastructure is common. COVID has changed our relationship to the outdoors, but the Master Plan ignores this new reality.

SIGN AND SHARE our NEW petition that demands Mayor Kenney and City Council STOP the destruction of the FDR Meadows, South Philadelphia's only public green space with urban meadow and woodlands.

VOLUNTEER in any way you’re able to: large, small, or autonomously.

JOIN our iNaturalist project to help us identify the species currently thriving at the Meadows

CALL your elected officials:
Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson at (215) 686-3413
Councilmember Mark Squilla at (215) 686-3458
State Representative Regina Young at (215) 952-3376

ASK them to call Parks and Rec to PAUSE this development so that our community can engage in a more transparent planning process for FDR. They changed the plan once already – they can change it again, but this time with community groups in the room!