Riverside Files: Where Angels Play

The battle to save Riverside Park, and that's what it surely turned out to be, began with the announcement by the New London City Council, in a 4-3 vote, on September 21, 2010 that the sale of 9.14 of the remaining 18 acres of Riverside Park to the Coast Guard Academy had been approved.

Less than a month later, on October 4, 2010, having gathered over 500 signatures on petitions that called for the City Council to reverse its decision to sell the park or bring the issue to a citywide referendum, members of Friends of Riverside formed to oppose the sale gathered at the park's amphitheater where the petitions were assembled and certified for submission to the city clerk.

Enough signatures were gathered to force a referendum of the question of the sale of a portion of Riverside Park and, although the question did not appear until over a year later and the vote was close enough to require a recount, the results showed that the people of New London had won the right to keep Riverside.

What made Riverside Park important enough to save that people from all areas of the city, all races, ages and cultures and all economic levels came together in a sustained and passionate battle to preserve these eighteen acres?

In his column Hail to the Victors, published on November 17, 2011, Paul Choiniere came close to recognizing what many others didn't; that the sale of Riverside Park was more than just the loss of a park as important as that was.

It was asking a neighborhood that has consistently been ignored by the city to give up more of the little that they did have.

"Those opposed to the sale are deserving of their electoral victory. They were passionate in arguing that selling half the park would be a disservice to the surrounding neighborhood. Their rallies at Riverside Park gave the larger community renewed interest in it. Led by that always persistent and often irascible community activist Kathleen Mitchell, the park defenders effectively re-framed the debate. From their perspective a yes vote would not be cast in support of the academy, but against a working-class neighborhood." The Day

The battle to save Riverside Park was over but another battle was about to begin and that was, as simple as it sounds, to place a playscape in Riverside.

In his Guest Opinion, "Build a playscape at Riverside now,"
Wayne Vendetto, Jr wrote "Almost a year ago, in February 2012, Kathleen Mitchell and I, representing Friends of Riverside, stood in chambers asking the council to begin to make good on its promise by having the playscape at the portable classrooms on Cedar Grove Avenue relocated to Riverside. That request was transferred to committee, where it remains, all but dead. As the only park in the city without a playscape, Riverside remains a testament to inaction on the part of council and city administration."

We weren't only battling with the council; a playscape at Riverside Park was also strongly opposed by Riverside Park Conservancy and New London Landmarks who viewed a plastic playscape as inappropriate: and preferred "...more interesting equipment that would take advantage of the park's landscape and offer a different kind of recreation."

Eventually, the City Council did approve a playscape for Riverside. As Councilor Macrino said during the vote If we wait too much longer, the children will be too old to use it.

The tragic death of little Emilie Parker, one of 20 children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and the compassion of Bill Lavin, a New Jersey firefighter who is heading up the project to build 26 playgrounds in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey, to honor those 20 children and six adults who died in the Newtown shootings along with the help of local retired New London firefighters Vic Spinnato, Ed Hallisey and Corina Vendetto, member of Friends of Riverside have settled the question of when and where a playscape will happen at Riverside Park.

The foundation has already been poured and volunteers from all over, including New Jersey, are gathering this week, Wednesday through Saturday, to complete Emilie's Shady Spot in time for the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony which will take place on this Sunday at 11AM.

If you would like to volunteer and be a part of this wonderful community project, please contact Vic Spinnato at 8608676072 or Corina Vendetto at 8605745758