Columbia Daily Spectator - October 05, 2001
Morningside Park's Friendly Transformation
Friends of Morningside Park reclaim park from longstanding unsafe reputation.
By Holly Miller
For Sara Noel, it was just another walk in the park. When Doug Robinson, president of The Friends of Morningside Park, invited her to volunteer to keep the park clean, she became infused with the volunteer spirit.
''When I looked around and saw things to be done, I decided to give up some of my spare time to have it clean,'' she said.
Noel's experience is common among Morningside Park's Volunteer of the Year Award winners. The Friends of Morningside Park, a nonprofit organization started in 1981 by Columbia student Thomas Kiel, recently awarded this honor to six members of the Morningside Park community for their efforts on the park's behalf.
Morningside Park's renaissance is considered long overdue by the group and its members. Local residents have worked hard to reclaim a place formerly known to many as ''Mugging-'' and ''Murder-''side Park.
Park Community Coordinator Andre Blacknell said the volunteers have enacted a transformational cycle--as individuals use the park, unwanted activity decreases and as unwanted activity decreases, more individuals use the park.
The organization is a small group of local residents that thrives off the idea of ''personal connection'' and a ''more neighborhood oriented'' association, Blacknell said. He went on to say that the volunteers, who work for the Department of Parks and Recreation, have through their continued dedication unveiled a ''secret garden'' with the power to establish new societal bonds between residents of Morningside Heights, Harlem, Manhattanville, and Columbia University.
Putting Trash Where It Belongs
When Noel joined the group, trash disposal was one of the park's
biggest problems. Since retiring from the New York Blood Services,
she has spent nearly every morning making her rounds at Morningside
Park.
Noel acts as secretary for The Friends as well as ''park mother,'' donning plastic gloves and picking up trash and reminding others of their responsibility to their home.
If Noel had a personal quote, it would be ''I love to clean! It digs me to see someone sitting there, and there is trash close to that individual,'' she said.
''If we live here and we want to our neighborhood bright and sparkling, we can help,'' Noel said. ''Don't just say, 'Oh, I didn't put it there.'''
Noel plans to continue her volunteer efforts indefinitely. ''Wherever I go, I just want to help,'' she explained.
Dirt-Splattered Artists
''We got so much appreciation for those little gardens,''
Olga Szabo said in wonderment about the Frederick Law Olmsted-style
flower beds that she and her husband have created in Morningside Park.
The true wonder here may be the Szabos husband-and-wife team. A retired orchestra conductor, Arpqol Szabo has always been a nature lover. According to Arpqol Szabo, Olga Szabo ''was jealous of all the fun I was having'' and decided that it would be nice to create a garden in the park's semi-octagonal bays where Olga Szabo loved to read.
Investing their own money and resources, the Szabos have cultivated great beauty on Morningside Drive. ''Where something was ugly, you make it pretty,'' Arpqol Szabo said, speaking of his and his wife's efforts to empty the park of overgrown cement tubs and instill color and life.
''If both sides of the park put pressure on the political structure, they will start paying attention,'' he said in a hope for increased community support as well as local government involvement. The Szabos acted on their own, but hope to become more involved with The Friends to continue to ''concentrate on the positive and the good, to eliminate the bad.''
Making the World Safe for Puppy Love(rs)
''We're really dedicated to trying to make this place a beautiful place,''
said Angelita Rucker, who together with Gail Karp has taken hold of
organizing the park's dog run.
Rucker, a local resident for over ten years, and Karp, who has lived here since 1994, have been able to build upon the resources the park offers and make it more available to dog owners.
Karp, a writer, filmmaker, and Columbia graduate, found that the park housed ''an amazing community of people'' despite misconceptions that it acted as a divide between the surrounding neighborhoods.
Karp said the park has always been more of a ''bridge,'' but was entirely unusable for dog owners. Residents were forced to search outside of their area for a safe, welcoming space for their pets.
''Why can't we be in our own community?'' she asked, explaining the motivation behind contacting Rucker to combine their efforts.
Rucker had been participating in park maintenance, tying trash bags to trees and emptying them since there was no formal garbage disposal. Together, they began fundraisers such as dog cookie sales and helped establish Morningside Barc, a non-profit organization dedicated to building a place in the park for dogs and their owners.
The dog run is a work in progress. Plans are under way to install tree benches, for which Karp and Rucker have helped raise the money and manpower.
The Man Behind the Mouse
''It's not fair that Central Park gets all the attention,''
said Brad Taylor, The Friends of Morningside Park's web designer.
It came quite naturally to him to volunteer in a way that would increase the public's knowledge of what Morningside Park has to offer. Taylor is a nine-year resident of the Morningside Heights community. For Taylor, who has kids, the park always seemed like a great idea but was off-limits because of its reputation. After attending a meeting several years ago, Taylor has dedicated his expertise toward the advancement of the park.
He hopes that through his and his children's involvement, Morningside Park will continue to blossom. Taylor said that his most major contribution has been in giving the website ''direction''-- adding searches, polls, a hit counter, and ways to subscribe and donate money through the park website.
Taylor encourages people to ''volunteer where you have skill and time'' and feels very strongly that everyone in the community can help out. For Taylor, the volunteer spirit builds upon itself.
''We don't want people to go to Battery Park or Central Park,'' Blacknell said. ''That's nice, but they should be able to come home from work and come to their own local park.''
