New Park

Ever since the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge was built in 1928, a four-acre chunk of riverfront that served as a ferry terminal has lain vacant. Trash has piled up, and invasive species have taken over. In 2004, the site was bathed with an unsavory brew of oil that spilled from the tanker Athos 1. On Monday, city officials will celebrate the makeover of Lardner's Point as the city's newest park. More than just a pretty park on a pier, it is an ecological restoration that turned a concreted shoreline into a freshwater marsh, thick with plants and beneficial to wildlife.

Philadelphia unveiled its newly redesigned Sister Cities Park yesterday on Logan Square at 18th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway, just across from the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul. Though the ribbon cutting to the 1.3-acre, $4.9 million park took place Thursday, the grand opening is Saturday. The park is part of a $20.9 million makeover of public spaces on the Parkway, coinciding with the opening of much-anticipated Barnes Foundation. The park, once mostly grass and trees with a few stone monuments, now offers a children's garden, stream and boat pond, a Milk & Honey Cafe, and a satellite office of the Independence Visitor Center.

AMID THE abundant sunshine of the season comes a ray a sun from an otherwise cloudy place: the Fairmount Park Commission. The commission is expected any moment to announce the appointment of Mark Focht as acting executive director. Focht, 44, who has been with Fairmount Park for eight years, has directed the ecological restoration and environmental education of the park. He administered the Natural Lands Restoration Program funded with a $26 million grant from the William Penn Foundation, and is considered smart, savvy and energetic.

No nibbling at the corners, or messing with curveballs. Here's a fast pitch, right down the middle: If Philadelphia wants to keep the Phillies and Eagles forever, it'll have to build a new stadium. Since there's only money for one and the teams won't share it, the stadium ought to be built for baseball - and it ought to be in Center City. Why should a city just a sigh of relief away from bankruptcy build a new sports palace when it has a serviceable stadium already? Because, if it doesn't, some day sooner than you think, either the Phils will flee or the Iggles will fly. And, however you judge the system of values this implies, losing either team would be a severe psychic wound for this region, a loss of binding civic energy.

The idea has been kicking around for 40 years - a full-fledged park along the east bank of the Schuylkill in Center City. Now - to the surprise even of its sponsors - it appears to be on the way. The federal government has awarded $1,672,000 to the nonprofit Schuylkill River Development Council, which took up the park crusade just last year. That money - along with an anticipated $418,000 matching grant from the city - will pay for the construction of a 12-foot-wide asphalt path for hikers, walkers, bicyclists and joggers.

The Moorestown Township Council voted unanimously last night to proceed with the Hartford Road Park. "This was a vote for the children who play sports in this town," said Greg Newcomer, chairman of the Hartford Road Park committee. Tom Bottger, whose architectural firm designed the park, said construction could begin in the spring. The park plan includes four playing fields, two of which will be lighted, two "tot lots," and running paths, parking and restroom facilities.

MIAMI - The sellout crowd in the Miami Marlins' new ballpark cheered the introduction of their starters, who were accompanied by women dressed as Latin showgirls. There was another roar for Muhammad Ali, who delivered the first pitch. Then Kyle Lohse and the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals went to work, and the place grew quiet. Lohse held Miami hitless until the seventh inning and pitched into the eighth to help the Cardinals win the first game in Marlins Park, 4-1, Wednesday night.

Walk into a major-league clubhouse these days. Identify yourself as being from Philadelphia. This is what you'll hear: "Wow, the ball is really jumping up there. " Those were the words of Atlanta Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone recently. Many others have echoed his remarks. It will take several years to accurately determine if Citizens Bank Park is the Coors Field of the East. But based on early returns, it certainly is a place that has the look of a home-run haven.

THE SYMBOL of our squandered, inaccessible Delaware waterfront is not so much the presence of the big-box stores like Walmart, but what lies directly behind Walmart: a hurricane fence plastered with large "No Trespassing" signs (and plastered, as well, with trash). That fence and those signs say everything about how we have, until recently, treated one of the city's great treasures, especially people's access to that treasure. Slowly but surely, that began to change five years ago, when thousands of citizens participated in creating a new master plan for the central Delaware waterfront, which in turn has led to new trails, a new park, and plans for much more.

The Yankees beat Miami, 10-8, on Sunday in the first exhibition between major-league clubs at Marlins Park. But the new park, built on the site of the old Orange Bowl, was secondary to the startling news that closer Mariano Rivera gave up a run in his inning of work, the first time he has allowed a spring training earned run since April 15, 2008. The ballpark, about 16 miles south of the Marlins' old home in the Miami Dolphins' stadium, is still getting finishing touches, among them a pair of 450-gallon aquaria behind home plate.

Logan Square, one of William Penn's original city parks, hasn't been a true square since the early 20th century, when the city began plowing the Ben Franklin Parkway through Center City's northwest quadrant. The heart of the square was turned into one of the world's most elegant traffic circles, home to Alexander Stirling Calder's Swann Fountain, while the remaining pieces were cast adrift, an archipelago of mournful traffic islands, uninhabited and bleak. The Center City District has made a mission out of reclaiming those pieces, starting a few years ago on the west side with the scooped trapezoid called Aviator Park, opposite the Franklin Institute.

Ever since the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge was built in 1928, a four-acre chunk of riverfront that served as a ferry terminal has lain vacant. Trash has piled up, and invasive species have taken over. In 2004, the site was bathed with an unsavory brew of oil that spilled from the tanker Athos 1. On Monday, city officials will celebrate the makeover of Lardner's Point as the city's newest park. More than just a pretty park on a pier, it is an ecological restoration that turned a concreted shoreline into a freshwater marsh, thick with plants and beneficial to wildlife.

Philadelphia unveiled its newly redesigned Sister Cities Park yesterday on Logan Square at 18th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway, just across from the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul. Though the ribbon cutting to the 1.3-acre, $4.9 million park took place Thursday, the grand opening is Saturday. The park is part of a $20.9 million makeover of public spaces on the Parkway, coinciding with the opening of much-anticipated Barnes Foundation. The park, once mostly grass and trees with a few stone monuments, now offers a children's garden, stream and boat pond, a Milk & Honey Cafe, and a satellite office of the Independence Visitor Center.

MIAMI - The sellout crowd in the Miami Marlins' new ballpark cheered the introduction of their starters, who were accompanied by women dressed as Latin showgirls. There was another roar for Muhammad Ali, who delivered the first pitch. Then Kyle Lohse and the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals went to work, and the place grew quiet. Lohse held Miami hitless until the seventh inning and pitched into the eighth to help the Cardinals win the first game in Marlins Park, 4-1, Wednesday night.

The Yankees beat Miami, 10-8, on Sunday in the first exhibition between major-league clubs at Marlins Park. But the new park, built on the site of the old Orange Bowl, was secondary to the startling news that closer Mariano Rivera gave up a run in his inning of work, the first time he has allowed a spring training earned run since April 15, 2008. The ballpark, about 16 miles south of the Marlins' old home in the Miami Dolphins' stadium, is still getting finishing touches, among them a pair of 450-gallon aquaria behind home plate.

THE SYMBOL of our squandered, inaccessible Delaware waterfront is not so much the presence of the big-box stores like Walmart, but what lies directly behind Walmart: a hurricane fence plastered with large "No Trespassing" signs (and plastered, as well, with trash). That fence and those signs say everything about how we have, until recently, treated one of the city's great treasures, especially people's access to that treasure. Slowly but surely, that began to change five years ago, when thousands of citizens participated in creating a new master plan for the central Delaware waterfront, which in turn has led to new trails, a new park, and plans for much more.

There's something irresistibly fascinating about the contrast created when a flower blooms atop a pile of rubble. That may be why a proposal to build a park along three miles of abandoned railroad beds, alternately running over and under the ground, is so intriguing. The beautiful-ugly of Philadelphia's industrial past has sent imaginations soaring around the train tracks, which run roughly from Girard Avenue east of Kelly Drive to about Ninth Street and Fairmount Avenue. Paul vanMeter and a group of like-minded urban re-imaginers have organized themselves under the banner Viaductgreene.org, and are building support for the new park, which would showcase the city's former life as a vital manufacturing hub. People will be able to walk or cycle along the old train beds and into the underground tunnels, where they may find vendors or historical exhibits.

THE FLORIDA MARLINS are interested in pursuing free-agent shortstop Jose Reyes, ESPN.com reported yesterday, citing a team official. The Marlins, who are moving into a new ballpark next season, also are interested in free-agent first basemen Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder, the team official said. The official told ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick that the Marlins have "reached out" to Reyes. If the Marlins were able to sign Reyes, shortstop Hanley Ramirez would change positions.

Jessica Melendez, a member of the varsity softball team at the University of Pennsylvania, surveyed the 24 acres of new athletic fields at Penn Park and expressed giddy enthusiasm. "I feel like I'm in Disney World," the 20-year-old junior said. "Everything came out amazing. " Maybe part of the excitement was practicing against a spectacular evening view of the Center City skyline right across the Schuylkill. And all the grass, real and synthetic, was so green. Penn officials celebrated the official opening Thursday of the $46.5 million collection of fields, a multipurpose stadium, tennis courts, and walkways that serves as the latest people-friendly connection between Center City and University City, and ultimately the rest of West Philadelphia.

The newest 14 acres of the University of Pennsylvania used to be a parking lot for a fleet of mail trucks. Two years and more than $46 million later, Penn has transformed that wedge of land into a green welcome mat that extends all the way to the Schuylkill. On Thursday, the university will open Penn Park, the centerpiece of a long-term effort to grow the 283-acre campus from its historic core near 34th and Walnut Streets. "It's the first time that, by design, we've set aside open space for the use of the Penn community and beyond," said Amy Gutmann, Penn's president.