On a mission at City Hall: A "daughter" of Mayfair head Parks and Rec
Kathryn Ott Lovell led the charge to save St. Huberts School, now she wants to help renew the citys parks and playgrounds
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FORMER PRESIDENT Bill Clinton popped into a Philadelphia recreation center last week, bringing world attention to a rally for his wife, Hillary, when he lashed out at protesters.
The day before, Kathryn Ott Lovell, the city's new commissioner of parks and recreation, had gone to the same Dorothy Emanuel Rec Center in Cedarbrook to make sure things were ready for Clinton's visit.
"You have to prep your house if company's coming," Ott Lovell said Wednesday.
"It's an amazing center and a wonderful community," she added. "Michelle Obama was there a couple of years ago."
As commissioner, Ott Lovell oversees hundreds of rec centers, and more than 10,200 acres of parkland.
She said she took the job knowing Mayor Kenney was committed to investing in recreation centers around the city.
"We have a mayor who embraces the vision that parks and rec centers can be the catalyst for change and prosperity and connection and community," she said.
"I love this city, and I've always felt a call to work in city government," she added. "I'm challenged by [the new job] but not overwhelmed. It's daunting, but in a good way."
Ott Lovell, who grew up on Disston Street in Mayfair, lives in Cedar Park in West Philadelphia with her husband and two children, but returns to Mayfair every Sunday to visit relatives.
Described as friendly, engaging, and warm, Ott Lovell is also known as tough and smart.
In 2012, when the Archdiocese of Philadelphia planned to close St. Hubert Catholic High School for Girls, Ott Lovell, an alumna then serving on the school's board, jumped into action.
"Kathy came in and she took charge," said Reese Hardy, a former chair of the Mayfair Community Development Corp.
She helped the community raise more than $700,000 in a matter of weeks and eventually $1.2 million. The school was saved.
"She was the one with the passion and became the voice for the appeal to save the school," Hardy said. "She's a strong leader."
The current chairman of the Mayfair CDC, Joseph DeFelice, said he wasn't surprised Ott Lovell had been named to a top position. She previously worked at the Mural Arts Program and the Fairmount Park Conservancy, as executive director.
"She's highly motivated and highly driven," DeFelice said.
She's also not afraid to deal with conflict. Soon after starting her new post Jan. 27, she attended a tense community meeting at the 48th Street Playground, near Woodland Avenue.
Some African American residents said they thought the head of a children's baseball league, who is white, had bypassed rules to use and change the field.
Ott Lovell assured residents that there were not side deals and that there was room in the park for everyone.
"Parks and recreation is deeply personal to Philadelphians, and that's a tremendous gift, that people care so much," she said. "Our parks can be tremendously powerful vehicles to bring us together."
In going about her work, the commissioner said, she likes to paraphrase the fictional Parks and Rec boss Leslie Knope, played on TV by Amy Poehler:
"When I go to these community meetings and everybody's yelling at me, I tell myself they're not really yelling at me, they're just caring very loudly."
215-854-5987 @ValerieRussDN