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Parks and Recreation


1515 Arch Street, 10th Floor
Philadelphia , PA 19102
215-683-3600
Neighborhood: Center City
Help us make this site useful-- to citizens and the city.  When posting, be as concrete as possible, whether your review is positive or negative. Try to include:

-Date and details of experience.
-Was your situation resolved?
-What do you wish someone had told you before you dealt with the department?
-If the city offered to correct the situation, what would you tell them they’d have to do?

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Complaints about specific employees should be directed to their departments. We reserve the right to edit or remove profane, abusive, or unhelpful reviews.

Have a suggestion for how to make City Howl better? Call the hotline at (215) 854 5307 or email dmerrell@philly.com.
Style: Help us make this site useful-- to citizens and the city.  When posting, be as concrete as possible, whether your review is positive or negative. Try to include:

-Date and details of experience.
-Was your situation resolved?
-What do you wish someone had told you before you dealt with the department?
-If the city offered to correct the situation, what would you tell them they’d have to do?

Use your real name if you can.  (Or let us know how to reach you.)  We follow up on many of the reviews posted here to write stories. Also, the city often asks us to help them reach people to resolve their problem.

Complaints about specific employees should be directed to their departments. We reserve the right to edit or remove profane, abusive, or unhelpful reviews.

Have a suggestion for how to make City Howl better? Call the hotline at (215) 854 5307 or email dmerrell@philly.com.
13 User reviews | Post a review
Reviews
10:43 AM, 09/28/2009
negligent
They should brng back the mounted park guards so citizens ca feel safe again in Fairmount Park. They sould stop spending housamds of dllars killing deer. They blame deerfor their neglect, how many times have you seen city workers actually working in the park. They depend on volunteers to do most of the work especially i the wissahickon creek area. Also they should hire people who know something about trees I and my dog were nearly killed by a falling tree that fell a few feet in front of us as we were walking on one of the upper trails in the wiss. creek. No one checks on the condition of the trees along the trails.
Posted by helen t
02:57 PM, 09/28/2009
Fairmount Park by SEPTA
Have Fairmount Park more accessible to residents and visitors! Have direct routes from Center City into the park!
Posted by emanol
04:11 PM, 09/28/2009
What do they do all day?
I don't know how large their budget is, but I never see a park employee working. I see them riding around in their SUVs on the trails, and them smoking joints/cigarettes half the time. That's right... I saw a few of them smoking a joint one day in Fairmount. They rarely mow the overgrowth in the city, and I've never seen one actually mowing grass, or cutting back growth. How about this? Lay off the majority of those bums, and get prisoners to do it. I'm sure they could use the fresh air.
Posted by gtown_teach
04:24 PM, 09/28/2009
this doesnt work
i post reviews but they dont show up
Posted by Sticky
11:10 AM, 09/29/2009
Reclaim Love Park
Reclaim Love Park from the homeless, street thugs, drug dealing, defecation, urinating, skateboarding, and graffitti, and restore dignity for the sake of tourism, the citizens and taxpayers.
Posted by Sticky
11:25 PM, 09/29/2009
Parks need funding
I rated them poorly but I don't blame the Park commission, the budget has barely increased in the last 40 years and we all know what's happened to the value of the dollar since then. the city's parks look like an afterthought, which is exactly what they've been at budget time
Posted by dreinterests
08:12 PM, 01/18/2010
Neglecting City Trees
The parks department is supposed to handle street trees in the city. Three trees in front of my house are dying from disease and over hang structures and wires too closely. So, I called the parks department. The trees have been listed for removal since 2007 but haven't been removed because they're not causing an emergency, and the operator who answered the phone had no idea when the trees would actually be sent out to the contractor for removal. Also, most of Philly's public green spaces look neglected. Wash Sq and Rittenhouse aside, our parks look kind of shabby.
Posted by keystone73
12:58 AM, 05/16/2010
Is anybody home?
Fairmount park is one of the most amazing and unique features in any city in America because of all the possibilities it represents. Between the size and history it should be a major attraction, but people barely know it exists. When you're in the park there's almost no way to walk from one attraction to another without previous knowledge of where to go since there are no hiking signs or no people to help. Its the same because it might not necessarily be the department, but the city as a whole that is literally ignoring 10% of its city.
Posted by ConverseB24
06:03 AM, 09/07/2010
City Recreation Centers
Okay, I used to work for a landscaper. It is hot, hard work. That being said, I still cannot excuse the city for its neglect of the rec centers in the lower Northeast. Case in point: Monkiewicz Playground at Richmond and Allegheny. Overgrown fields, huge gaps in the chain link fences where trespassers urinate outside and drink inside. Broken and dangerous bleachers. My son had a game there a few weeks ago and we were greeted with (empty) cases of brew on the bleachers and twisted metal sticking out of the ground that at one time held up wooden bleacher seats that were now a splintered mess on the ground. I could write similar stories about Simpson and Heitzman, etc. Why do we as citizens accept this as the norm and why do we put our kids in danger of injury?
Posted by jemasdad
02:02 PM, 10/12/2010
REPORTED CORRUPTION TO DEPT. OF THE INTERIOR
I AM LIVING ESSENTIALY "HOMELESS" BCAUSE THE CITY OF PHILA HAS FAILED TO ASSIST ME! I HAVE PROVIDED OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE OF PHILA FBI CORRUPTION! ZANE MEMEGER SE PA DOJ & SETH WILLIAMS PHILA DA BOTH HAVE FAILED TO PROVIDE ME WITH FEDERAL WITNESS PROTECTION! PLEASE SEE MY PUBLISHED REPORTS GOOGLE SEARCH: 1) AG CASE# 200706634 / CONGRESS.ORG 2) REP. SESTAK ADVISES FBI OVERSIGHT RICH MILLS - VICTIM OF CRIME SOC SEC# 150-78-0087
Posted by RichMills2010
05:46 PM, 03/08/2011
Flyers today for tree service?
I have a flyer in my mailbox stating that there is no parking on my block, but not sure if it means the entire block or just in front of my house. It states that it's for emergency tree removal an that it's in effect for the next 3 days. Is this legit? Who do I contact to find out?!! Arent' they supposed to put signs up on the poles up the entire street or in the area they will be working? No idea where they will be removing a tree. no dead trees except a stump next door to me. 3 days no parking to remove a stump?
Posted by kliffee
03:03 PM, 03/23/2011
Thank you for my tree
I want to thank the Parks Department for planting my tree in front of my house. Very happy!
Posted by kliffee