SAVE THE DATE – Special Liberty Lands Improvements Meeting – Tues, Sept 12 (Attention Metalwork Artists!)

7pm at the Northern Liberties Community Center (3rd & Fairmount)

The NLNA has secured a grant to improve Liberty Lands Park!

Join us at this special general meeting to find out what this includes and how to get involved.•

Garden Fence Construction Includes Fundingfor Metal Fabricators!

The Liberty Lands committee is excited to announce that we've received funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society for a major improvement to the park and the community. With the funding, we'll be able to replace the existing community garden fence with a stronger and more beautiful fence AND install a pedestrian sidewalk to the Bodine Street side of the park.This is a community project for our community park! Details about the funded proposal are below, but let's start with what you can do.

• Are you a metalwork artist? We're looking for 10 unique panels that are both artistic and functional to be the focus points of the new fence and need proposals for these as soon as possible!
• Are you a lover of the park who'd like to help choose from the proposed fence panels, and/or be part of the planning and installing process?
• Are you a neighbor who wants to give feedback about the new sidewalk on Bodine?

The Project:FENCE: The existing post-and-rail fence will be replaced with a metal fence that includes a base of at least 20 standard panels in the “Tacony” style (a basic black metal 5' fence of vertical rails, similar to the one at Orianna Hill Park). These will alternate with up to 20 artist-designed panels that will make the fence unique and appropriate to the Liberty Lands aesthetic. Requirements for the proposed artistic panels will include that they are not easily climbed and do not pose a hazard to the public with sharp points or unsafe materials. Artists will be compensated with honoraria for their design and build of the panels. Designs will be selected by a committee of interested neighbors over the winter of 2017-8. Installation of the fence is made possible by funding from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and will occur in spring 2019.SIDEWALK: The existing post-and-rail fence stands inside the eastern border of Liberty Lands with a wide strip of shrubs and planters between the community garden and the area where cars are commonly parked along Bodine Street. This project will remove those shrubs and planters in favor of a poured cement sidewalk that will allow pedestrians to walk around the entire park safely and provide a clear curbline for cars parking on the street. The poorly maintained greenery of this edge of the park will be replaced by the “frame” of a sidewalk, the artistic new fence, and a view into the beauty of the community gardens.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS:

The Liberty Lands committee of NLNA seeks proposals for up to 20 unique metal fence panels, to be designed and built by the artists, for its community garden fence. An honorarium of $2,500 per panel is offered to selected panels: this honorarium is intended to cover the costs of materials, fabrication, and the artists' participation/guidance in installation as well as compensation for the artists' design.Requirements:Each panel must fit in a 10' long by 5' high space (defined by the “panel” size of a standard “Tacony” metal fence) and be possible to be installed as a section of that fence.Each panel must be functional AS a garden fence for a public area. The design should not be easy to climb over nor involve dangerous projecting elements on which people could easily be hurt. Materials should be chosen for durability in a public, outdoor environment and should be safe for children, animals, and garden soil.Panels must be fully fabricated and ready for installation in the spring of 2019.Artists are encouraged to develop their own vision(s) within these requirements, and may submit as many different designs as they wish. Panels will be selected by a committee of neighbors with an eye to those which work best with each other and the plain panels that will alternate with them: more than one panel by an individual artist may be selected for installation.Timeline:September 12, 2017 — Neighborhood meeting about grant; public opportunity to ask questions about this RFPOctober 10, 2017 — Deadline for project proposalsJanuary 9, 2018 — Community charrette/discussion meeting and final selection of panelsJanuary 2019 — Deadline for completion of panel fabricationSpring 2019 — Installation of fence and artists' panelsMore info: check future emails or contact Janet Finegar at janetfinegar@gmail.com. —