Homewood Nation

Since I told you about the gunshots, I should tell you about the noise outside today. Music and some guy on a PA system that seems to carry for miles.

That's not a complaint, though. This time the noise signifies good news: the children of Homewood are getting a new playground today. Right now. On this used-to-be vacant lot runnning between Kelly Street and Zenith Way: 

This is the first of 10 new playgrounds being built in Pittsburgh under an initiative funded by the Heinz Endowments. A Washington, D.C.-based non-profit, KaBOOM!, is collaborating with community partners in different neighborhoods to bring the playgrounds into being. Their lead partner for this one is Homewood Children's Village.

KaBoom, who built their 2,000th playground with some help from First Lady Michelle Obama nearly two years ago, has got this playground-building thing down to a science. There's months and months of partnering and planning, then about two months before Build Day, their team comes in for Design Day, when they ask children to design their dream playground.

They did that here, in February, at Faison K-5. And today, in one day, the kids are getting their playground:

I was only there a brief time, but in that time I saw: Paul Gould, of MAYA Design; Lawanda Long, of the Homewood-Brushton YMCA; Steve Hellner-Burris, of Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh; Commander RaShall Brackney, of the Pittsburgh Police Bureau; Rev. Dr. John Wallace, of the University of PIttsburgh and Bible Center Church; Lisa Perry, of the Homewood Children's Village; and Derrick Lopez, of the Homewood Children's Village:

Seriously - what is with the monkeys?

I saw all of those folks within a few minutes, and that is a hint at something that my photos don't convey: as was the case when Rosedale Block Cluster parntered with KaBoom! three years ago to build a playground on Susquehanna Street, there were hundreds of people in Homewood today to build a playground for our children.

How many were there? Too many to offically count: 

NOTE: KDKA was not the only station there, so check the local news this evening. And if you like what you see, TELL THEM SO.