ABOVE: Danville’s Mayor Rickey Williams, Jr joins city officials and residents to celebrate improvements to Elmwood Park, with subsequent stops that marked improvements in Cannon and Lincoln Parks.
After Thursday (Nov 6th) morning’s special ceremony at Elmwood Park, which kicked off a day of celebrating Danville Park improvements, Mayor Rickey Williams, Jr said improvements in Elmwood Park are part of improvements in the entire neighborhood. Williams said he was recently in Elmwood Park, talking to a young man who didn’t know he was the mayor. But what the young man did know was that, with the recent improvements, the Elmwood Park area is still on the city’s radar.
AUDIO: I think for a lot of time many places throughout the community felt like the city didn’t care about them. And so I think projects like this show the people that we really do. It’s not just the park; you know, we’ve done a lot of road work in this area. We’re getting rid of bad houses. As that young man said to us, the teenager who was playing basketball, “I thought they forgot about us.” I just want the people to know that we didn’t.
(1st Picture) Mayor Williams points out Elmwood Park improvements. (2nd Picture) New Elmwood Park Playground equipment. (3rd Picture) Mayor Williams (middle) listens while Alderwoman Sherry Pickering (right) reads a statement.
Prior to the ceremony, Danville Director of Public Works Dave Ruwe talked about the specifics of the Elmwood Park improvements.
AUDIO: This is one of those things that has been anticipated, and the neighborhood has been very excited for this improvement for quite some time. We had quite on outdated bank of toys and playground equipment. So, that all got replaced with new toys, new playground equipment. We have a new set of swing sets here. And then a big thing that we did was resurface the basketball courts; with new fences, new basketball hoops.
(1st Picture) The new Cannon Park Tennis Court. (2nd Picture) Lincoln Park was the final stop on the Thursday morning city officials’ tour of Danville parks. (3rd Picture) A look at the new Elmwood Park playground equipment; and, to the right in the back, the redone Elmwood Park basketball courts.
City officials also stopped by Cannon Park, where there’s the new tennis court; and Lincoln Park, where there’s the new resurfaced basketball courts. Mayor Williams stated that when the state dropped the grocery tax, the city’s decision to reinstate it themselves made a huge difference.
AUDIO: If the aldermen hadn’t supported the grocery tax, in keeping that in place, that would’ve been almost $1 million we lost. Well, a lot of the money that they’re using is from that grocery tax, to put it back in neighborhoods so people can enjoy their parks and enjoy their neighborhoods again. So it’s just a huge source of pride for us.
