News & Events

Friends of Julian Abele Park- Mtg Tuesday April 4 2017 7 PM

Friends of Julian Abele Park- next meeting Tuesday April 4th, 7 PM @ SOSNA Office 1901 Christian Street. We’ll be planning for “Love Your Park” Saturday May 13th and Summer event programming. Come join us!

Spring 2017 Renewal- Replanting Julian Abele Park

This past Saturday, March 25 2017, we gathered together and replanted/renewed our greenspace at Julian Abele Park. Thanks to generous donations from Michael Goldstein and Richard Cousins, we replanted the shrubs in the east beds and added two trees. The guidance and coordination provided by Jake Kuklick and his crew from Mosaic Landscape Restoration was instrumental in our success

We look forward to seeing the trees and shrubs fill in- so please help us by not walking in the beds or using them inappropriately. While we’re posting photos, we like to point out some things that don’t belong in Julian Abele Park…..

Did you know…Julian Abele Park offers free wifi?

One of the upgrades we initiated earlier this year is a free wifi program through yourkarma.com. The service connects through a publicly-accessible hotspot. When you sign up, the Julian Abele Park device earns data. Here’s the basics (from their website/blog):

Karma 101: Share to earn

Like letting your neighbor borrow a cup of sugar, sharing your WiFi connection is a really nice thing to do. And while it’s great to be nice for the sake of being nice, we think you should be rewarded for it. That’s why we offer Social Bandwidth.

The process is simple. Karma Go broadcasts an open WiFi network, meaning anyone is free to hop on. Any time another person uses your WiFi connection, you get 100MB of data for free. The person connecting to your signal will also get 100MB for free to get started. And each new person joining your network creates an individual account and picks up their own tab, so they don’t have access to your data or to your browsing information.

 If you’re on the hunt for free data, you can change your SSID, which is the name of your WiFi network, to make it more attractive for others to connect (“Free WiFi by Karma” tends to work well, according to our very scientific experiments). Spending a couple of hours in the airport on a layover? Turn on your device. We’ve seen some Karma users rack up a full GB of free data in this situation.

And of course, there’s no limit to how much free data you can earn.

With Karma, data is tied to you as a person, rather than tied to your device.

Aside from making you very popular in public spaces, sharing your WiFi helps promote the idea that the internet is for everyone, and should be everywhere. We want to make WiFi ubiquitous. With Karma, data is tied to you as a person, rather than tied to your device, so the Go itself becomes a launch point for you to get on the internet instead of an anchor that weighs you down. If you forget your Karma at home and want to hop on your friend’s, you can.


Originally published at blog.yourkarma.com.

Re-planting Julian Abele Park: Saturday March 25

Thanks to generous contributions of several of our members, the Friends of Julian Abele Park invite you to a “Re-Planting Julian Abele Park” event, Saturday March 25, 2017.

We will be restoring the East Bed towards Montrose Street to its original design and shrubs (currently it has no plantings)….AND we will be adding two new trees along the eastern perimeter. All of this will require some heavy digging and mulching. If you can give us some time between 9 AM and 1 PM that day, we would be very grateful.

Here’s some stats on our new trees:

GREEN VASE ZELKOVA

Superb landscape versatility, along with pH adaptability, and wind and drought tolerance are traits Green Vase Zelkova enjoys to make it a solid performer across a broad tract of the United States. This vigorous, vase-shaped, graceful tree with upright arching branches reaches 60 to 70 feet in height and 40 to 50 feet in width. Ovate to oblong-ovate dark green foliage turns bronze-red in the fall.

Height:

60-70 Feet

Spread:

40-50 Feet

Hardiness Zone:

USDA Z5 – Cold Hardy to -10 to -20(F)

Sun Exposure:

Sun

 

Characteristics & Attributes for Zelkova serrata ‘Green Vase’

Key Features

  • Drought Tolerant
  • Wind Tolerant

Growth Rate

  • Moderate

Habit

  • Upright
  • Arching

 

Foliage Color

  • Dark Green
  • Red
  • Bronze

Season of Interest

  • Summer
  • Fall

 

Julian Abele & his Buildings

Julian Abele and his Legacy….
 
Here’s a neat link to the Curbed Philadelphia article on Julian Abele, along with a map and description of major buildings designed by Mr. Abele:
 
http://philly.curbed.com/maps/julian-abele-architecture-history-philadelphia

Friends of Julian Abele Park Mtg Tuesday 3/7/2017 @ SOSNA Office

Come join us on Tuesday March 7th at 7PM at the SOSNA Office to celebrate the [early] arrival of Spring…..we’ll have lots to talk about, from fundraising (for specific capital items) to Summer 2017 programming, and planting…..

Here are dates to keep in mind for our “Music & Mist” series:

Friday June 9 & Friday June 23rd

Friday July 14th & Friday July 28th

Friday August 11th & Friday August 25th

Friday September 8th

We’re changing the evening to Friday, performances from 6:30-8:00 PM….performers to be announced…..

Also (tipping our hand a little) we will need help at the end of March for a *major* replanting of Julian Abele Park- we will be restoring the East Bed and adding two trees along the East side of the park……

Much more up for discussion, so come on over!

Friends of Julian Abele Park Mtg- Tues February 7 2017 @ SOSNA Ofc 1901 Christian Street

2017 and the Friends of Julian Abele Park come out of winter hibernation. Folks, we are having the opening meeting of the year this Tuesday February 7 at 7 PM at the SOSNA Office (1901 Christian Street).

We’d love to have you join us as we plan for the Summer season events as well as maintenance updates. We’ll be sharing a few things that are new at the park as well as the Parks and Recreation calendar for 2017.

Hope to see you there!

“Love Your Park”- Saturday November 12, 10 AM- Noon

Thank you for volunteering and helping us to love all your neighborhood park, part of Philadelphia’s Parks and Recreation.

Join the Friends of Julian Abele Park on Saturday, November 12th for Love Your Park Fall Service Day! The workday begins at 10:00am and will include general trash & litter clean-up, leaf raking & collection, weeding & gardening, bulb & tree planting. We put the park “to sleep” now and wake it up in the Spring (sample flowers pictured).

Some work gloves will be provided, however if you have your own feel free to bring those. If you have trowels, bring them.

Please be sure to dress in layers, bring a bottle of water, and wear closed-toed sturdy shoes.

We hope to have some treats & coffee, too.

Thank you for supporting your neighborhood and community.IMG_6008

November 2016 Meeting- Friends of Julian Abele Park

Our next scheduled meeting is Tuesday November 1st, 7 PM at the SOSNA Office 1901 Christian Street. We’ll be discussing plantings, programming and “Love Your Park”….

“Love Your Park” will be from 10 AM to Noon on Saturday November 12th- come and join your friends and neighbors as we ready Julian Abele Park for the winter months. We’ll be planting crocus and/or tulips for Spring 2017……

 

October 4th- Friends of Julian Abele Park- mtg @ SOSNA Office

Friends of Julian Abele Park Meeting- Tuesday October 4th, 7 PM @ SOSNA Office 1901 Christian Street
 
As the weather is turning cooler and it gets dark earlier, we’re resuming meeting at the SOSNA Office.
 
We’ll be looking at the music series and our schedule for plantings, as well as Fall events.
 
Please keep SWCC Run on October 29th in mind- Volunteer! Run!
 
Our “Love Your Park” Fall cleanup (and bulb planting) will be Saturday November 12th, from 10 AM to Noon….hope to see you soon.