Friends of Goodwin Park

The Friends of Goodwin Park is affiliated with HART but not a direct sub-group with a coordinator. FOGP was formed as a community group to watch over the park's maintenance and work on projects to improve the park.

Past projects include the installation of a flagpole at the park entrance and the installation of permanent benches around the park's walkway. FOGP has also organized community events at the park such as the Fall Foliage Festival, Easter Egg Hunt, and a park cleanup followed by a neighborhood picnic.

Current projects include the doming of the park pool, trying to get the anyone in any department at the city to do maintenance at the Pond House. (All the lighting outside the Pond House is out and we can't change the bulbs ourselves as they are special bulbs.) Also, the pond next to the Pond House has deteriorated into a disgusting, foul smelling, algae covered mess and our complaints fall on deaf ears. Pope Park has a beautifully maintained recreation center, Keeney Park has an equestrian center, Elizabeth Park has fabulous gardens and Bushnell Park is kept up as a showcase for the City. Our park, Goodwin, can't get a lousy light bulb. If we want a better park we have to get involved. Below the map is an e-mail complaining about a few things at Goodwin Park that was passed on to the appropriate people but never replied to by them. Our members also completed a survey of what we'd like to see done at the park but not one item on the list has been addressed. Click HERE to see the completed wish lists for all city parks. If you'd like to complain go to www.hartford.gov for the different departments and officials.

Our motto is Neighbors helping Neighbors for a better neighborhood. Anyone interested in getting involved with FOGP is invited to attend our monthly meeting held at 7 p.m. every third Monday of the month at the Pond House located near the Hubbard Road entrance to the park. (See map below) Since the park straddles the Wethersfield / Hartford line we would like to see people from both communities get involved.

Please Note special meeting time for August: The meeting will be on Tuesday August 26, at 6 P.M. at the Pond House (see below for directions) Anyone interested in the welfare of the park is invited to attend.

For more information call Jon Ney at 296-5742 or e-mail Jon at: jney@snet.net.

The top part of the below e-mail is Penny Leto's reply to my e-mail showing that she forwarded it on to Mr. Kehoe and Mr. Timm. Below that is the original e-mail I sent. I have not yet had a reply from Mr. Kehoe or Mr. Timm.

Maybe you guys know who?…it’s news to us…Could someone look into it for them please? Thanks.

From: JONATHAN NEY [mailto:jney@snet.net]
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2007 10:41 AM
To: Leto, Penelope
Subject: Pond House

Penny,

Last year someone from the city took a long table and some folding chairs from the Goodwin Park Pond House. I know we complained at a meeting we had with some city personnel but I don't recall who they were. We were promised that we would get a table and some chairs back but have not seen them and have already had one meeting where people have had to stand. The stuff that was taken was pretty crappy but we're not that fussy and will take what we can get. Currently we have one long table and about a dozen folding chairs. The HART Youth committee and the Southend neighborhood committee have been using the Pond House during the summer so we have an increased need for this. Also, the city or some organization planted a tree at the Hubbard Road entrance to the park which was nice but they buried all the mulch that the Friends purchased and spread around on that side (the right side as you face the park). Is there any way a city department can drop some mulch there so I can spread it around. I made three trips last year to bring bags of mulch from Home Depot but the back operation I had last Fall means I can't do it again. I'd be very grateful if you could send this info. on to the appropriate people for action.

Subject:	FW: Pond House
Date:	Thu, 26 Jul 2007 11:09:24 -0400
From:	"Leto, Penelope " <pleto@hartford.gov> View Contact Details Add Mobile Alert
To:	"Timm, John A." <TIMMJ001@hartford.gov>, "Kehoe, John R." <jkehoe@hartford.gov>
CC:	jney@snet.net