The demolition of Friendship Park began Monday morning as the City of Columbia begins the complete renovation of the playground.
In February, the city and Columbia Strong announced its plans to renovate the park after receiving a $300,000 grant from the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation. The city has already earmarked $250,000 from its 3% tourism tax.
Columbia Mayor Justin McKenzie said the goal is to have the new park completed sometime in September. The city is bidding out the flooring part of the park, while Columbia Strong is going to do to the playground equipment purchasing and installation. McKenzie said Columbia Strong needs to pay half of the total amount up front to purchase the equipment and still needs to raise more funds to reach it.
McKenzie said the city has received the first portion of the grant, a $130,000 check from the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation, which has allowed it to get the ball rolling, but the focus now is on the match portion of the grant. The grant includes an additional $170,000, but it is a dollar-for-dollar challenge grant that requires community fundraising.
“They won’t allow taxpayer money to be used for the match amount. It has to be public investment,” McKenzie said. “That’s just trying to encourage the public to buy in to the park.”
Donations can be made to Columbia Strong, a 501(c)(3) charity that is tax deductible. People and businesses who donate will have their names listed on a panel at the new park. Donations can be made to City Hall via check or cash, with checks made out to Columbia Strong. Donations can also be made to Columbia Strong via PayPal, and there is a QR code on the city’s Facebook page that will take you directly to the PayPal page. With the donations going to a 501(c)(3) charity that is deductible, 100% of donations will go directly to the park.
The pickets of the fence that had engravings made by people in the community were saved and are available as keepsakes for pickup at City Hall. The tiles from the entrance of the park with handprints and footprints are also available for pickup. McKenzie said about 90% of the remaining tiles were able to be removed safely and intact.
“If (people) would like to come by and see if theirs is there, they are welcome to come to City Hall and take a look,” he said.
An incident over the weekend where a child tried sliding down an enclosed slide that was out of order, leading to a fall, sparked rampant debate online about the park’s safety. There was police tape around where the bottom of the slide would have been, and McKenzie said there was police tape placed at the entrance of the slide Friday that was no longer there when he personally inspected it on Sunday. The mayor added the city was already planning to close the park Monday and begin demolition after receiving the site fencing on Friday.
There are six sponsorship levels for donations: Launch ($250), Climber ($500), Cruiser ($1,000), Generation ($2,500), Ascend ($5,000), Orbit ($10,000) and Level X ($20,000). Friendship Park Advisory Committee Member Aaron McKenzie said businesses who donate $2,500 or more will have their business’ logo on panels that will be around each picnic table sitting area. With each increase of $2,500 beyond that, the logo will be bigger.
