Thanks to a very generous neighbor, plans are finally underway to repair the $4,000 worth of damage done to the historic “hairpin” fence around Blommel Park.
As you know, the steel historic reproduction fence around Blommel Park is the responsibility of Historic South Park, Inc. We installed it years ago for safety and to add historic character to the neighborhood’s identity.
In the spring of 2019, dozens of volunteers helped us clean, paint and repair the fence – members of the Blommel family even joined us! We have also added yellow bollards at Bonner and Oak, and extra caution signage at Jay and Oak to warn reckless drivers not to use our park as a short-cut.
But there were two very serious car strikes in the last year, ruining about 30 feet of fence. Installers of the new gas line that goes under the park also did some damage. And we’ve been struggling to find money as well as a trustworthy fence manufacturer to get it back into shape.
Amazingly, a neighbor stepped forward with enough money to cover the cost of repairs, and Merker Iron Works has finally given us an estimate – although Bill Merker and his team are in such high demand, we will still have to wait several months till South Park gets to the top of their project list.
Meanwhile, we have contacted Vectren/CenterPoint in hopes of collecting some monies for property damage, we’re asking the City of Dayton to reinstall a missing directional sign, and we will add landscape rocks as barriers to the fence (at Jay Street) to provide a layer of protection for the new fence.
We couldn’t be more grateful for the great kindness of our philanthropic neighbors! We are blessed indeed.
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