Page 4 • Wednesday , November 29 , 2023 • The Hammonton Gazette
Heart & Soul hosts presentation for Parks and Rec
HEART & SOUL , from Page 1
Iacovelli presented a list of statements about what residents love about the town of Hammonton . Some statements include the love of strong family ties and traditions while striving to be more diverse as the town grows . Another statement is about the love of community and all the events that happen within Hammonton . These statements in their entirety can be found on the Town of Hammonton website .
In 2021 and 2022 , the organization gathered information from all types of people within the community . It is important to Heart & Soul to be inclusive of everybody in the town . They interviewed people both young and old , people of different ethnicities and different orientations to get the opinion of everyone .
Carr , a self-proclaimed “ survey junkie ,” provided information on the statistics that the group has obtained through research . These stats that were presented to the Commission were specifically for Parks and Recreation .
The improvements that yielded the highest percentage of “ strongly agree ” votes were improving and expanding the parks , creating more recreation for children and improving and preserving the overall green spaces within Hammonton .
Some other improvements that are wanted are improvements to the playgrounds in town , increasing affordability and accessibility to sports teams for the youth and creating a skate park .
Both Councilmen Steven Furgione and Sam Rodio spoke about how the basketball courts on 11th Street were used as a temporary skate park . This was every Friday for six weeks and from their understanding , it had
Small Biz Saturday
been going well . It hasn ’ t been done as of recently . There is a plan for a skate park in the future , but as of now it is not the priority , according to Rodio .
Many people in the town are excited for what Heart & Soul is doing with this . Iacovelli said people are willing to help as much as they can .
“ I showed this to the Canoe Club , and these older people looked at me and said ‘ when you ’ re ready to collect money ? I want to give . I want to know that my town is going to be there for my grandchildren ,’” Iacovelli said .
Heart & Soul is still working to make sure they have all the information that they need before they finish their plan for action . Iacovelli said that they will be attending the January town council meeting to seek the council ’ s endorsement .
After the presentation , the Commission talked about communication and how to spread the word about what they have been doing , since many of the suggestions that residents of the town had , are already in the process of being completed .
“ I will say that being a part of Heart & Soul ’ s process this entire time , it surprises me how little the community does know about what is going on in the town ,” Parks and Recreation Commission Leader Denise Mazzeo said . “ When it came down to hearing the stories and having people say what their hopes were and what they wanted for the future in the town , there ’ s many items on that list I could mark off saying that it ’ s already done . I just don ’ t understand how we can reach people .”
Later in the meeting , Furgione gave an update on the Moss Mill Park turf field . He reported that multiple people from the company that made the field , including the owner , came to check it out . After they inspected it , they confirmed the lines were crooked and wrong . The owner assured that the field will be replaced .
“ We ’ re waiting on a date when they ’ re going to have a new field complete ,” Furgione said .
The replacement field is going to be installed completely free of charge . The replacement is expected to take at least a few months to be ready . The field is still playable and has met the requirements to host competitions in the meantime .
The next Parks and Recreation Commission meeting will be held on Dec . 19 at 7 p . m at town hall .
This article was produced in collaboration with New Jersey Civic Information Consortium and Rowan University .
Kristin Guglietti / THG
( L-R ): Christina ( left ) and April Carnesale ( right ) of Exit 28 Boutique ; Victoria Champion ( right ) poses with her granddaughter , Jasmine Nefferdorf ( left ), who made a wreath for The Shoppes on Bellevue ; Arlynn Murnane of Inspire Me Boutique .