Official Text of Speeches
at Rededication
Welcome everyone and thank you for coming
today.
I’m Cliff Kolovson and with me here
is Ted Fiust. We organized the effort to reopen the playground. Also here
with me are various members of the committee…. Sherri Way, my wife
Ilene.
And also with us is MEL Litter, Chairperson
of the Parks and Recreation Commission.
I see many who have been here several
times over the last year helping revitalize this playground…. Thanks
to you we’re here today.
And I’m sure there are plenty of
you who are totally new to town and to Hannah Williams Park and Playground…
Welcome -- you are a large part of why we’re here today.
Our purpose today is to officially welcome
the playground back into full service.
It’s been made safe.
It’s been improved.
It’s been redecorated.
It even has its own toilet inside the fence!
And it’s been busy! Every day, good weather and bad…. Busy.
It’s often said “people vote
with their feet.” Watching the huge numbers of people come here over
these last several months since we reopened the Hannah Williams Playground
not only confirms that axiom, it confirms the dramatic value in this structure
and property that we assumed when we began our effort to restore and reopen
the playground.
A year ago, there were a handful of people
who did NOT readily see this value.
The town was within moments -- AND I
DO NOT EXAGGERATE -- literally we were within moments of this space becoming
an empty grass lot.
I must tell you, it was neither Ted nor
I who saved this playground from what appeared to be a rather swift and
certain end. I’m standing here next to the person who twice (and
maybe three times) single-handedly stopped the bulldozers. MEL Litter,
currently the chairperson of the Parks and Recreation Commission put herself
in the pivot. First, last September she held open the public hearing on
the future of the playground for 15 minutes so I could get there and make
my statement. Less than a week later, she blocked a vote that was certain
to have bulldozers on this site the next day. This paved the way for a
special meeting we requested of the commission to hear our proposal to
raise the money and repair the playground.
It turned out, as we fully believed,
plenty of people innately saw the value, and immediately provided support…
financial, labor, food, encouragement, and supplies.
That’s how ALL OF US saved a rare,
unique, beautiful, challenging and fun playground. We all can be very
proud.
But we did even more,, of which we should
be most proud. We built community pride and spirit. We brought people
and resources together to do something great for the community.
It fulfilled for me an important personal
goal that I set for myself when I started my own business 11 years ago
– to make time to perform community service. And I know it fulfilled
a goal for Ted who made a promise to honor someone with an effort that
would continue that person’s work to “build community.”
This project to reopen this playground
indeed contains great lessons -- for young and old -- about community
service, community spirit, volunteerism, activism, and hard work …
it’s quite the civic lesson.
Our democratic form of government is
quite a wonderful thing. Mostly it works quite well. But government cannot
do everything. And government often lacks imagination and passion, especially
for the things that increase the quality of life. While our taxes keep
going up, it doesn’t mean all public things will be well taken care
of. Unfortunately, as we’ve learned, budget realities tend to force
cuts in some of the very things that make life so rich and enjoyable --
arts, sports, and recreation.
This is not to criticize,,, but to educate.
You have to watch your government, and if it’s not doing something
right, you have to get involved…. And either challenge the system
or help it.
The result of our effort, was of course,
a cooperative effort with the town’s Parks & Recreation Commission
to repair the playground in accordance with a thorough safety study of
the structure and new Federal and State guidelines. All work was approved
by the town’s Director of Parks & Recreation Bill Kilcoyne (are
you here Bill?). And now, we’re engaged with the town for ongoing
maintenance of the property. Our “Friends of Hannah Williams Playground”
will continue to make improvements and repairs and see to the periodic
wood sealant. The town will maintain the base of wood fiber chips for
safety, they’ll be trimming trees, cutting grass, removing trash,
maintaining the fence and various other tasks. So it’s a good joint
effort.
We fully expect this playground structure
to last at least 5-7 years…. And maybe even 10 years. This means,
we need “new blood” on the committee to help us keep this going.
So, please don’t be shy…. Step up and volunteer…. See me
afterward or anytime.
We’ll be maintaining the Web site
also, so it will be easy to follow the progress.
… ALL RIGHT -- ENOUGH SPEECHMAKING…
It IS quite an emotional moment for some
of us to realize how many people we have rallied and now have to thank.
It is an awesome responsibility to have
to thank people…. It’s not that it’s hard, it’s the
fear that you might leave someone out. So let me apologize right now for
anyone we may forget to mention.
So let us get right to it.
First, I must first thank my wife Ilene.
She has done so much….for so long… She was out here the other
night in the dark with a flashlight writing a sign, and she’s time
and again sprung me free to work down here. Thank you my dearest.
Thank you too to all the spouses …
for lending us your mate or making us food, all those many times.
We want to read a series of names….
But more important are the stories we could tell about many of these people
-- and if we launch into a story, we promise we’ll be brief.
And mind you, all these names are one
the new acknowledgement board at the front of the playground that will
be unveiled right after we finish.
Now, let me introduce MEL Litter to highlight
for us a very important group of people:
MEL
These are Special Friends whose financial contributions made this possible:
Anne & Bill Haney
Arthur Ashley Williams Foundation
Wayland Children and Parents Association *
The Downs Family
Mary & Bob Lentz
Michael & Jean Seiden
Middlesex Savings Bank
Auburndale Cooperative Bank
The LaCava Family
The O’Conor Family
The Mordas Family
Main Street Property, Inc.
Natick Federal Savings Bank
… and 3 generous donors who asked not to be named
Cliff & Ted: Those who gave Extraordinary
Time and/or Contributions
CLIFF:
Minnette Harrington
The Krowne Family
Jim Burke
Greg Burke
The Boegeholds
TED
The Grenier Family
Charlie Way
The D’Orlando Family
Glenn Snyder
Philip Bird
Robert Litter
Bill Scannell
Jerry Tempesta
Bob Smith
Tom McGonegal
Gary LaPierre
Todd Henry & Anna Marcus
Tom Monahan Landscaping
John Maccini Construction
Dan Bache Construction Co.
Jim MacDonald Construction
CLIFF
Cochituate Motors, Inc.
Dudley Pond Association
Russell’s Garden Center
Wayland Business Association*
New England Sand & Gravel
Wayland Middle School
Happy Hollow Penny Collectors
Robbs of Wayland Portraits
FOOD DONORS
Main St. Coffee
Liberty Pizza
Einstein Bros. Bagels
Starbucks Coffee
Dunkin’ Donuts
Mel’s Cafe
The Villa Restaurant
Lavin’s Liquors
Donelan’s Supermarket
Domino’s Pizza
Natalie’s Italian Kitchen
… and dozens of private contributions… And thank you to the
more than 250 people -- young and old -- who worked during our 5 different
work weekends last fall and this spring…. Countless hours of volunteer
labor made it all work.
MEL --
Restoration Committee
Cliff Kolovson
Ted Fiust
Ilene Knopping
Sherri Way
Jim Boggs
Tom Klein
Elaine Synder
Pam Washek
Brooke Richter
FINAL WRAP UP
We were blessed in many ways, many times with funds, with workers, with
weather…. And again today with weather! Thank You (look up)…..
Thank you everyone for coming today to
celebrate this moment with us. Please enjoy yourselves…. The balloons
are free as are the sodas and face painting and snacks.. Of course you’ll
see collection cans about because we are still raising money for ongoing
maintenance of the playground. Donations are appreciated.
We are selling T-Shirts and Whiz rings
at the entrance to the playground.
Get out there and have fun!
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