Local Businesses Rally Around Project Play Initiative

Last May, when Zabrina Stoffel and her friend Regina Gannon launched Project Play, the two Hoboken moms knew well they were embarking on an ambitious endeavor. Almost twelve months later, the citizen activists are getting on-the-job training in navigating the unpredictable socio-political Hoboken landscape.

Stoffel says Project Play, an initiative to upgrade playgrounds in Hoboken's Church Square Park, has recalibrated its expectations by scaling back the scope of its proposals and lowering its fundraising goals. Moreover, the group has dealt with murmurs of public opposition and is now working with the city's third Environmental Services Director, Jennifer Wenson Maier, in less than a year. But Project Play has won copious support from local businesses, something that may outweigh any adversity it faces.

Colonel John Stevens dedicated the block of land that is Church Square Park to the people of Hoboken as a place for outdoor recreation in 1804. In the two centuries since, Church Square Park has thrived as a place of the people and for the people. If Project Play is successful, Church Square Park stands to become a park by the people, too.

At issue are two playground areas: The swing set and the two through five-year-old playground near the park's southeast corner. Stoffell, 36, says both areas, which are estimated to be 20 years old, have fallen into disrepair and expose children to dangerous conditions, including decaying wood (that puts kids at unnecessary risk of getting splinters), inadequate fencing and rusty metal.

Stoffel's and Gannon's vision is to raise funds to pay for the upgrades without having to further strain the city's finances. Project Play originally aimed to renovate the five through 12-year-old playground, too, but is now focusing on the two above-mentioned areas.

"Focusing on these areas will enable Project Play, our volunteers and sponsors, and the city to see results much sooner then if we try to rebuild the all three target areas at once," Stoffel says.

At the heart of Stoffel's initiative is the intention of making Hoboken a less transient place, but more of a destination for family-minded people, she says.

Early in its first year, Project Play gained the backing of the Hoboken Family Alliance (HFA). Since then, it has raised $25,000 and much of that success has been achieved with the help of local businesses. One individual in the Project Play corner is real estate agent Patrick Southern of Liberty Realty who says he was taken with Stoffel's extraordinary energy and felt compelled to pitch in.

"She's committed to Hoboken tremendously and to making the community a better place," Southern, a ten-year veteran of the Hoboken real estate scene, says. "I want to see the neighborhood flourish as best as it can."

When Southern heard about Project Play, he pledged $1,500 to the cause and persuaded his employer to match that pledge, which it did. Southern, 31, credits the efforts of Stoffel with helping promote a trend in which he says young families are staying in Hoboken longer than they did in the past, a trend he'd like to see continue.

Project Play has also received sponsorship from Club H Fitness, which hosted a "Spin-A-thon" last month that raised $5,500 and operated on donations from A&P, Fleet Feet and Hartshorn Portraiture. Most recently, Mile Square Theatre founder Chris O'Connor pledged to donate fifty percent of ticket sales proceeds from the opening night of Rounding Third, a play about baseball that opened last Thursday night and runs through April 25 at the Monroe Arts Center, to Project Play. O'Connor lives with his wife and two young children near Church Square Park and he considers it a central part of their lives.

"I admire that a group of citizens is raising money to help restore the equipment there," O'Connor says. "With so much strain on the city budget, it seems like a constructive way for private individuals to work with city government to improve our city."

All of this, and other fundraising events in the works—including a 5K fun run sponsored by Dunkin' Donuts in late October—will move Project Play toward its goal of raising $150,000, the dollar figure needed to begin work on renovating the two play areas. Stoffel says the businesses' generosity illustrates that they are "part of the fabric of this great community."

Of course, Hoboken wouldn't be Hoboken without dissenting voices and Project Play has its share of detractors who are also part of the fabric of the community.

In January, Hoboken resident Mary Ondreka leveled withering criticism during a City Council meeting, taking issue with what she perceived to be radical changes to the park proposed by Project Play. She went on to accuse the city council of pandering to a certain interest group in Hoboken.

Dan Tumpson, a 32-year Hoboken resident and noted community activist, shares Ondreka's concerns over what he says they, and others, see as private citizens working behind the scenes with city officials.

"The idea that the Project Play advocates would proceed to arrange for permission and funding … when there has been no public hearings to determine what the public wants is very disturbing to those of us who care about preserving green space in Hoboken," Tumpson wrote in an e-mail. 

Though Stoffel admits to having naively expected Project Play's proposals to be met with open arms from the entire community, Tumpson's and Ondreka's opposition are a source of real frustration for her because she says the group has no plans to alter green space in the park. "We do not propose to remove any trees or shrubs," she says. "The footprint of the areas proposed for replacement will remain the same. We are only proposing new equipment, fencing, lighting, and surfacing in the same exact place it is now."

As of now, it's unclear whether public hearings will be held anytime soon. Stoffel says she's met with Director Maier and discussed a host of issues, including the criticism of Project Play. Maier refused to comment for this story.

Tumpson, who has run for mayor and other Hoboken government posts in years past, is skeptical and cites the removal of trees and grassy areas in 2007 without public input as a reason why. He contends that if all of the details of Project Play's proposals were revealed at a legally required public hearing, residents could ask questions, voice concerns and something resembling a consensus could be reached.

Stoffel is resolute that Project Play will meet its fundraising goals and that the city will aid the group's efforts. "Director Maier has a track record of success in playground replacement," says Stoffel, "and we are excited to work with her and the city."