New Slide and Play Equipment at Duncan Park

We've heard from residents, loud and clear, that creating play opportunities at Duncan Park is a neighborhood priority. We want to make that happen, and we want to build it together. Lawrenceville United (LU) has been engaged in a multi-year effort to revitalize Duncan Park, a City of Pittsburgh park decommissioned in May of 2014, and transform it into a community orchard, garden, and play space. The next big step in this project is to install a 12 foot long embankment slide into the hillside at Duncan Park. The slide will be the centerpiece of the proposed new play equipment, and we need your help to make it a reality in 2018.

Over the many years of work at this site, a dedicated group of volunteers have planted over one dozen fruiting trees which will grow by the year. We have already made significant progress with the installation of a mural at Duncan Park in 2017, painted with neighborhood children, which activates the paved lot to create opportunities to play deck hockey and four square. 2017 also saw the installation of a sensory garden and wildflower meadow on site. We look forward to another year of progess at Duncan Park, and hope that you will join us.

The Upper Lawrenceville Community Visioning planning process identified Duncan Park as a site for a community greenspace. Over a series of community meetings the concept further developed to make Duncan Park a community orchard, featuring gardens and native fruiting trees, and to include natural play elements which work with the existing features on the site, and ensure that the park will continue to be a gathering place for families and children as well. All funds raised will go towards supporting play equipment at Duncan Park.

Lawrenceville United is an inclusive, resident-driven non-profit organization that works to improve and protect the quality of life for all Lawrenceville residents. Lawrenceville United envisions a safe, clean, green, healthy and diverse community where residents work together to shape the neighborhood’s future, while honoring Lawrenceville’s past.

Once we meet our fundraising goal, we will place the order for the embankment slide. From the time of purchase, the slide will take 8-10 weeks to fabricate off-site and deliver. In the meantime we will begin prepping the site for installation. Once the date is confirmed, we will put out the call for volunteers to help us with the final installation. We expect installation to take place in June-July of 2018.

Lawrenceville United's mission is to improve and protect quality of life for all Lawrenceville residents - a crucial part of that is supporting families and children to thrive in the neighborhood. The Upper Lawrenceville Community Visioning plan found that Upper Lawrenceville had relatively few green spaces, and that the ones that existed were underutilized. We hope to change that by restoring Duncan Park to a vibrant neighborhood gathering place.