Leaves, garbage and busted roofs at Father Marinaro Park cause one older gentleman's fist to shake.

Ralph Pincek swears his neighborhood park once looked much nicer, and its current state bothers him. He has lived by the park since 1979, he said. Then-Mayor Fred Vero dedicated the park to Marinaro just a year prior — in October 1978.

Pincek's house sits right where Lincoln Avenue ends and the park begins — he has watched nearly its whole history from his home.

He doesn't mince words in reviewing its current state.

“It's a city dump,” Pincek said.

But the city park's saga is not all bleak — even through Pincek's eyes. He touched on what many around it believe to be the antidote for the park's problems: community.

On a walk through the park, Pincek pointed out his complaints. Between problems, his words let slip all his love for the green space.

Walking by the leaves he thinks should be raked, he recalls one young man he once saw spending some time clearing leaves.

“He said, 'I just felt bad for the place, and I thought I'd clean it up,'” Pincek said.

An overflowing garbage can reminds him of the mother and son he sees walking around before school some mornings, picking up trash.

He loathes a small building by the skate park, which he says needs a new roof, but the skate park itself is vital in his eyes. “It's probably the most used park feature in Butler,” he said.

And the softball fields, which have busted dug-out roofs he detests, are in frequent use by a “terrific” softball organization, he said.

“They just let this place go,” Pincek said.

But to leave it at that would neglect all that is being done.

Father Marino's origins

The source of Pincek's frustrations originated in tragedy. A vacant building formerly used as a Franklin Glass plant burned substantially in 1972, news archives show.

Pat Collins, executive director of the Butler County Historical Society, said the fire cleared space in the area for the park's construction in the following years.

Father Marinaro Park was officially dedicated in 1978, according to archives.

It's named after the Rev. Vincent Marinaro, described in “An Historical Gazateer of Butler County, Pennsylvania” as “a beloved priest who founded St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church to minister to the French, Italian and Belgian immigrants who lived on the South Side.”

The park on Kaufman Drive became a town fixture for the South Side. Collins remembers playing softball there in leagues in those early days.

“We kept the bases at the fire station,” she said. “Whoever was the home team had to go pick them up. We played, probably, four nights a week.”

Don Clark of South Butler, a longtime softball player in the area, remembers when a second field near Father Marinaro was employed to host all the town's softball.

“That field used to have 35 to 40 teams playing every weekend,” Clark said.

How Butler runs its parks

The city of Butler owns and maintains several parks, including Father Marinaro. They're specifically maintained by a three-man crew in the parks, recreation and public property department.

Jeff Smith, the city council member overseeing that department, said he believes they do an admirable job given the city's resources. But problems arise when those resources fall short.

“I don't disagree that the parks aren't what they used to be,” Smith said.

Smith said he doesn't agree with the governing philosophy that pulls funds from one department to pay for another, but he understands it.

“For the past 10, 15, however many years, as Butler's economy has been deteriorating, it's always easier to take money from parks or quality-of-life issues than it has been to take it from fire and police protection and streets,” Smith said.

Parks get a slim slice of the city's budget. Because parks are lumped in with property maintenance overall, the allotment of cash funding park improvements is the same one keeping the lights on at city hall.

Butler's recreation tax levy generated about $128,000 in 2018, according to Mindy Gall, city clerk. Employing three full-time workers who manage city property maintenance eats up all of that $128,000 and then some, Gall said. The three workers' base wages come to about $165,000, plus in 2018 they worked $25,000 in overtime. Then, there are benefit costs.

More of the department's expenses are actually paid through the general fund, Gall explained. In 2018, the department's expenditures totaled about $356,000.

Utilities at city properties, excluding street lights, cost about $67,000, she said.

Rod Huey, the foreman leading the trio of maintenance employees, said they work constantly to keep city property in good shape.

In his 21 years with the city, he has seen the team diminish through attrition from five workers to three.

“We do it the best that we can,” Huey said. “In the summertime, it usually takes us a good full week to get everything mowed. Then, it's ready for us to start again at the end of that week.”

Besides Father Marinaro, they work at Memorial Park on Memorial Drive, Ritts Park on McKean Street, Rotary Park on West Cunningham and South Chestnut streets, the farmer's market, two playground areas, parking lots and tier parking garages, and take care of any maintenance needs and requests at city-owned buildings. And there's several smaller areas to maintain, such as Doughboy Park, a little median between West New Castle and West Cunningham streets where a World War I memorial sits.

“The list goes on and on,” Huey said. “There's so many small areas to include.”

An area recreation plan produced in 2010 lists the major parks' acreage as follows: Memorial Park, 85 acres; Rotary Park, 2 acres; Father Marinaro Park, 7 acres; and Ritts Park, 7 acres.

Other entities maintain notable parks around Butler, such as the county-owned Diamond Park and Alameda Park.

Smith stands by his maintenance guys.

“I absolutely will never stop defending the efforts our parks people are putting forth in making the parks as nice as they can possibly be,” Smith said. “But there are only three of them, and there is a lot of ground to cover.”

Major obstacles

Smith describes money as a major obstacle for Butler parks thriving.

Rick Schuettler, executive director for the Pennsylvania Municipal League, said Butler's park budget constraints are common among similar Pennsylvania towns.

“I'm seeing pressure on all facets and services of municipal government,” Schuettler said. “Property taxes and earned income tax just aren't going to cut it in a lot of environments. Parks are commonly an early cut.”

He blames unfunded mandates for many of the constraints: for example, public safety requirements and stormwater regulations. These are important community needs, but also expensive city budget items.

Huey, the maintenance foreman, sees another problem: frequent vandalism.

“We do the best we can over at the parks,” Huey said. “It just gets destroyed, and it's a shame.”

At a shelter in Father Marinaro, for instance, they recently found a tire screwed to a wall for seemingly no reason.

“I have to try and construct things in ways where I know they won't be destroyed,” Huey said. “But vandalism is hard to get rid of.”

The good news, however, for Butler's parks, according to Huey, Smith and Schuettler, is the community itself.

“There are a lot of people doing their part to make it a little nicer,” Smith said.

Working together

Huey said the community groups that use Butler's parks are indispensable for their maintenance.

At Father Marinaro, he said, the softball league does a tremendous amount to maintain the softball field. The league's president, Norm Felmlee, has big plans.

“Our first project is to repair the current field,” Felmlee said. “Second project is to build a playground. Third is to build a softball field out behind the skate park.”

They began the first project in earnest Thursday, when two triaxle trucks full of a clay-sand mix arrived to resurface the existing field.

“We're trying to make it a better area,” Felmlee said. “I would like to redo the dugouts too, to make them more open.”

Schuettler said community groups like Felmlee's are the key many towns like Butler are turning to in order to overcome pressures outside their control.

“You see people volunteering to try and maintain parks,” Schuettler said. “And there are sponsorships, using both private and nonprofit money.”

Sponsorships for the fields are being considered, Felmlee said.

Then, there's the little bits of help, like the ones Pincek sees. An organized effort will be held April 27 in the form of a church group cleanup.

This will be Community Life Church's second year doing a cleanup at Father Marinaro, according to Ben Ogle, student ministries pastor.

“Last year, we went out and left with 30, 40 bags of leaves,” Ogle said.

Their group is youth-focused, but adults also participate. Ogle said they want to clean up several parts of town. His hope echoes the work that Schuettler said works in other communities.

“We just really want to do something to help out the community,” Ogle said.

Butler's Children's Summer Food Service and Activity Program is set to launch again this year with pool playtime now included.From noon to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, Father Marinaro Park, Institute Hill Playground and Rotary Park will feature free meals and activities for any children, ages 18 and below, who show up.New this year is a weekly trip from the three locations to the pool at Alameda Park. The exact dates for the pool days are not yet set, as transportation arrangements are still being made for participants.The food and activity program runs from June 17 through Aug. 16.