Standing in a muddy field next to a stables in Fairmount Park, city officials announced plans Monday to build a $1.4 million home for the Philadelphia Police Mounted Unit.
"This is huge," Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey said of the plans to build the facility on Chamounix Drive that will house the mounted unit, reestablished this spring after being disbanded in 2004.
The 13,000-square-foot steel structure will house about 40 horses. The site is next to the McCarthy Stables, also known as the Chamounix Equestrian Center, where children participate in the Work to Ride equestrian program.
"The Mounted Patrol is a very important part of our operation," Ramsey said. "We can patrol a lot of areas that we are not able to patrol by car."
Ramsey said the unit would also be useful for crowd control.
The project is being done in collaboration with the Philadelphia Police Foundation, which is working to raise the money through a program called Pony Up for the Mounted Unit.
Construction services will be supplied pro bono through a partnership with Philadelphia trade unions, including iron workers, cement masons, roofers, carpenters, engineers and others, officials said.
Janice Tangradi, a foundation board member, said the partnership represents a savings of $400,000.
The barn will have 42 stables, five feed stalls, four tack rooms, and three wash stalls with indoor plumbing.
The mounted unit has 12 horses, which are housed at Amber Acres in the 1100 block of Stanwood Street in the Bustleton section.
Harry Martin, regional director for Verizon Wireless, presented a $10,000 check to get the project started. Officials said the work will begin this month.
Nutter said the city has had a long history with the mounted unit. "It is a very positive component of public safety and a crime-fighting force," Nutter said.
"Police Commissioner Ramsey has been clear from before Day One that a big city like Philadelphia should have a mounted unit," Nutter said. "Now we need to raise the necessary dollars."
For information on how to donate, go to www.phillypolicefoundation.org.
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