By Ally Lanasa, Staff Writer

(Feb. 4, 2021) Berlin resident Tony Weeg is establishing the nonprofit organization, We Love Berlin Inc., for town projects such as the proposed skate park at Heron Park on Old Ocean City Boulevard and ping pong tables at John Howard Burbage Park on Williams Street.

Tony Weeg

Weeg has donated the first $1,000 toward the nonprofit and said Councilman Troy Purnell has promised him another $1,000.

Private donations and grants will also drive the proposed projects.

“Essentially, we need two concrete pads, we need two ping pong tables … and a chain-link fence across the front on Williams Street, so that people don’t get hurt running out to trace balls,” Weeg said about the ping pong park.

PROPOSAL COURTESY TONY WEEG
Berlin resident Tony Weeg has proposed a ping pong park to town staff in an effort to improve John Howard Burbage Park in front of the power plant on Williams Street.

The estimated cost for the preparation and concrete pad, plus the galvanized steel tables is $12,224. Weeg has yet to receive an estimate for the fencing.

He has also been in contact with the Assateague Coastal Trust to discuss a permeable concrete pad and landscaping using native plants that will absorb water that runs off the pad.

“It’s really an under-$20,000 embellishment to a park that a lot of people can use, and a lot of people already play ping pong in their garages in town,” he said about the park in front of the power plant.

Weeg said he was inspired by the movie “The Tables” about the connections a pair of ping pong tables brought to Bryant Park in New York City.

“In Bryant Park, those two ping pong tables transformed an area that was riddled with drug addicts and bums and homeless people and turned it into a vibrant space that now a community [has] developed around these tables,” he said.

He added that he hopes to encourage the same sense of community at John Howard Burbage Park in Berlin.

“It’s a unique way to get people to meet each other where they’re not sitting on their phone,” Weeg said. “They need to walk to the park or bike to the park. They’ve got to bring a paddle … it’s a good way to get some energy out, play for a half-hour and then talk and just have fun.”

Weeg presented the mockup to Purnell, who advised him to add fencing and rearrange the direction of the ping pong tables.

Troy Purnell

Purnell said on Monday that he thinks it is a great idea, whether the tables go at John Howard Burbage Park or another space in town.

Mayor Zackery Tyndall said on Tuesday that he supports the improvement of parks and open spaces in town. Currently, John Howard Burbage Park only has a bench.

With the park being named after the former and longest-serving mayor of Berlin, Tyndall hopes to see more information provided to the public about Burbage at the park, through an interpretive sign

Zackery Tyndall

or garden plaque.

He added that he supports boards and commissions fulfilling their purpose, and Weeg’s proposal will have to go before the Parks Commission.

Weeg is expected to present his ping pong proposal to the Parks Commission at its March 2 meeting.