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Copyright 2010 The Somerville News and Prospect Hill Publishing, Inc. The Somerville News is the only locally owned and operated community newspaper in Somerville.
By Max Sullivan
After months of struggling, outreach group Groundwork Somerville finally made progress in getting people living in Clarendon Hill involved in the North Street Park renovations, drawing around 50 people to Friday night’s meeting.
Residents of Clarendon Hill poured into the basement of the project’s 268 Rear Powderhouse Blvd. Friday night to discuss the plans for North Street Park’s new design, a park that lies directly adjacent to the project. People brought their families to enjoy a free meal before talking about the changes to the park, as well as identifying the best way to get people from Clarendon to come out to these meetings.
“How do we get that communication,” Arn Franzen, Director of Parks and Open Space, asked those present that night. “How do we get you to these meetings?”
The answer: word of mouth. Groundwork Somerville had placed flyers at every house within a close radius of the park, as well as many telephone poles nearby, but when asked what had really drawn them out that night, an overwhelming majority of people said that they heard about the meeting from a friend.
Virtually no residents from Clarendon Hill attended the previous three meetings, the first one being in May of this year. While Clarendon Hill contains one of the most concentrated communities of blacks and Hispanics in Somerville, barely any minorities were present to give their thoughts. The apparent of lack of enthusiasm by the community for a park sitting so close by was frustrating to Groundwork Somerville workers.
“Having a meeting with (only) nine white people, and half of them work at the city,” said Chris Mancini, Executive Director at Groundwork Somerville, “That is what we would consider not a successful meeting.”
“This is (one of the) most dense community of color here in Somerville, right?” said Ronald Leaks, Groundwork Someville’s Community Organizer. “You have a public meeting, you see not one black head in there… don’t you look at it like, ‘Oh hey, nobody came’?”
With a strong representative body for Clarendon Hill finally present on Friday night, though, Groundwork Somerville learned that those living in the project do, in fact, have something to say. People voiced their concerns and interests for the park. Ideas ranged from full court basketball to water sprinklers. The people of Clarendon Hill were enthusiastic, and Groundwork Somerville saw the meeting as a success.
“I see the people empowered,” said Leaks. “And that was the goal in the first place.”
With an idea of how to reach this community, Groundwork Somerville hopes to effectively convince it that their voice is necessary for city officials to move forward.
“The city wants feedback,” said Mancini. “They don’t want to make a park that people hate. Their goal is to make a great park that as many people as possible are going to use and love, so it’s not a success to them (if the community isn’t involved).”
The tentative park plans as of now would increase North Street Park’s size by nearly 50% and would include better lighting and security, as well as half court basketball, a water spray feature, new tables and play features for toddlers and older children.
The final plans will be revealed at the next community meeting in February. The plans in their current state are viewable at www.somervillema.gov. A sign will also be placed in the park in the near future that displays these plans, with a mailbox nearby for people to send in their thoughts. Ideas can also be sent via email to Director of Parks and Open Space Arn Franzen at AFranzen@somervillema.gov.
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Looks good, what happens to the existing trees?
Existing trees to remain and be protected. They are the larger one shown in the image of the park.
Maybe the residents have learned what people in other neighborhoods have learned. The city loves having you come and give your opinion, but in the end will build what they want. For instance…..the people they were so glad finally came, and asked for full court basketball. What are they getting? Half court basketball. These people won’t come the next time the city has a meeting.
That’s an interesting point you make Sue. The group that put this meeting together will meet again on Dec.23rd at 268 Rear PowderHouse Blvd from 6pm to 7:30pm. We’re going to think of ways to address this fact and make sure the community voices are effecting the changes. Please come join us and share your thoughts so the group can be effective.
Well I went to the city website & could not find the plans. Tried the search option and listed it different ways..’North St Plans’ ‘park’, etc.
Nadda..nothing…
Old city website was better…this one zucks…fire the webmaster…Geez it’s Christmas…okay don’t fire the webmaster….till next year…lol
From the one drawing I saw in the news…it is not a large area…The number 1, most important thing that the park needs to have is night lighting…illumination & plenty of it. It should also have nothing large that people can gather behind & hide. This will aid in protecting the space at night & hamper gangs from gathering.
The adjacent neighbors are very important, their concerns should be addressed…They have done very well in the past notifying the PD when groups try to gather there at night.
I found http://www.somervillema.gov/departments/ospcd/parks-and-open-space/north-street-veterans-playground , which has a PowerPoint PDF from the September meeting linked. But I don’t know if these are the latest plans.
Well Geez Ron…if you told me I had to go thru all those sub titles to find it
I would have gotten my safari gear & crew and gone out in search of it.
So the lesson from this is….what do Mazes, Politicians, Government, & Lawyers & Websites all have in common? Answer; dazzle them with so much crap they’ll never be able to find it. lol
If the neighborhood wants full-court basketball they should continue to demand it at future meetings. Lexington Park eventually got converted from two half-courts to one full-court because of substantial lobbying from the ‘Save Our Somerville’ group.
Who is paying for these “renovations” for this gang & drug infested park? When there are break-ins or any crime in Ward 7 the cops know exactly where to look first – North st. projects. I always assumed that was the reason they built them in the first place. Love that “great society” hey, libs? Look how good those projects have done Ward 7. LOLOLOL.
The only improvement I can see for those projects are to either level them completely or turn them directly into halfway houses. Save the court costs that way.
and like Connolly says – for the love of God anything you do just make sure you illuminate the area. Lots of lights and open spaces.
I want to point out that the comment above was not made by the person who typically uses the name Villen13 on this web site. I have used that name and posted several comments with it but I DID NOT post the one above.
Could ya get your own screen name please? WTH.
It looks like you have a fan Villen13. lol
Ronald….you must be new at this. You’ll learn. I will not be attending as I do not live in that neighborhood. My point was, that after attending a number of these types of community meetings it becomes clear that the plans are mostly drawn up ahead of time and the purpose of the meeting is to convince the neighbors that this is what they want. I have seen it happen too many times. Yes, Lexington Park was able to get full-court basketball, because the city wasn’t opposed to it. Some of the residents had concerns, and that was the stumbling block.