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MEETING NOTES

East Boston Greenway Coordinating Council
CA/T Community Outreach Office
Monday, November 16, 1998

map of the Marginal to Prescott Segment of the Greeenway
Click to see full map of proposed Greenway

Attending:

Eva Bisceglia, Nina Brown (Brown & Rowe), Valerie Burns, David Christopher, Rose Christopher, Connie Carbone, Rose D’Amore, Florence D’Avella, Edith DeAngelis, Sal LaMattina, Karen Maddalena, Etty Padmodipoetro (CAT), Eugene Testa, Lauri Webster, Joanne Zambuto, Grace Zaccaro.

After thanking Bill Martino for hosting this meeting at the CA/T Community Outreach Office and going through introductions, we began discussing the Bremen Street Park design:

1. Greenway/Bremen Street Park and Prescott to Frankfort

Valerie began the discussion by saying that the last CA/T Bremen Street park design meeting had not been well attended because Massport scheduled an important planning meeting on the same night, but that the Council still had wanted to address some outstanding design issues. On behalf of the Council Valerie requested and the Artery project consented to send Etty and Nina to the Council meeting tonight to resolve some of the outstanding issues. The 75% submission for the project is due in February 99. Valerie passed out a letter from Mike Lewis.

Grace began the discussion by saying that walking to the MBTA from Gove Street is dangerous. There was a brief discussion about traffic signals, making Bremen Street one-way, but then people decided this was not the place to solve this problem.

With respect to the park design, people brought up the following issues and suggestions:

• the path to the MBTA station seems too narrow (currently the path to the T station is 12’ wide and off center); it should look different in some way. There should be lighting, all the way to the MBTA entrance.

• Generally Council members agreed that extending the park to the T station entrance as recently proposed is a good thing despite the fact that there will be a one lane wide highway viaduct to walk under. The consultants design for this area seemed to be going in the right direction, with respect to the fence and planting (but more attention needs to be paid to the lighting, the walkway, site-lines and the height of the tunnel, now around 9’).

• Council members are thrilled that the design of the Greenway from Bremen Street Park (Prescott Street) to Frankfort Street will be included in the construction package for the Bremen Street Park.

• The restrooms should have self-sanitizing toilets, like those the city will be using (currently the toilets are conventional toilets); people are concerned about maintenance of toilets. The little building will also house the fountain equipment and the ranger station.

• Council members wanted the consultants to make the weather vane with East Boston flag a little larger

• with respect to the topography, the park still seems a little flat (the sloping areas are at the amphitheater, near Scolly, near the orchard and between the Memorial Stadium vehicular entrance and the bikeway at the Porter Street overpass. Gene Testa said they always box-sledded down that slope near the overpass when they were kids.

• with respect to the area under the old viaduct at Porter Street, Council members liked the consultant’s idea of a miniature golf course and wanted to know more about the what it might look like. Several members had seen the courses at the Children’s Museum and the De Cordova Museum. Nina said they might be able to come up with a paved course of sorts, using different colored surfacing (there is only a paving budget for under the viaduct). People briefly discussed the possibility of having a concession.

• with respect to artwork, there is not enough (currently there are the waves at entrances and the fountains, the bust of Donald McKay (Bremen Street Park) and the capstan fountain (Memorial Stadium). The Council would like to know where the budget is for the art that was not installed at the Ted Williams Tunnel.

• with respect to the map of the islands, please label the Chelsea River, the Boston Inner Harbor and Belle Isle Inlet.

• with respect to the granite for the waves, the council really would like a different palette, either one color with more contrast (maybe use two finishes); or use a dark line to separate the different colors. People thought they would like a bluish granite. Council members requested that the designers bring samples to next meeting in January.

• with respect to path paving, some are distressed that the paths are all asphalt and believe there should be special paving on (at least) an important path, like the path to the T (currently there is special granite paving at the entrances and under the benches and at the fountains). There is a concern that there will be too little color and contrast with gray granite piers (waves), gray granite paving, black asphalt and black fence, especially in Winter when the plantings are not so green. Council members requested that the designers bring samples to next meeting in January.

• with respect to the planting, Nina reported that there are 390 trees, 860 shrubs, 2700 perennials and 10,000 bulbs; she pointed out where the evergreens are planted and people seemed happy with the selection.

• Council were happy to learn there are electrical outlets near the Christmas trees for lights.

• Council members debated the play equipment especially the troublesome ferry and ultimately voted to keep the play equipment, including the ferry, as proposed by the consultants.

• Council members think it is appropriate to postpone the proposed site visit until next year and to scrap the CA/T Project December meeting as suggested. Subjects in December meeting will be covered in January.

The discussion on park design issues ended and we proceeded with Sal LaMattina who told council members that there will be a big meeting tomorrow on the land swap among the parties (Massport (Blute), owners of Park and Fly, Mass Turnpike Authority (Kerisiotis) and project personnel (Lewis). Any resolution may be announced at the EOC meeting tomorrow at 1:30. Valerie passed out a letter to Governor Cellucci from the EOC requesting him to intervene and make the land swap happen.

2. The Greenway from Marginal to Porter Street

Valerie was happy to report that the bids, opened on October 20th, were under the budget and that the apparent winner was Flemming Brothers, a landscape contractor that the Parks Department works with often. Since the bids came in below the budget, it will be necessary to pursue what is going to happen with the balance of the grant money. Valerie passed out an letter she had sent to Commissioner Sullivan congratulating MHD and requesting to know who would be our contact during construction. She also passed out the Commissioner Sullivan’s response to her previous letter; the response was addressed to Dick Wheatland, Chairman of the Board at BNAF.

The City Parks Department is planning a ground breaking for Saturday December 12 from 4 to 6 PM. The ceremony will have a holiday flair with a tree lighting, Santa, cider and cookies. The Mayor is coming and the city is coordinating with MHD. A representative from the Lila Wallace Readers Digest Fund will be coming from New York. The event will be announced in the papers and invitations will be sent out. Please plan to come and bring as many friends and supporters as you can find. Council members suggested BNAF send invites and flyers to all the neighborhood churches, the Land Use Council, APAC, the EB Web page, Neighborhood Services (Anthony Petricelli) and the grocery stores.

3. East Boston Greenway Fund

From the sale of land to the City of Boston by the Trust for Public Land, there is $100,000 left to start the East Boston Greenway Fund. Currently the funds are at TPL, but we are looking to set up an interim fund until we decide where the funds permanent home should be. We are proposing that the funds go to the Boston Foundation, one of the largest and most respected foundations in the City. Placing the money here will show we are interested in strong management and it will be responsibly handled. There are no plan to spend any of the money at this time, but still there should be three trustees. Proposed are someone form the City (like Commissioner Liff), BNAF and a Council member. We would like the Council to think about how it should choose a member to be a trustee for the short term, We hope that Hale and Dorr will provide a pro bono attorney, Mr. Hammill, who helped set up the City Hall Plaza Trust.

Joanne suggested nominating Council members, but was curious about the responsibilities and time commitment. BNAF will draft a "job description," outlining the responsibilities and liabilities.

4. Updates

Contract C08A5 goes out to bid early December. The Prescott Street bridge and Scolly building will be demolished and there will be changes in resident parking.

The Massport planning process seems to be going well. The consultants are now evaluating what is doable and what is not. They may consider opening Cashman and high-end housing on Pier 1.

The BRA planning process is continuing. Although all meetings are open to the public, some feel that some segments of the East Boston residents are not being represented and resent that only certain groups have the right to vote on the final product.

The MBTA meeting on airport station design was not well attended. The consultants are coming back to the community for the Maverick station. Council members asked again if there was any way to get the bridges over the greenway cleaned up. They are strewn with litter.

ccmn1198 END. These notes are written to the best recollection of the authors. Please let us know if corrections are necessary within 60 days of the date of the meeting notes. Contact BNAF@aol.com

BOSTON NATURAL AREAS FUND. INC.(BNAF)
59 Temple Place, Room 558
Boston, MA 02111-1307
(617)542-7696
(Fax)542-0383
e-mail: BNAF@aol.com