Ward 7 ResiStat meeting tonight

[ron_newman]

If you live in Ward 7, you may want to attend your ward's ResiStat meeting tonight at 7 pm in the TAB Building, 167 Holland Street.

From the ResiStat page: "The goal of ResiStat is to hold regular meetings with residents, most in ward-based groups and a few for specific populations. At these meetings, residents give their feedback to SomerStat staff and elected officials about their experience of living in Somerville and receiving City services. Suggestions and comments are recorded and brought back to City staff, and status updates are given at subsequent meetings".

(Ward 7 is everything west of Kingston Street, Thorndike Street, Simpson Ave, Burnham St, and Packard Avenue. Ward 6 will have its own ResiStat meeting on November 5 at 7 pm at First Congregational Church, 89 College Ave.)

EDIT: Read the comments about Hodgkins Park to see why I added the "parks" tag.

Comments

important for Hodgkins/Curtis Park

[mattdm.livejournal.com]

This is particularly important for those of us who spend a lot of time with our kids in Hodgkins/Curtis park (that's the one off of Holland between Davis and Teele), since the upcoming renovation there is one of the agenda items.

Re: important for Hodgkins/Curtis Park

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

wait, what? my son loves that park, and now that he is just getting mobile, we spend a lot of time at it. can you give more info?

Re: important for Hodgkins/Curtis Park

[mattdm.livejournal.com]

Yes, although the details we know are scarce. Last year, they said it was going to be this summer and obviously that didn't happen. Definitely come to the meeting!

You've seen the mess out in the field where they did soil testing — the major part of the renovation is to make the field nice and level for playing ball, and oh also making sure there's not buried oil tanks leaking nasty things (well, oil, presumably) into the soil.

Then they're also redoing the play area. There's plans on the city web site for what they're going to do to Albion Park (http://www.somervillema.gov/section.cfm?org=OSPCD&page=1288) (click on the pdf links in the list on the right to get to the good stuff), and they look pretty decent, so I'm optimistic.

As we understand it right now, nothing has been really decided except one huge thing: complaints from elderly people (presumably not actual users of the playground) that the sand is unsanitary means that it's currently slated to be removed.

Most of the parents we know at the playground really want to keep the sand, because all of our kids love it — and because the health concerns seem unfounded. The city people said it might be possible to keep one small sandbox. (How that would be more sanitary is a mystery.) Hopefully we'll be able to convince them of the importance.

Re: important for Hodgkins/Curtis Park

[chumbolly.livejournal.com]

The sand is unsanitary? There are honestly people who are anti-sand for health reasons? If there are any real reasons to be scared of sand, please don't enlighten me.

Who are these geriatric mysophobiacs that seek to take away our sand, and how can they be stopped?

Re: important for Hodgkins/Curtis Park

[mattdm.livejournal.com]

To be fair, I don't actually know who is behind the anti-sand push. But the arguments seem to be cat-based. Now, I know there's some feral cats in the area, but they don't seem to be exactly meowing down the gates. And if all area cats were somehow magically attracted to sand, the single smaller sand area would theoretically be more concentrated and therefore worse.

A more legitimate charge might be that there's more cigarette butts and other urban detritus mixed in the sand than would be nice — maybe this (http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/05/20/city_looks_to_end_smoking_in_public_parks/) is something to bring up. And last year, the city dumped in a pile of nice clean fresh sand... it'd be nice to see that happen more regularly.

Re: important for Hodgkins/Curtis Park

[ron_newman]

Ahh, now I understand why there are new "No Smoking" signs on the Community Path! I did not know about this recent ordinance change.

Re: important for Hodgkins/Curtis Park

[mattdm.livejournal.com]

Oh, and as for "how can they be stopped": come to this meeting, and stay tuned for future meetings specifically about park development.

Re: important for Hodgkins/Curtis Park

[chumbolly.livejournal.com]

My wife will be there while I tend to the kiddo. Cat crap and cigarette butts are nasty, but people need perspective. How about instead of getting rid of sand boxes, we put up one sign that says "Please don't throw cigarettes in children's play area," and another that says "If you see a cat pooping in sand, give it a swift kick."

Re: important for Hodgkins/Curtis Park

[wallacestreet.livejournal.com]

The sand is reasonably clean but you can find some pretty nasty stuff if you look closely, trust me. I've sifted through it while playing in the park and it's got lots of cigarette butts and other detritus mixed in. However, the kids love it, and mine have been playing there for almost 7 kid-years with no ill effects (except for that twitch, must get it checked out :p ). Taking away something that so many kids enjoy so much because it seems "unsanitary" without any evidence at all of a health problem seems like a dumb, CYA maneuver designed to remove the whiff of risk from kids' lives (while providing them with a play structure to risk their necks on, but I digress...). I don't know about your kids, but mine are far from sanitary to begin with.

For more on this kind of kid risk-avoidance parenting groupthink, have a look here (http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/).

Re: important for Hodgkins/Curtis Park

[chumbolly.livejournal.com]

I've done my share of sifting through that sand as well, and while I'll keep my kid from eating the big bits, I figure the sand is a good opportunity to test the hygiene hypothesis, so, I say the more filthy sand the better. One day my kid is going to eat a burrito from Anna's and he's going to need a tried and true immune system, so might as well start building it in the tot lot.

update

[mattdm.livejournal.com]

It's the mayor. The mayor thinks sand is icky.

More on the meeting later.

Re: update

[wallacestreet.livejournal.com]

Too freaking bad for him. Anxiously awaiting park meeting updates.