Save Boston's Rose Kennedy Greenway Gardens

[veronique4.livejournal.com]

It's difficult sending out a plea to save a Boston garden while those in Haiti live with devastation. However, as a long-time Boston/Somerville resident and active urban gardener, I feel compelled to spread the word about the planned removal of the Boston Greenway Gardens. A number of the master gardeners from the Somerville Garden Club gave many hours to this project.

The Rose Kennedy Greenway Gardens were built at a cost of $850,000 (provided by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society) over the course of 2008. Hundreds of volunteers, helped by professional landscaping firms and arborists, created the gardens using a plan from Halvorson Design Associates.

The Greenway Conservancy's Leadership Council (which assumed control over the land parcels from the now-defunct Massachusetts Turnpike Authority in February 2009) wants to remove the gardens and replace them with hardscaping that would enable such activities as skating and a farmer's market. Sounds reasonable if there was not already plenty of hardscaping in the Greenway area. The Greenway Conservancy also cites the cost of maintenance. MassHort has repeatedly offered to maintain and improve the parcels at no cost to the Conservancy. The Conservancy has consistently declined the offer. Here is more information on the issue:

Emily Rooney's (WGBH "Greater Boston") nine-minute segment on the issue:
http://www.wgbh.org/programs/programDetail.cfm?programid=11&featureid=10297&rssid=1

There is also a Facebook site called "Save Boston's Greenway Gardens"
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=186933326855&topic=11846

Comments

Actual "action steps" (from the facebook page)

[shadow.livejournal.com]

Here are some ways you can communicate your support for the Greenway Gardens:

If you can attend a meeting:

The Greenway Conservancy's Leadership Council meets next Wednesday, January 13 at 4:00 PM at 185 Kneeland Street in the 1st Floor Conference Room. The meeting is open to the public. Look for the agenda at http://www.rosekennedygreenway.org/about-the-conservancy/leadership-council-docs.htm. (If you're planning to attend, please go back to our main page and add a comment to Emily D'Urso's post.)

If you live in Boston, write to:

Thomas M. Menino, Mayor of Boston
1 City Hall Square, Suite 500
Boston, MA 02201-2013
Phone: 617.635.4500
Fax: 617.635.2851
www.cityofboston.gov/mayor
mayor@cityofboston.gov

If you live in the 3rd Suffolk District, write to:

State Representative Aaron M. Michlewitz
State House, Room 542
Boston MA 02133
Phone: 617.722.2489
Fax: 617.570.6575
email: Rep.AaronMichlewitz@hou.state.ma.us
To find out whether Aaron Michlewitz is your representative, go to http://www.aaronforrep.com/the3rdsuffolk.html.

If you live outside Boston but within Massachusetts, write to:

Governor Deval Patrick
Office of the Governor
State House, Room 280
Boston, MA 02133
Phone: 617.725.4005 or 888.870.7770 (in state)
Fax: 617.727.9725
TTY: 617.727.3666

If you know people involved with the Conservancy, write them too:

Look for names of the Conservancy’s Board, it Leadership Council, or its donors on the last few pages of the Conservancy’s annual report, at http://www.rosekennedygreenway.org/documents/2009%20Conservancy%20Annual%20Report.pdf


For tips on what you can say or write, see the discussion “What We Believe.” In all cases, be succinct and polite. That’s the best way to bring people to your side.

[ron_newman]

The gardens are nice, but what MassHort was supposed to build on this land was a 'Garden Under Glass'. What happened to that?

There's already a farmers' market on the Greenway near South Station.

[veronique4.livejournal.com]

The Mass Horticultural Society ran out of money (a former director mismanaged funds) and MassHort scaled back project to what you see today. Yes, there is already a farmer's market. This fact only adds to the Conservancy's odd planning. No one objects to using more of the existing hardscape for community-building activities. There's plenty of open space; no need to remove these gardens. Here's a Globe piece on the power struggle: Boston Globe: July 2008: "A Private Power Gab on the Public's Greenway"
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/07/14/a_private_power_grab_on_the_publics_greenway/

[rethcir.livejournal.com]

How bout having the farmers market on the most underused "hardscape" in town, Government Center?

[veronique4.livejournal.com]

Yeah, good example of more bad planning!

[ron_newman]

there's already a (different) farmers' market there.

[gruene.livejournal.com]

Once more proving what a waste the "Greenway Conservancy" is. I guess they feel they need to "do something" to justify the outrageous salaries they're paying themselves. Why, Why, Why didn't the Pike give the land to Boston Parks and Recreation or the DCR? Either agency would have done a much better job of managing the park at a fraction of the cost.