(no subject)

[artic-monkeys.livejournal.com]

I noticed that  there have been some reports of cars being broken into, windows smashed, and tires slashed here on the Davis Square Blog. I thought you may be interested in a story at The Somerville news site:

Yuppie hater perpetrates violence in Lexington Park

Comments

[glowroper.livejournal.com]

He is listed as living in Billerica. Interesting.

[ellf.livejournal.com]

Wow. This guy sounds like a real prick.

Amusingly, he has a MySpace page -- surprise, surprise: http://myspace.com/1thecolony1. Rife with poor grammar and incoherent ramblings!

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah. That's the kid who got all pissed off (http://somervillenews.typepad.com/the_somerville_news/2005/10/taking_down_the.html) a couple years ago when his parents sold their house and moved to Billerica. He didn't get to finish senior year at Somerville High with all his buddies, hence the outbursts of "Kill a Yuppie" grafitti. (http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/10/15/man_charged_with_spraying_graffiti_in_somerville/)

[ron_newman]

This all has some connection to the redesign of Lexington Park, a few years back, to have two basketball half-courts instead of one full-court. I recall a group called 'Save Our Somerville' was trying to lobby the city to restore the full court, but I don't know what success they've had.

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

It's still going on. They're frustrated that the city moves so slowly; looking at demographics, stepping through community review, and getting input from all the park users. They want the city to just dig up and move the current hoops, and repaint the court, NOW.

They can't understand what's taking so long, but teenagers aren't so good at looking at the long view.

[ron_newman]

Actually, I'm not sure what should take so long either. A single full-court would fit into the space curently occupied by the two half courts, and would obviously be more useful.

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

[...]and would obviously be more useful.

Yes, that's the argument the teens are using. But people making this argument need to consider other viewpoints as well.

Would the money necessary to reposition the court be better spent on a central teen center, or summer recreational programs?

Are there other parks that haven't even had a once-over yet? Can the money be better spent in a different neighborhood?

Not all teens like playing basketball. How many people would the changeover actually serve, and how many would be excluded?

Given the demographic trends in the area, would it make more sense to convert the area entirely to serve pre-schoolers?

Yes, the physical configuration of the court could be changed very quickly. Probably even overnight, just as fast as the "Gays and yuppies out!" graffito was sandblasted away. But the park is a community resource, and these are some of the questions that need to be considered before any action is taken. I'm sure you can think of other questions as well.

[ron_newman]

My statement assumed that the full court would fit into the existing location of the half-courts, without any modification to the rest of the park. If so, such a conversion would make the park more useful to basketball players, without affecting or 'excluding' anyone else.

[cleanup-davissq.livejournal.com]

The half courts are there to stop gangs of youths hanging around creating a disturbance which they would be. Lord knows it's bad enough as it is. So much nicer with young families instead of noisy teens loitering, smoking and of course littering.

[mattdm [typekey.com] (from livejournal.com)]

I have a preschooler, and there's plenty of space dedicated to them in that park already. Plus a separate climbing structure area for bigger kids. These areas are popular, but not over-full. I don't play basketball ("nerd") but the two half-courts are clearly dumb and basically wasted space.

[marylu.livejournal.com]

my understanding is that the current configuration of the park came about as a result of construction there about 7 or 8 years ago (not sure about that) and that at the time there were a number of long-time residents in the neighborhood who were frustrated that their voices weren't heard in the process. I think some of the lexington park/save our somerville developments came out of this. so when you say: Given the demographic trends in the area, would it make more sense to convert the area entirely to serve pre-schoolers?
I think that's what the area teenagers feel has already happened - both in lexington park and other parks (for example, the dog park).

[marylu.livejournal.com]

I mean - that nunziato park has been converted to serve the needs of dog-owning gentrifiers (to wildly oversimplify) rather than long-term residents and youth.

[ron_newman]

Isn't Nunziato still mostly used as an athletic field, as it has been since it was built?

[marylu.livejournal.com]

yes. there's been a fence erected walling off a small portion of the park (10-15%?) for dogs, but the rest is still used as an athletic field.

[artic-monkeys.livejournal.com]

these kids should be heavily involved in neighborhood planning. Maybe not so much this disturbed one, but when they are not involved they are even more likely to go off and follow some bone head like this Cutter guy. We should get them more involved in park planning.

Hey, when I hear "Cutter" I think of that movie 'Breaking Away', where all the townies were called cutters.

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

In fact, there's a group "Save Our Somerville" (http://groups.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=groups.groupProfile&groupID=101314841) made up largely of teens, trying to be a positive force and work with the city. I'm not sure how active it is, though.

another blog commenting on 'Kill a Yuppie'

[ron_newman]

I've never heard of the 'WizBang!' blog before, but it turned up in a Google search for "kill a yuppie'. This discussion of events in Somerville started last October and is still sporadically going on as late as last month.

[artic-monkeys.livejournal.com]

Most of these kids are not so bad. Here some interesting stuff from their site that may help everyone understand each other better.

The Lexington Park Project 
(view more (http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=89827625&blogID=147900399&MyToken=6f39cf23-bb9d-4577-ab75-300763e19faf)

time to stop the tagging 
(view more (http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=89827625&blogID=143287357&MyToken=6f39cf23-bb9d-4577-ab75-300763e19faf)

We are Somerville, a poem by Melissa Ann Crowley-O'Donnell 
(view more (http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=89827625&blogID=143284778&MyToken=6f39cf23-bb9d-4577-ab75-300763e19faf)

What to do about Gentrification? 
(view more (http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=89827625&blogID=142888813&MyToken=6f39cf23-bb9d-4577-ab75-300763e19faf)

the writing on the wall: gentrification in Somerville 
(view more (http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=89827625&blogID=139563535&MyToken=6f39cf23-bb9d-4577-ab75-300763e19faf))

[ron_newman]

Looks like the Somerville Police seriously goofed up by releasing a report with the wrong suspect's name in it. The Somerville News then compounded the error by publishing the police report without checking its accuracy:

Delaney cleared in Lexington Park assault