Boston Flora

Tag: Fairmount Greenway

  • COGdesign Call for Designers

    Officially incorporated as an independent non-profit organization in 1997, COGdesign provides pro-bono landscape design to underserved communities to promote physical and mental health and make eastern Massachusetts more beautiful. Below are descriptions of the 10 projects that COGdesign has accepted for the Fall 2017-Spring 2018 Project Season. If you would like to volunteer for one or more projects, please email Jean at JKrasnow9@gmail.com and/or info@cogdesign.org to get more information. If you have already filled the out application or have volunteered in the past, you do not need to do so again.

    Boston Collegiate Charter School
    215 Sydney Street, North Dorchester
    Boston Collegiate has been in this location since 2010 and would like to create a welcoming attractive park-like space for families and the community in the lot adjacent to the school. The school is in a former piano factory. Over the years they have tried some planting but did not have much luck. They have decided they need a plan and some guidance! Over 200 students and 50 teachers enter the school daily and, as the school is a one-minute walk from the JFK/UMASS red line stop, many people walk by every day. The director of family and community development will lead this project: students and families are eager.

    Doyle Playground
    Fairmount Greenway/Southwest Boston CDC
    11 Fairmount Ave, Hyde Park
    Hyde Park residents have identified redevelopment of the blighted Doyle Playground (a vacant lot for over 15 years now littered with glass and weeds) as a priority. The residents have suggested a gathering place, natural playground, access to Neponset River, and a path connecting to other nearby parks along the Fairmount Greenway ( a recent awardee of the Blossom Fund of the Boston Committee of the GCA). Hyde Park is a high need area: in Hyde Park 41% of residents earn less than $35,000: in the area around Doyle Park per capita income is under $21,000. Lovely public space would be welcome and well used.

    Egleston Square Main Street
    3134 Washington Street, Roxbury
    The lot is owned by Clear Channel and houses a huge billboard dating to the time of the elevated Orange Line on Washington. The community has a $1/yr lease to maintain it as open space for the community. A Friends Group has formed to develop an ongoing plan for the space. The Peace Garden (created in the 1960’s) is at the heart of Egleston Square and is walking distance from three schools. Frequently used as a community gathering space, it needs a thoughtful plan for public use. The Friends Group does clean up and would head up the planning process for a new design for the space.

    Fenway Victory Garden
    1200 Boylston Street, Boston, MA
    The main entrance to the Victory Gardens includes a large area designated by the Boston Parks Department as the Victory Garden Committee to plant and garden. The area is seen by hundreds of visitors each year as well as the hundreds of community gardeners. They have asked for plants that are drought tolerant and unappealing to the many rabbits that live in the gardens. Fenway Garden Society members will maintain the area.

    GreenRoots Food Justice and Urban Agriculture Expansion Efforts
    Chelsea
    From their application GreenRoots needs COGdesign “to help our organization expand its work with low income families to grow their own fruits, vegetables, and herbs locally and inexpensively and to connect neighbors to forge greater social bonds and improve quality of life”. GreenRoots has a commitment from a food service company to build a sizable greenhouse: the design and planning for the greenhouse is also part of the application.

    Grove Hall Main Streets
    320 Blue Hill Avenue, Roxbury
    The city has several vacant lots along Blue Hill Avenue. The Grove Hall Main Streets organization would like to see one of them developed for commuters and residents as a food court: retail and space for seating and eating. In this project everything is up for grabs- creativity welcomed!

    Haley House
    497 and 503 Columbus Avenue (Green space in front of affordable housing), South End
    Haley House was the first homeless service provider to create permanent, affordable housing in Boston. Currently, Haley House housing programs include more than 100 units of housing. The Columbus Avenue buildings have 24 single room units. For several years, residents have invested time and energy to try to develop the plots and will certainly help once there is a new design. The applicants would like the residents to be part of the planning. We agree!

    Hoops and Homework
    12 A Interfaith Terrace, Framingham
    Hoops and Homework is an after school and summer program at a Section 8 housing complex in Framingham. Residents have the lowest income in Framingham with a median family income of $29,162. There are 160 rental units in the complex. The program raised funds and a local contractor has installed a basketball court at cost. The next phase is to create park and gathering space in the wooded area behind the court. Residents are also interested in raised bed gardening.

    Paige Academy
    28 Highland Avenue, Roxbury
    From the application, “the goal is to create a beautiful, native-plant rainwater garden behind Paige Academy to mitigate rainwater runoff and erosion. The land is an historical asset to the community and serves a both part of Paige Academy campus and an Urban Wild and community walking path.” Paige Academy is located near John Eliot Square, a mixed income area of Roxbury and has served the community for 47 years. The new space would create an improved footpath for the community and an outdoor teaching classroom for the school.

    Gore Street Community Garden
    6-8 Gore Street, Mission Hill
    The City of Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development has offered this vacant lot on Mission Hill for community use. The DND has accepted the proposal for a community garden. The application lists several goals: “we wish to preserve neighborhood open space, create a place for education about growing and maintaining fruit trees, offer wheelchair accessibility for gardening, create raised beds for residents, and learn about rain harvesting and composting”. This project has a unique timeline. The city needs a rough design quickly and then will wait to see a full design, plant list, and more later in the winter. Median income on Mission Hill is $35,000: there is lots of community energy for a community garden and the possible educational options that could develop.

  • Boston Committee of the Garden Club of America 2015 Blossom Fund Project

    As many know, The Garden Club of the Back Bay is an affiliate member of the Boston Committee of the Garden Club of America (read about the organization at www.bostoncommittee.org) and is invested in the latest project to be funded by The Blossom Fund in honor of the upcoming 25th anniversary of The Boston Committee.  The Fairmount Greenway and Windermere Road Project is an initiative sponsored by the Boston Natural Areas Network, now part of the Trustees of Reservations.

    Background: The 9.2-mile Fairmount Indigo Line is a MBTA commuter rail service running from Boston’s South Station to Readville in Hyde Park, passing through some of the city’s lowest income neighborhoods. For decades the rail line has offered only very limited service, with few stops and relatively high prices. The City of Boston and the MBTA are now working to improve transit options for the 100,000 residents who live within a half-mile the Fairmont Line. In particular, the MBTA is constructing four new stations and improving access to the railway, and the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) is investing in the half-mile corridor adjacent to the rail line. As part of this effort, many organizations are working to enhance access to parks and open space along the Fairmount corridor. The BRA’s plan calls for connecting existing parks and gardens through pedestrian and bicycle pathways and expanding community gardens. Meanwhile, community development corporations and neighborhood groups are working to create a Fairmont Greenway. The Greenway will convert City-owned vacant lots along the corridor into parks and gardens, and connect them via bicycle lanes and street improvements that make it safe and pleasant to walk between Fairmount station stops, parks, and neighborhood destinations. Ultimately, the Fairmount Greenway will complement the Emerald Necklace; the Boston HarborWalk; and the Rose Kennedy, East Boston, and Neponset River Greenways as signature linear parks in Boston, drawing visitors to new sections of the city and providing green space and pedestrian access for residents.
    Progress to Date: The MBTA has now opened three of the four planned stations along the Fairmount Indigo Line, and plans for the Fairmount Greenway are taking shape. Several pilot projects along the greenway have been identified, and the first of these to be completed is the Woolson Street community garden in Mattapan, built by the Boston Natural Areas Network (BNAN) in partnership with the BRA and community members. This garden provides a healing oasis in a neighborhood marked by violence, and its opening on September 6, 2014 was heralded by the Mayor as an outstanding example of teamwork and collaboration.

    Next Steps: BNAN is continuing to work in partnership with the Fairmount Indigo Corridor Collaborative to plan the Fairmount Greenway, and is partnering with the BRA to convert vacant lots along the corridor into community gardens. This year the BRA has offered BNAN four vacant City-owned lots for conversion to community gardens, along with partial funding for construction. BNAN is now raising the remaining funds needed and preparing to begin construction. The next garden to be completed as part of Fairmount Greenway project will be the garden at Windermere Road in the Uphams Corner neighborhood. This 4,095 square foot lot is located a 9 minute walk (0.5 miles) from the Uphams Corner station on the Fairmount line, a few blocks southeast of the Strand Theater. The property will provide approximately 12 new garden plots and will draw in visitors and neighbors for community gardening workshops and garden events. BNAN will provide water for irrigation, terraced beds, garden paths, decorative plantings, and a fence to secure the property. The BRA has provided $75,000 in funding for the project, and BNAN is working to raise the remaining $34,890 needed to cover construction costs such as masonry, fencing, site furnishings, plantings, utilities/drainage, and civil engineering. If funding is secured this fall, BNAN looks forward to completing the project and opening the garden by June 2015. The Uphams Corner neighborhood is one of the most densely populated in the City of Boston, with more than 54,000 people living within one mile of the Uphams Corner commercial district. The neighborhood has a long and distinguished history, having been originally settled in the 1630s, and becoming home to the first one-stop supermarket in Boston in 1915. The district has several historical sites, including the Strand Theatre built in 1918; the Blake House, Boston’s oldest extant house built in 1661; and the Dorchester North Burying Ground which dates to 1634. In nearby Edward Everett Square, a 12-foot bronze sculpture of Clapp’s Favorite Pear celebrates the agricultural history of this section of Dorchester. Today, the Uphams Corner neighborhood is experiencing a surge in reinvestment after decades of decline. The City of Boston is investing $3.1 million to improve streets, sidewalks, and public spaces, and new businesses are opening up to serve the tens of thousands of residents and visitors who pass through this lively crossroads each day. The Windermere Road garden will contribute to the overall revitalization of the area by bringing much needed green space to the densely built streets and an opportunity for residents to garden.

    Track Record of Success: BNAN owns 60 community gardens across the city, and has a well-established protocol for planning gardens in partnership with neighborhood residents, constructing gardens using high quality materials, and helping gardeners to manage and maintain the properties over the long term. BNAN gardens have long been recognized by City as valuable contributions to Boston’s neighborhoods, and this year Mayor Walsh awarded first place for community gardens in the 2014 Garden Contest to one of BNAN’s gardens. BNAN looks forward to continuing to partner with the BRA, the Fairmount/Indigo Corridor Collaborative, and others to develop community gardens along the Fairmount Greenway.