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Vol. 4, No. 1
Thursday, April 4, 2002
Contents | Wellington News | Home
Contents | Wellington News | Home
The daffodils are out at Wellington Park. Kids are riding bikes and scooters and climbing the play structure. Wiffleball and basketball have been played again. Spring is here! It has been quite a while since the last edition of Wellington Park News and this is our first issue for 2002. It doesn't mean that there have not been things going on at Wellington Park. It's just that your editor has been a little busy trying to earn a living. Lately there have been a number of park items requiring some community discussion. This issue will outline some of the happenings and needs for the park. To address the points in this issue, there will be a meeting of Citizens for Wellington Park held next Wednesday. This issue may be a little long but please take care to read it through since there are a number of important items discussed.
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Citizens for Wellington Park will be having its first meeting in a long time on Wednesday evening, April 10, 2002 at 7 PM. Thanks to Jane and Don Quinn for volunteering to host the meeting at their home, 50 Princess Road, which is just to the right going out the Princess Road entrance to the park. If you have any interest in the future of Wellington Park you are encouraged to attend. The most immediate need is for some discussion on a paved pathway at Wellington, which will go before the Mayor's Committee on Handicapped Accessibility later this month. We hope that you can all attend.
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As you may recall, there were discussions on doing a paved path at Wellington Park last year. We had meetings with aldermen, parks personnel, city planners, and made a preliminary presentation before the Mayor's Committee on Handicapped Accessibility. The park was to be surveyed and Verne Porter, a civil engineer, volunteered to draw up some preliminary plans based on actual survey dimensions. At this point, we, as a group, need to agree as to exactly where we want the path to go. Based on this we can make some rough cost estimates. With these in hand we will go before the next meeting of the Mayor's Committee which will be held on Wednesday, April 17, 2002 at City Hall. The funding for this project would come from federal Community Development Block Grant accessibility funds.
We recently obtained a copy of the preliminary plans (via Alderman Salvucci) which did not exactly coincide with some of last year's understanding. After some discussion with Tom Cahill, our Parks and Rec liaison, and Lowell Haynes, city planner, the most realistic plan might involve a path just encircling the play area. The path would start at the Kilburn Road entrance. Immediately inside the gate, there would be a right branch to a path and handicapped ramp going up the one foot elevation of the play area. From the gate the path continues in an arc past the current double gate entrance where there would be a short branch. The path would go between the play area and the basketball court toward the far end gate of the play area. In this vicinity, there may be a wider plaza which would allow wheelchair access onto the court. Once on the court, access could be around the sides of the basketball court to get to the tennis court. There was a suggestion that the path be extended around the short distance to the water fountain.
While the current fountain is not currently considered handicapped accessible, we would like to anticipate the time in the near future when it would be. My understanding is that there have been funds allocated for many years for such fountains but, perhaps due to interdepartmental issues, they have never been installed anywhere.
It may make sense to shelve the idea of a path to Princess Road at this time. We had discussed a path at least going partially in that direction. Since that section of Princess Road is a private way and not considered handicapped accessible a path all the way to that gate could not be funded. In addition, if the courts are ever replaced it is likely that any path put along there might be replaced or damaged by construction vehicles. Not doing that section will help to keep the cost down.
At the meeting on May 10, we will have copies of the plans and would hope to come up with some community consensus on our request before the Mayor's Committee the following week. We would encourage any residents to also attend this hearing at City Hall. Details will be forthcoming. On a personal note, my 80 year old mother has been living with us over the past 3 months and I have a new appreciation of handicapped accessibility issues after pushing her wheelchair around various places in the city. The path at Wellington will also be a big boon to small children on bikes and parents with strollers.
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Recently, the vehicle access gate on Kilburn Road was removed. We received many inquiries about this and apparently so did the Parks department. There was a lot of concern that children would run out the large gap in the fence onto curvy Kilburn Road where cars don't always travel as slowly as they should. The fabric (metal mesh) on the gate had been damaged and one of the posts was not anchored in the ground sufficiently to prevent sagging. It was easiest to remove the gate and put new fabric on the gate at the shop. The gate was recently replaced and the metal post stabilized. Thanks to Mr. Ward of the fence crew for his attention to the problem.
The Parks Department improved the south play area gate (near the dead tree) by removing the wood timber at the gate area so children would not have to climb up a step to get into the play area there. We may have to regrade the wood chips a little there to make it easier to close the gate.
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The posts at the Princess Road entrance had also been damaged (possibly by a plow or truck) and these were straightened and repaired as well. Due to many requests that I have had from park users, it was requested that the feasibility of an actual gate there be looked into. The department tested out the idea of the gate there by doing a test installation for a day on April 3rd to see what it would look like.
Whether a gate goes there or not is up to our community. There are arguments both for and against. It appears that, as in the case of some of the other playground decisions, we will have a community referendum on this issue. Based on that, the city is prepared to follow our decision. So if you have feelings on the gate at the Princess Road entrance, you are encouraged to send them to me by email or mail (24 Henshaw Terrace, West Newton, MA 02465). If you like, you can certainly just reply by email to this newsletter. Simply indicate "Yes" if you are in favor of a gate at the Princess Road entrance, and "No" if you are opposed. Or please come to the meeting next week. You may also indicate any arguments for or against and I will try to summarize and post them. It is hoped that we will have a clipboard and envelope near the Princess Road entrance if you wish to vote also.
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Some have noticed that the south basketball standard was a lot more wobbly lately. The city did take the step of putting some new bolts to hold the rim onto the backboard and this greatly improved the situation. Subsequently, it was noticed that the backboard was still swaying a lot more than it used to. The cause was traced to a fairly major crack in the vertical pipe holding up the backboard. The pipe was coming apart and could pose a severe safety concern if it failed completely and the backboard came crashing down. It was to be inspected today to see what might be done. A tack weld could be used to repair the problem temporarily. Ultimately, it may require that the basketball standards be replaced. I am told that a single new basketball standard could cost on the order of $1500. Apparently, it may be possible to replace the standards sooner and then reuse them if the courts are ever resurfaced.
Tom Cahill did take note of the sunken holes on the courts and suggested that they should be at least temporarily paved over. Hopefully this will take place in the near future since the number of skaters, bike, and scooter riders on the courts is increasing with the warmer weather….which brings us to the topic of court resurfacing. We will be inquiring of the mayor specifically on this topic as he requested us to do at last Fall's Parkfest. Last year, the snow removal budget ate up any excess funds. With the current budget crisis and override controversy, I think there is probably very little chance that the courts would be done any time soon. But we can always hope. We hope to get some realistic assessment on this. Where we go on this is another topic of discussion for our community meeting.
There have been cases in other courts where the cracks have been sealed (but even this can cost quite a bit of money). It was related to me by somebody who grew up playing on the courts that crack filling had been tried in the past but had come out. They also related to me that they had fallen and gotten hurt a number of times tripping on the crack. The cracks are quite severe and in some cases, wider areas are below grade of the rest of the surface.
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Our Parks Department contact is now Tom Cahill. Tom came to the park last week to inspect a lot of the issues discussed above. If you have any issues with the park, please let us know about them and we will relay them to the appropriate person. Naturally, you can certainly contact the Department directly (617-552-7120).
If any of you use the River Street Playground, Judy Dore is the Parks contact for that facility. By the way, recently, there has been $12,000 in CDBG funds allocated for improvements to that playground since it falls within the CDBG target area (Wellington Park is one block outside the target area). River Street Playground is badly in need of up to date safety surfacing. As we read in the Tab recently, many of Newton's playgrounds do not meet current safety standards as determined by a recent playground audit.
If you want good playgrounds, you need to let your voice be heard that that is something you value. My informal understanding of Parks Department funding is that they have been level funded for quite a few years. The number of personnel has dropped over the years from perhaps from 60 something to 20 something and whenever budget cuts have been required the department has been relatively hard hit. My experience is that they try to do a good job with the resources that they have. Without the override, they may take a budget cut on the order of $100K, with the override hopefully at least level funded. In any event, if you care about the parks, it's important to let your elected officials know that they are important to you.
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This year we don't have any formal projects associated with Newton Serves. However, we should plan perhaps a park cleanup for some date this spring. One easy needed task will be to rake up the play area (basically to fluff up the chips) and even them out with rakes and shovels. We may be able to get a load of fresh chips to top off the play surface. This is an important maintenance step for our play area. So far the equipment itself has held up remarkably well and still looks practically brand new. Any volunteers for the garden committee would be most welcome. Is there anyone that can get a deal on small fencing for along the garden where the daffodils and tulips are coming up. Any potential volunteers or organizers? Please let us know.
By the evidence of bottles and cans found, there are on occasion teen drinking parties in the park vicinity particularly in the area behind the tennis court. If you witness any such activity please call the police immediately. If you don't feel comfortable doing that, please call me anytime (617-969-6222 day/eve) to either get me or my machine and I will contact the authorities.
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There are many people who use Wellington Park to walk their dogs. In general, we have a very responsible group of dog owners locally who are pretty good at self policing. In the cold winter months, they may have been the major users of the park. With the advent of warmer weather there are many more children and other users present.
I would also ask dog owners to be particularly aware of children in the park (and even adults) who may possibly be afraid of dogs. Naturally your dog should be under your control at all times. It is a fact that there are dogs who may be off leash at some times. This is probably true at most parks. However, it is the non dog owners who have "the right of way". If your dog has a tendency to run up to strangers (and possibly frighten them) they need to be on a leash with other types of users in the park. If someone acts the least bit frightened of dogs or asks you to restrain your dog, you MUST put your dog on a leash. No one likes it (even dog lovers) if a dog runs up to you and jumps up on you.
Dog owners are especially reminded that dogs are ABSOLUTELY not allowed in the fenced play area whether leashed or not, whether the play area is being used or not, whether it is early in the morning or late at night. There is a specific city ordinance to this effect concerning children's tot lots (of which the Wellington Play Area is one). Specific signs had been posted over the winter to this effect. If you see any dogs in the area, please let me know with a description of dog and owner. Play area users are reminded to keep the gates to the play area closed at all times.
It could help if dog walkers would in general not be too near the entrances to the play area when children are present. The park is big enough that throwing activities could take place far enough away from children's activity. Dogs that fight with each other can be especially frightening to children. Go to the park at other times if this is the case. We need for Wellington Park to feel and to be a safe and pleasant environment for all park users. If you see any visiting dog owners at the park, please do your part to make the visitors aware of expectations at our park. Pick up even if its not yours. Remind other owners to do the right thing. Be a good ambassador for canine companionship. It is my hope that Wellington Park can be a model place where all park users can coexist and enjoy the park. But it takes cooperation on everyone's part, dog and non dog owner's alike.
The bags you see at the entrances are for the pickup of trash and in particular for cleaning up dog poop. All park users are encouraged to put their old newspaper or grocery bags in the larger gate bags for use. This system has been working remarkably well. There always seem to be plenty of bags available and dog owners seem very conscientious about cleaning up their pooch's mess and any others they see. I personally have not seen a dog mess in the park in over 6 months. This is remarkable. It has been the dog owners also that have been the ones picking up the numerous cans and bottles in the outer reaches of the park over the last months.
Your comments and thoughts are welcome on this and any other topic at the park.
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Some of you may be receiving the Wellington News for the first time with this issue. The Wellington News email edition is the fastest and easiest way for to keep in touch with you. Others may be reading it on the park entrance clipboards. If you wish to subscribe, just send an email to info@wellingtonpark.org or call (617) 969-6222 and leave a message. Or if you wish to be removed from the list, let us know the same way. Email addresses change often, so, if you used to get this newsletter and now don't (since you may be reading it on a clipboard), send us your new email address. And of course, check out our web site www.wellingtonpark.org. Back issues of Wellington News are available online. Hope to see you at the park soon!
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Contents | Wellington News | Home