NORTH STREET VETERANS PLAYGROUND RENOVATIONS BREAK GROUND THIS WEEK

Once

completed in early summer 2014, North Street Veterans Playground in West

Somerville will feature a multi-sport game court that can be used for

basketball, street hockey, tennis or soccer. New entrances and pathways will

lead visitors to a water spray feature and two play areas with rubber safety

surfacing for children ages 2-5 and ages 5-12, featuring play structures,

swings and slides as well as a giant climbing structure with rope ladders,

bridges and a tube slide. Hills with trees at the parks edges will create a

natural buffer and sense of green space. , Enhanced lighting, including

attractive entrance columns lit from within, as well as the addition of video

cameras, will improve the park's safety and security and make it an inviting

space in the early evening hours. Café-style seating under shade trees will

offer comfortable space to relax as well.

"Parks

are the living room of a greater community, where neighbors can relax, meet and

enjoy a respite from the hustle and bustle of daily life," Mayor Joseph A.

Curtatone said. "This West Somerville neighborhood is getting the park it

deserves, inviting residents out of their homes and into the community. The

City has renovated or built more than 25 parks and open spaces in the last

seven years, because spaces like this aren't only social infrastructure but

economic infrastructure that encourages private investment and business

development. There's nothing more encouraging than seeing a vibrant, active

city with parks and streets filled with people."

"The community has been collaborating with the City for

years on the renovation of North Street Veterans Playround, with neighbors

offering important insight and ideas for remaking this park into a true oasis

in Ward 7," said Ward 7 Alderman Bob Trane. "I can't wait for ribbon cutting

day next year when we can invite the whole community in to reap the rewards of

their feedback and support, turning the park into a common area that everyone

in the neighborhood can be proud of and enjoy, no matter their age."

The new

North Street Veterans Playground will also be 100 percent accessible and will increase

in size by one half, thanks to a 4,500 square foot expansion that incorporates

an easement from the Somerville Housing

Authority on the north

end of the park. Designs for the park were chosen after several community

meetings. Thanks for the final vision of the park go out to the residents of

Ward 7, Groundwork

Somerville and the Urban

Family Outreach Squad,

the Wayside Youth and Family

Support Network, the

Somerville Housing Authority and the Somerville Police Department.

The

renovation of North Street Veterans Playground is paid for with the combination

of a $400,000 PARC

(Parkland Acquisitions and Renovations for Communities) grant from the Commonwealth,

federal Community

Development Block Grant

funds and $315,000 in City bond funding approved by the Board of Aldermen in

January. A similar $500,000 PARC grant was used to partially fund the new

Chuckie Harris Park

that opened in East Somerville last month.

"We

want to create a park that the community can take pride in and that will serve

as a focal point for the neighborhood," said Arn Franzen, Director of Parks and

Open Space for the City of Somerville. "Feedback from the community has been

vital in shaping the vision for North Street Veterans Playground. I look

forward to that vision becoming a reality over the next several months and

bringing with it a better quality of life for residents in the neighborhood."

Weston & Sampson Engineers Boston's landscape

design studio, SPURR, created the design for the park. Cheri Ruane of Weston

& Sampson is the landscape architect and Sequoia Construction of Whitman, MA, is the general

contractor for the project.

North Street Veterans Playground will remain closed to the public during the construction period. Residents seeking information about the renovation or other nearby recreation sources should contact the Parks and Open Space Department by calling Project Manager Arn Franzen at 617-625-6600 ext 2545, or by email at AFranzen@somervillema.gov.