RESIDENTS INVITED TO DISCUSS IDEAS FOR NEW ‘SYMPHONY PARK’ AT DEC. 19 MEETING

The

second community meeting will build on that discussion and include preliminary

design ideas generated by GroundView, a Somerville landscape architecture firm

who recently completed renovations to the City's Chuckie Harris Park (a

formerly vacant lot) on Cross Street East. 

Earlier

this month, the City received a $400,000 Parkland

Acquisitions and Renovations for Communities (PARC) grant award.

This grant will enable the leveraging of an additional $225,000 of federal Community

Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds, creating $625,000 to construct the new

park.

The

City of Somerville acquired the lot at the corner of Pearl and Pinckney

Streets in 2011.  From 1853 until the City's acquisition, it was the site

of the Conant-Hadley House.  The Conant family has lived in Somerville

since the 1700s and the Hadleys led the Somerville Public School System's music

program for more than 60 years. Two of the Hadley brothers became very

important in American music. Arthur Hadley was lead cellist in the Boston

Symphony Orchestra and Henry Hadley began the Berkshire Symphonic Festival at

Tanglewood and founded the National Association for American Composers and Conductors

in 1933. To honor their musical legacy, the park will be named Symphony Park.

"With

the SomerVision plan, the community has tasked us with the creation of 125

acres of new public green space by 2020 and every acre matters. This will be one

of our smaller parks, but the benefits the community can reap from transforming

even just a corner lot into quality green space should not be underestimated,"

said Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone. "Pocket parks like this can draw the community

out of their homes and into our public living rooms where our kids can play, neighbors

can come together and we can all simply enjoy the natural scenery."

For

more information on Symphony Park, and for updates during construction, visit

the Symphony Park page on the City

website.