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Monday, January 12, 2015

Niedergang Seeks Addition(s) to Junction Park


At last Thursday’s Board of Aldermen meeting, Mark Niedergang introduced legislation that places focus on Ward 5’s Junction Park. In full disclosure, I was expecting the submission as Mark and I toured the park this summer and shared ideas as to what improvements could be made there to bring new life to the space.

Located at the intersection of Centre and Woodbine (or at the end of the parking lot on Central Street), Junction Park is a beautiful open space that both Alderman Niedergang and I would like to see take on a new definition. Some ideas that were tossed around were the addition of a community garden section and/or a dog park with new seating options. What Mark and I can definitely agree on is the need to have these ideas discussed and expanded through community meetings and visioning sessions.


This is not the first time improvements to Junction Park have been discussed. In March of 2014, residents gathered at the West Somerville Neighborhood School to brainstorm ideas about all of Somerville’s open spaces. It was at this meeting, a few neighbors expressed interest in seeing changes to this under-utilized space.

You can read a recap of that meeting on The Somerville Times.

From here, the legislation has been passed on to Ed Glavin, the Executive Director of Somerville’s Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development, for consideration. Do expect a community meeting to be held because, let’s face it, Ward 5ers are brilliant and there’s no better place to get amazing ideas then in the best Ward in the City.

Please feel free to share your ideas, thoughts and visions for Junction Park by leaving a comment below.




3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Won't the future Community Bike Path extension need to go through a sliver of this park? Hope they take that into account in any park re-designs.

Anonymous said...

The Community Bike Path extension beyond Lowell Street,when it happens, will no way impact any park re-design.

Any extension of the bike path will follow the no longer used railroad bed as it has, to date, through Somerville to the Lowell Street Bridge.

Anonymous said...

Dog parks can't be used for anything else. So every square foot used in very small Junction Park for that, would be a net loss of open space for the 90% of neighbors who don't own dogs. Keeping it open, while encouraging responsible dog use (like is being done now) is the way to go.