Ginny Monk and John Moritz on the job at Saturday's cleanup.
An under-appreciated Fair Haven riverine jewel is looking shinier than ever thanks to an invigorated “friends” group and an increasingly effective partnership with the city and Yale University’s Urban Resource Initiative.
That public greenspace is Quinnipiac River Park, located just off of Front Street between Grand Avenue and Chapel Street on the western edge of the park’s eponymous river.
On a brilliantly sunny Saturday morning, 15 members of the Friends of the Quinnipiac River Park gathered for a seasonal cleanup — and to dream big as to how this neighborhood anchor could be made even better.
The Friends of Quinnipiac River Park on Saturday.
Some of the ongoing goals of a comprehensive park re-do plan that were at the front of mind for these 15 park cleaner-uppers Saturday included:
• Finishing the widened walking path and fixing the drainage to stop erosion.
• Planting new shade and other trees that might add up to a little Fair Haven arboretum.
• Plumbing two new spigots at the north and south ends of the park (currently there is only one in the middle) so those trees can be watered without neighbors lugging five gallon cans from their homes.
• Adding more benches and gathering places for neighbors to be neighborly.
• And throughout it all, preserving the unique character of the place. Oh, and bringing back a beloved osprey platform.
The gathering was organized by Ward 14 Alder Sarah Miller along with long-time Friends of Quinnipiac River Park founder Thomas Burwell and super-volunteer and canvasser Sadi Vidro, who has been cleaning up the park on his own and through the friends group, he said, since 1976.
Miller praised the city and its parks staff, especially Elio Cruz, who was helping to hand out the picker-upper tools, bags, rakes, and gloves Saturday. Already in the spring Cruz was the lead worker in widening and re-surfacing three quarters of the scenic walking path from the Grand Avenue Bridge south towards the promenade.
The walking/running path has been fully resurfaced and widened to about six feet.
In years gone by the trail had been in many places little more than a rut and a dangerous one, but now through the Friends’ and Cruz’s effort, the path has increased in width from about three to six feet in most areas. And you can run without peril, three people can walk abreast, and folks in wheelchairs can be as secure as those on foot.
As people gathered and the river sparkled and the recently renovated Grand Avenue Bridge showed off its new green coat, Miller welcomed Ginny Monk and John Moritz, a young couple who moved from Westville into the area in June.
After the welcome and a smile Miller handed them the tools of the morning’s trade, saying “Walk until you find some garbage and then put it in the bag.”
Monk, a runner who appreciates the new easy-on-the joints and absorbent walking/running surface, was in the park in part because she had filled out a survey organized by Miller and Ward 14 Co-chair Martin Torresquintero. She said she had put more benches and more shade trees in as her top objectives for the continuing re-do of the park.
The results of that survey are guiding a continuing community conversation – in partnership with the city and tree-planters at URI – about what are the best new inputs, said Miller, to create more access, more safety, and to preserve the park’s “passive” quality.
By that Miller meant the riverine uses: walking, jogging, fishing, taking in the stunning river, observing nature. Other ideas percolating also include putting in some kind of permanent or semi-permanent closed structure for performances and meetings; a kind of viewing platform over the most eroded portion of the trail at the southern end of the park; and perhaps some kayak and canoe launch access.
But already the park looks perkier than in many years and the older timers are noticing. “We’ve lived in the neighborhood since the 1980s,” said Perkins Street resident Terry Freeman, “and it’s never been more beautiful.”
Parks staffer Elio Cruz with Beth Kingsley at the only spigot in the middle of a very long park.
“We don’t want to overproduce (when a comprehensive plan, in the making, is arrived at),” said long-time neighbor Barbara Prochan. “We want to keep the same character. We want to keep the same charm as an old oyster village.”
Contributing to that mightily has been the recent installation of four raised crosswalks on Front Street from Grand to where the street curves and rises at Brewery Square. No more speeding through this oyster village.
Miller said in the coming months the city will be striping Front Street diagonally so that people can park facing the park, an improvement that will increase ease of access.
The next community meeting working towards a comprehensive plan will take place in January. Those interested in attending and those who want to complete the online survey, the link is: ward14.org.