Allan Appel Photo
The traffic island on Woodward at Conrad.
Beautify two Woodward Avenue’s two traffic islands by adding attractive plantings that can survive a steady diet of car exhaust.
Improve the access and paths for people in wheelchairs visiting the Pardee Sea Wall.
Create a place for the free exchange and sharing of books and magazines.
And develop a “history day” tour for the Morris Cove area’s many significant yet under-appreciated historic locations.
Those were some of the ideas offered at the msot recent East Shore Management Team meeting for how the group might spend $10,000 from City Hall.
The crowd at Tuesday’s meeting.
The discussion was occasioned by an upcoming deadline from Livable City Initiative (LCI), the city government’s neighborhood anti-blight agency, for a program, now in its second year, that lets residents in each of the city’s management districts choose a project on which to spend the $10,000.
The program is part of a national trend toward “neighborhood-based budgeting.”
The 15 people gathered last week at the community room above the Engine 16 Firehouse at Lighthouse and Townsend avenues listened to a list of ideas previously submitted to the group’s acting chairwoman, Lisa Milone.
Management team officers Milone (left) and Doyle.
They included:
• a rack or kiosk for community book and magazine sharing.
• improvement of the area’s dog park near Fort Hale Park.
• drainage improvement near the Hannah’s Dream park for kids in wheelchairs.
• improvements to the Pardee Seawall Park’s benches, paths, and the sidewalks especially at the entry points.
• a restoration of the gazebo in East Shore Park.
• better signage, including reliable postings of bus schedules, at the area bus stops.
• an additional staffer at the area senior center.
When additional suggestions were solicited from the floor, the first to speak was former Alder Arlene DePino.
The water connection seen from Woodward Avenue.
“The two traffic islands on Woodward are an eyesore. Let the city’s landscape [architect] develop [a plan with] resistant plants” as part of a plan to beautify both the islands, she said.
Other suggestions included a “history day” event about the area’s sights and a new handicap ramp at the Pardee Seawall Park entrance.
As Milone dutifully wrote the suggetions down, she explained that some of the proposed activities, such as the Sea Wall Park improvements, either are ongoing already or soon will be, and have funding through different sources private and or public, or are too expensive for the LCI program.
The next step is for Milone to meet with LCI and city officials to whittle down the list.
The project the team chose last year — the adding of a water fountain to the Hannah’s Dream playground area in East Shore Park — is just coming to fruition. The trench was recently dug for the water connection to the main pipe that runs underneath Woodward Avenue.
The water fountain,when finished, will rise near here.
“I’ll give them our list and they’ll chew it up and I’ll let everyone know [the results],” Milone said.