Allan Appel Photo
The future Mulberry Jam site, State and Bradley Street, at the base of I-91 overpass, looking southwest.
The land for a future“Mulberry Jam” parklet on State Street near Bradley, which neighbors are trying to retrieve from disuse and long DOT neglect, got a big boost Monday night.
The East Rock Community Management Team voted to earmark its entire annual neighborhood “democracy budget” — aka the $20,000 Neighborhood Public Improvement Program (NPIP) grant from city government’s Livable City Initiative (LCI) — as seed money to advance the parklet project.
Appleby getting word of the grant at the meeting.
Of 52 votes electronically cast, 28 went for Mulberry Jam and 24 went for an art proposal, reported the management team President David Budries.
Click here for a full description, including renderings, of the Mulberry Jam project, which includes green space, benches, tables, and a general rescue from weeds, boulders, and a dumping ground landscape, described by Keith Appleby and Ming Thompson, among the volunteer architects who are helming the project.
“We’re exceptionally pleased, said Appleby, who was in attendance at the meeting.
The project began with Bradley Street Bicycle Co-Op owner John Martin and a handful of “Friends of Mulberry Jam” to rescue the roughly 1,200 square-foot space.
They began collaborating with Yale University’s Urban Resources Initiative, as a (pardon the pun) garden0variety greenspace project. It has evolved into an effort, combined with other projects to beautify and light the adjacent I‑91 overpass, seeking to rescue a long-neglected gateway between Downtown and East Rock.
To that end Mulberry Jam’s budget is about $50,000, said Appleby, The effort now turns both to obtaining permissions from the state DOT, which owns the back portion of the land abutting the roadway, and from the city.
The effort also turns to fundraising.
Whereas many community management teams split their $20,000 among a few or even a large number of projects distributed across the districts, East Rockers voted to spend their full treasure on Mulberry Jam.
“I think it fills a void, plugging into a network of greenspaces” throughout the area, Appleby said.
It also fills a fundraising void. The $20,000 is key in that it will help the group apply for other grants to achieve the $50,000 total, Appleby saidl. “Many grants require matches,” he said, and the $20,000 fills that requirment, he added.
“Everyone in East Rock can relate to it as a gateway and a lot of people have a stake in the spot,” he added.