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.