Boston Parks Advocates Group Holds First Annual Meeting

The Boston Park Advocates celebrated its first annual meeting at the Franklin Park Golf Course clubhouse on Wednesday, June 8.

BPA Director Ruth Goldman kicked off the event by recounting the organization’s accomplishment during its first year of existence, including capacity building, park maintenance, training on strengthening park groups, and advocacy against Boston parks budget cuts and state park budget cuts, plus the bottle bill.

Goldman recognized several green-areas activists, including Nina Mukherji, “without whom BPA’s accomplishments wouldn’t have been possible,” she said.

The Franklin Park Coalition was recognized as a key member of BPA and board member Marylin Marion said, “Some of you might be envious that I live right across from this beautiful park.”

Antonia Pollack, commissioner of the Boston Parks and Recreation Dept. noted that what goes on in suburban green areas affects Boston, too. Members of a suburban community approached Boston Parks and Recreation and said, “We built a police station on our ball park, can we use yours?” she said.

Keynote speaker, Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of the Boston Public Health Commission spoke  about the role of open space in making the city a healthy and vibrant place to live.

“We health professionals used to tell people that is good to exercise. The current thinking is that the urban environment must provide the infrastructure and safe and accessible facilities for exercising, and you are the ones providing that,” she said.

Ferrer expounded on the intertwined relationship between health, economic development, open space and how those aspects and others need to be taken into consideration within a holistic approach to public health (see videos).

The Friends of Jamaica Pond were present, circulating a petition about protection of JP’s watershed.

According to their website BPA is “a growing, volunteer-based, citywide network of active park stakeholders who are the champions for Boston’s parks and open spaces.” The organization endeavors to protect and improve parks, athletic fields, playgrounds, streets and sidewalks, bikeways, community gardens, greenways, beaches, urban wilds and reservations.

BPA counts among its ranks people from all walks of life who are open space enthusiasts, including runners, walkers, cyclists, parents and their children, teachers and their students, neighbors, coaches, artists, performers, gardeners, health professionals, etc.

According to BPA, Boston has 56 protected urban wilds constituting 786 acres and 150 community gardens. The Boston Parks and Recreation Dept. manages 217 parks, playgrounds and athletic fields; the Emerald Necklace; 16 historic burial grounds and three large active cemeteries; 75 tennis and baseball courts and two golf courses.

Future BPA activities include Active Thursdays, an initiative to coordinate and publicize active park events for Thursdays, as a way to get people out in the parks and offer support and publicity to groups that are running the events.

A workshop on how to run an event for Active Thursday will be held Tuesday, June 14,  from 6 to 8 p.m., in a location to be announced. The training session will cover pickup sports events, active cultural events (like dancing or TaiChi), biking, events taking place at playgrounds and more. Participants are encouraged to to run their own workshop ideas for events they might want to organize with their group.

Click here for BPA’s events calendar.