By Rachel Lake

The Greenway Conservancy will bring new lighting improvements to Auntie Kay and Uncle Frank Chin Park and Mary Soo Hoo Park on The Greenway next spring, based on the community feedback and recommendations of the Chin Park Lighting Study. The Conservancy began the Chin Park Lighting Study in September 2019 with funding for the original design work provided by the Greenway Business Improvement District (BID).

The Conservancy, with its design team, solicited community feedback via an in-person Community Meeting with live translation in February 2020, followed by an online survey. In October 2020, the Conservancy hosted a virtual Community Update Meeting with live translation, where we provided an update on the priority projects for enhanced lighting. Additional community feedback came from the Chinatown Master Plan 2020, the Boston Planning and Development Agency PLAN Downtown initiative, the Harvard Graduate School of Design 2018 Chinatown 2020 Master Plan: A Health Lens Analysis, the Chinese Progressive Association 2017 Improving Health in Communities Near Highways: A Study of the Reggie Wong Park in Chinatown, and many ongoing stakeholder conversations. 

The community feedback has guided our project principles and design work:

• Safety: The most consistent feedback we heard, and one of the main motivations for doing this project, is to increase safety throughout The Greenway in Chinatown. In order to make every area safe and inviting, we will prioritize lighting projects in the darkest spaces in the park. 
• Activity: We also heard from the community that we should focus lighting enhancement projects on the most densely and diversely used areas of the park, namely the plaza. We will  prioritize lighting enhancements in this area to provide lighting support to the range of festivals and gatherings that happen on the plaza.
• Aesthetics: We heard a call for lighting fixtures that reflect the culture of the community. We will begin this work by ensuring that existing cultural lighting elements are functioning properly and that planned lighting enhances and illuminates the existing Asian-inpsired design elements of Chin Park. We also see an opportunity to build off the success of our temporary public art by further exploring a unique, artist-inspired lighting infrastructure project on The Greenway in Chinatown.
• Greenery: While not directly related to lighting, we have often heard a desire for more tree canopy for shade and air quality, and to soften the space by implementing more plantings in the areas with a lot of hardscape. . 

Based on this feedback, the Conservancy is actively fundraising for a first phase of projects in Spring 2021. So far, the Conservancy has successfully fundraised from the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund and the Greenway BID, and has identified MassDOT Capital Repair funding. 

The following lighting projects are priorities, ideally for Spring 2021:

• We will restore the Sampan Sail lights at the Essex Street Corner with new LED strip lights.

• We hope to improve safety by adding light poles to the Serpentine Path. Poles will be installed along the eastern edge of the path, in the plant bed.
• We hope to improve safety by adding catenary (string) lights to the south and east of the vent stack building in Mary Soo Hoo Park.
• We hope to brighten the plaza by replacing the existing, and add additional, light poles. In addition, we plan to add new catenary lights above the plaza. 

Additionally, the Conservancy is pursuing the idea to add a new garden bed to the edge of the plaza. This garden bed would provide a buffer from the busy street and add trees and shade to the plaza, helping address the severe heat island effect in Chinatown. Located near the current BlueBikes station, it would provide additional seating near the PlayCubes and for events, while not interfering with the various cultural festivals held in the plaza. 

The Conservancy continues to actively fundraise for future lighting improvement projects, such as a community-inspired artistic lighting element and new lighting at the Essex Street Corner. Looking forward to this winter, the Conservancy will continue construction documentation and fundraising, leading to the procurement of a contractor and materials. This spring, we will begin construction on the first phase of lighting improvements. 

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, we remind visitors to wear a face covering and practice appropriate physical distancing while on The Greenway. To learn more about The Greenway and work of the Greenway Conservancy, check out our website at rosekennedygreenway.org. Please feel free to reach out with any questions and concerns to info@rosekennedygreenway.org. 

Rachel Lake is the Marketing and Community Affairs Manager at the Greenway Conservancy.