The Greenway is hard at work with summer maintenance and improvements

The Greenway Conservancy has been hard at work this summer on The Greenway, working on the maintenance and improvement of Auntie Kay & Uncle Frank Chin Park, the Viewing Garden, and Mary Soo Hoo Park on The Greenway in Boston’s Chinatown.

The Conservancy’s Maintenance staff services the Chinatown Stream fountain three days per week and attends to lighting, masonry, and furniture needs in Chinatown on The Greenway. This year, this has included masonry repairs in the Chinatown Stream fountain, including repair of all fountain lights at the base of the waterfall. In addition, this winter Conservancy staff worked with the City of Boston on improvements including the installation of additional bike racks along Hudson Street by Mary Soo Hoo Park and improvements to the base of the Chinatown Gateway. To continue to improve sight lines across the park, Conservancy staff relocated a Conservancy storage conex from the plaza to the Edinborough Street edge.

The Conservancy’s cleaning contractor begins every day in Chinatown and spends more time here than anywhere else in the park. To improve cleanliness, the Conservancy this year installed eight cigarette recycling receptacles in Chin Park and Mary Soo Hoo Park, and The Greenway in Chinatown has seen a ten-fold increase in power-washing, from once per week previously in Summer 2019 to at least once daily.

Although the Conservancy has been a persistent advocate since 2015 for the community’s interest in the addition of a JCDecaux public toilet in the area, the City of Boston this month announced that this will not be moving forward on The Greenway in Chinatown.

The Conservancy has continued to move forward with a lighting study for The Greenway in Chinatown. We anticipate a second community meeting in Fall 2020 to give an update on progress, in addition to our first community meeting and online survey in February 2020 to solicit community feedback. Funding for the study was provided by the Greenway Business Improvement District (BID) and the Conservancy has successfully fundraised from the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund and the Greenway BID for a first-phase of lighting projects in 2021.

The Conservancy is proud to be working with Chinatown community organizations on the We Love Boston Chinatown resiliency campaign to support local businesses in Chinatown affected by Covid-19. This includes working to supply additional outdoor seating on The Greenway to support restaurants with limited indoor and outdoor seating options during the Commonwealth and City of Boston’s phased reopening.

In Chin Park, the Greenway PlayCubes are open for children with a supervising adult and Greenway Fountains across the park are running, including the Chinatown Stream along the serpentine path. Conservancy Zone Volunteers are working across The Greenway, as well as volunteers working on Group Volunteer Projects.

To learn more about all of the offerings in the park – free fitness classes, City Winery on The Greenway,  the food trucks, the Boston Public Market at Dewey Square, the artisan Greenway Open Market, the Greenway Carousel, and more – check out our website at rosekennedygreenway.org. All Greenway programming features enhanced cleaning and physical distancing procedures to promote safety for our park visitors.

Have questions? Email info@rosekennedygreenway.org.