OWNERSHIP
CONDITIONS
CONTEXT
HISTORY
DESIGN ISSUES
TESTIMONIES

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OWNERSHIP:
City of Boston

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CONDITIONS:
The residential and commercial Green Street/ Glen Road is significant for several reasons. It is a stop on the MBTA Orange Line. It is the most accessible route to Franklin Park from a rapid transit station. It is connected to a significant local park called Johnson Park, as well as the Southwest Corridor Park. And it is the only continous street in Jamaica Plain that runs from the commercial district of Centre Street, over the Southwest Corridor rail, and across Washington Street. A number of small businesses, non-profits, residences, and light industries line Green Street east of the Station. Thus, Green Street/ Glen Road is significant to the local economy, provides a key connection to several significant greenspaces in the city, and is a local hub for public transportation.

Green Street Station and Franklin Park:
Glen Road also extends into Franklin Park, although it is no longer a public right of way beyond the gates of the park and the road is used exclusively by Parks Department vehicles. A gate blocks vehicular access but there is no inviting entryway or signage to welcome pedestrians. The only signage here warns people not to allow their dogs to go unleashed. There is also no signage for Franklin Park at the MBTA Station, despite the fact that a steady stream of visitors flows into the park from the Green Street MBTA Station on a regular basis. There is space at the entrance for about five vehicles to park. The road is used as a turn-around and sometimes as a place to congregate or a "bathroom for taxi drivers." Lighting is poor at the entrance, and there is no signage. According to Christine Poff, director of the Franklin Park Coalition, in 2002 local residents are not yet in agreement about how to improve this entrance -- whether to plant flowers and improve lighting and signage or to retain its "rough and rugged" image.

Margaret Fuller School:
The Margaret Fuller Elementary School is located on Glen Road west of Forest Hills Street. Boston Public Schools plans to close this neighborhood school after the 2002/2003 school year and perhaps re-use the building as a school for immigrant children who speak English as a second language. Community connection to the school - one of the oldest in the area - is strong, and its closing was a major shock to many local parents and students.

Glen Road entrance to Franklin Park:
The Glen Road entrance is known as a "dog-friendly" entrance to Franklin Park. According to Merlyn Southwick, an area resident and frequent park user, some people who are nervous about dogs avoid using the entrance. The last house before the entrance to the park is, in 2002, vacant. It was previously a homeless shelter run by Casa Nueva Vida and was put on the market in 2003.

Glen Road within Franklin Park:
Glen Road once extended through Franklin Park and was drivable. Today, within the park, much of Glen Road has been de-paved and replanted with grass. Glen Road is part of the network of cross-country running trails and runs alongside two original stone walls near the Valley Gates.

Sigourney Street:
Adjacent to Glen Road at the entrance to Franklin Park is Sigourney Street, where a flurry of renovations and new construction has taken place since 2000. The homes along Sigourney Street are, in general, high-end condominiums and two family homes. In May of 2003, 12-unit condominium project by Maple Hurst Builders is almost complete. The homes approximately $140,000 for the affordable units up to $400,000 for the market-rate units.

The new development has ten market-rate and two affordable units. Some blasting of Roxbury Puddingstone was involved in the development. Also, in regard to runoff issues, the Maple Hurst website reads, "Because of the amount of rock ledge on the property there is currently very little soil absorption capacity. Therefore the project will be engineered to capture runoff from roofs, pavement and landscape into underground dry wells and cisterns and use storm water for irrigation, perhaps decorative pools or fountains."

Maple Hurst initiated a public process with neighbors and has commited to being responsive to community concerns. At that time, developers agreed to donate $10,000 to the Franklin Park Coalition, the Margaret Fuller School, or other neighborhood projects that are endorsed by the Sigourney Neighborhood Group.

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CONTEXT: 
-- Green Street/ Glen Road is the only street in Jamaica Plain that cuts across the maze of streets from Jamaica Pond to the west and Franklin Park to the east.

-- The name of the street and the station -- both "Green Street" -- are evocative of nature and parks. To reinforce this mental association, citizens placed enlarged photographs of Franklin Park and the Arnold Arboretum within the station. This association could be enhanced with signage and more information about the area's resources.

-- For visitors who want to access the Playstead area of Franklin Park (including the thousands of people who participate in the festivals at Franklin Park each summer) on foot, Green Street Station provides safer and quicker access to the park than does Forest Hills Station.

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HISTORY:
Green Street:
Green Street was laid out in 1836 to connect Centre Street to the Dedham Turnpike (now Washington Street). Seaverns Avenue was constructed soon thereafter. Soon after the road was constructed, explosive development took place. The street was the first to link the Pondside neighborhood of Jamaica Plain with reliable tranportation (von Hoffman, A. Local Attachments, 1994).

Glen Road:
According to Frederick Law Olmsted's plan for Franklin Park, Glen Road was the cross-town connection between the railway along Centre Street in Jamaica Plain and the railway along Blue Hill Avenue. Glen Road was to divide the park into two sections: the Ante Park and the Country Park. Circuit Drive, on the other hand, was actually a circle in the interior of the Park. Once Circuit Drive was re-routed to become a cross-town cut-through, Glen Drive became superfluous.

The section of Glen Road that runs through the park attracted crime in the 1970s and early 1980s. Three rapes occurred on Glen Road around 1980 and focused attention on the problems with unregulated vehicular access along this stretch of road. In 1981, in large part as a response to this and other crimes, the Parks Department hauled 20 tons of rubble and debris from the Glen Road entrance to the park, put in stone blocks to impede all traffic, and permanently close the road. They unpaved much of the road, replanted grass, and established cross-country running trails through the area.

Condos on Sigourney Street: Before the site was developed, it was extremely rocky, with a steep grade that afforded extraordinary views toward the Forest Hills neighborhood and Franklin Park. The land was open, covered in small bushes and grasses with few trees. The foundation of a building along Sigourney, including the basement, still stood in 2002. There was a wooden covering over the basement area, presumably to prevent people from falling in, but the wood has splintered and buckled, has gaps, and is generally unstable. Graffiti covered the vertical part of the foundation. An unsuccessful development effort was undertaken 15 years ago on this site.

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DESIGN ISSUES:
-- Unlike several other entrances to Franklin Park, little investment has been made in the Glen Road entrance. There is no orienting signage at the entrance, which is not inviting but rather blocked by a gate that is almost always closed. It is not clear that the visitor is entering Franklin Park, despite the fact that this is the most easily accessible entrance to Franklin Park from rapid transit.

A group of residents have, however, organized to improve the entrance as part of a "pocket stewardship" campaign led by the Franklin Park Coalition. Clean-up gatherings took place at the entrance to the park in the summer of 2002. 

-- Green Street changes into Glen Road east of Washington Street. This leads to some confusion among visitors.

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TESTIMONIES:
"People just flow right into the park from Green Street" (Bernard Lynch, director of maintenance, Boston Parks Department).

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