At
6:30pm on Monday night, many interested Somerville residents came to
the meeting to hear a presentation on the planned restoration of the
much-loved Somerville Park and to discuss its future. Some parents even
brought their kids as though to remind others that the new playground
and child safety are high priorities to the community.

Monday's
meeting was the third and perhaps final meeting in a series of
community gatherings concerning the plans for renovating
Hodgkins-Curtin Park. The first meeting, which took place last fall,
was an analysis and discussion of the site itself. The second meeting
featured preliminary designs for the park renovations and a forum where
community members could raise their concerns and make suggestions.
Monday's meeting was much the same format as the second meeting, only
with newly updated park designs.

Ellen Schneider, a
representative from the Mayor's Office of Strategic Planning &
Community Development, gave the opening remarks. "We renovate about
three parks a year and intend these parks to last twenty years," she
said. Schneider then went on to explain that come spring they will take
contract bids for the project and hopefully begin renovations sometime
in the summer or next fall.

Cherri Ruane, the project manager
for the Hodgkins-Curtin Park renovations, gave the majority of the
presentation on plans for the park. Ruane is a landscape architect with
the firm Weston and Sampson.

One of the most important changes
in the park's layout will be a slight expansion of the baseball
diamond's outfield. This expansion will make the entirety of the
outfield 200 feet long, which will qualify the park's baseball diamond
for official use in tournaments. "But the ball field footprint itself
will remain the same," explained Ruane.

In addition to the
field's expansion, the batting cage and bleachers will be replaced or
repaired. The ground in the field will also be lowered and leveled
during the renovation in order to make the field safer to run and play
on.

The playground will remain in the same general location
and there will be a circuitous walkway around the perimeter of the
structures. The actual play structures will be replaced by new
playground sets. "We are looking at a composite material that gives the
impression of wood," said Ruane, while explaining the materials from
which the new play structures will be made. She went on to explain that
actual wood is too susceptible to rotting to be considered safe for the
long term.

Based on the renderings of the new play structures,
the brown composite material will be complemented by yellow bars and
slides. Ruane explained at the last meeting, "There was this cry that
the yellow park remain the yellow park." Currently, the Hodgkins-Curtin
Park playground is filled with yellow structures and has been
unofficially dubbed "The Yellow Park."

There are also plans for a "river of sand," which will be a snakelike strip of sand near the playground for kids to play in.

Community
concerns and questions ranged through an assortment of issues on the
park planning and layout. When asked if the trees currently in the park
will remain there Ruane responded, "Yes, and we're going to bring them
back to health."

One resident asked if there were plans to
incorporate a water feature in the park for the summers. Alderman Bob
Trane, who is also very involved in the park's restoration, responded
that it would be too expensive because environmental guidelines for
those devices require expensive water recycling technology. "Can we at
least keep the water fountain leaky?" another resident joked.

Other
concerns were voiced about the field being used exclusively for
baseball and baseball leagues, since much of the construction centers
around expanding the outfield for league requirements. But Trane and
Schneider were quick to reassure everyone that baseball will not
monopolize the field. Other activities like bocce and picnicking will
still be permitted.

Many people in attendance also expressed
concerned that the would be closed for construction during the warmer
parts of the year when it would be nice to have a park in that
neighborhood. To that, Alderman Trane responded bluntly, explaining the
construction is not eligible for federal funding and so must be taken
from the city's budget. "The money for this project is there now,"
Trane said, "But if we delay, with the economy the way it is, we might
not be able to get this done."

If there was one thing everyone
agreed on though, it was that this park renovation is necessary and
would benefit the community greatly. "We're trying for a balance here,"
explained Schneider, "where we keep the character of the park but bring
the whole thing up in quality."