Pawtucket's parks, green spaces benefiting from investments. Here is where the money is going. | Opinion
Donald Grebien is mayor of the City of Pawtucket.
It’s fall, with a crisp breeze in the air, and the beautiful trees in Slater Park are starting to show their spectacular autumn colors. I recently had the opportunity to take in this wonderful scene at the dedication of the renovated Pawtucket Dog Park at Slater Park, a $300,000 investment in a treasured community resource for our four-legged friends and city residents alike.
Seeing families come together to enjoy our parks and green spaces is one of the true highlights of my time as mayor, and that’s why I’ve made investing in these spaces one of my administration’s top priorities.
Over the last five years, we have invested over $23 million to make Pawtucket greener and to upgrade our parks and recreation facilities. These investments include:
∎ $650,000 to plant more than 1,000 trees across the city, including in our parks, gateways, and through our free tree planting program. Trees beautify our city, provide cooling shade, and help to mitigate stormwater runoff. Thanks to our long-standing commitment to greening our city through tree plantings, the Arbor Day Foundation has recognized Pawtucket as a Tree City USA for the past 17 years.
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∎ $1 million to revitalize Payne Park, including a new splash pad area, two fully renovated basketball courts with lighting, a renovated playground area, a new stage area with beautiful murals, a walking path with accessible exercise equipment, and a new pergola in the middle of the park.
∎ $1.3 million to restore tennis/pickleball courts at Slater Park and Veterans Park.
∎ $1.2 million to build a bikeway and parking spaces so more residents and visitors can enjoy historic Slater Mill and its beautiful location on the Blackstone River.
∎ $1.4 million for the recently reopened Curvin-McCabe Playground. Built with accessible features, the playground ensures that children of all abilities can experience the joy of playtime with friends.
∎ $461,000 for a new roof and exterior renovations to Slater Park's Looff Carousel, an icon of our great city. An investment that will ensure future generations of Pawtucket families can enjoy this wonderful attraction.
∎ $960,000 to upgrade Pawtucket Town Landing, a popular area for fishing, boating and waterfront recreation.
∎ $1 million for reconstructing public basketball courts across Pawtucket.
∎ $350,000 for a new dog park at Veterans Memorial Park.
∎ $80,000 for the construction of a greenhouse at the Pawtucket Housing Authority’s Galego Court housing development, because access to healthy, fresh vegetables is so important to community health.
∎ $1.2 million to install green infrastructure including new tree planters along the Pine Street corridor near the Pawtucket-Central Falls Commuter Rail Station to beautify the area and help reduce stormwater runoff into the Blackstone River.
These are just a few examples of our commitment to beautiful parks and green spaces across Pawtucket. And I can assure you that we are just getting started.
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I am incredibly excited about our plans, in partnership with the City Council and JK Equities, to renovate a portion of Woodlawn’s Morley Field, while also investing more than $2 million to build a beautiful new 9.49-acre public park just one mile away on Pleasant Street. This private-public partnership will allow JK Equities to build a distribution facility that will create 450 jobs, completely renovate a portion of Morley Field, and give all of our city’s residents a truly special new waterfront public park along the banks of the Seekonk River.
Parks and green spaces are the lifeblood of our community, and through continued investment we are ensuring that these spaces are beautiful and accessible to all Pawtucket residents.
So get out there and enjoy our special public parks, our trees showing their autumn colors, and all the fun of fall and harvest season!
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Pawtucket mayor touts latest of parks and green spaces projects
