A MANAGER FOR THE GREENWAY

December 15, 2007
The Boston Globe
EDITORIAL

IN AN IDEAL WORLD, the City of Boston would own the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway and contract with the private, nonprofit Greenway Conservancy to maintain it, just as New York City does with a similar group for Central Park. But the Menino administration wants nothing to do with the Greenway, now controlled by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, unless it receives money from the state.

This string of parks, from the North End to Chinatown, will receive heavy use once it is fully open next year. The Turnpike Authority neither wants to nor is qualified to maintain the parks.

The Greenway Conservancy, in its first three years of existence, has demonstrated skill at fund-raising and constituency-building. House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi is to be commended for devising a plan to cede control to the conservancy, the one group that wants the job. But his plan has flaws and should not be rushed through the Legislature without a hearing.

The conservancy has long been scheduled to take over the Greenway in 2012. DiMasi would speed that up, ceding control to the conservancy by the end of 2009 at the latest. He wants to expand the group's board from 10 to 13 members and include local legislators (one of whom is DiMasi) and representatives of affected neighborhoods. Both are sensible ideas.

But DiMasi would give the conservancy control of the Greenway for 99 years, at no charge, similar to what the state did in 1990 for the Massachusetts Horticultural Society at the Elm Bank Reservation in Wellesley. The Greenway, a public park in the heart of Boston, should not be relinquished to a private organization for so long. It's better to follow the New York model, in which the city puts an eight-year limit on its maintenance agreement with the Central Park Conservancy. A renewable 10-year lease would be fine, too.

In New York, the Central Park Conservancy has been active for 27 years. This year, it raised $21.5 million for maintenance from private sources, with only $4.5 million coming from the city. In Boston, private money may not be so forthcoming.

To solve this problem, DiMasi would give the Greenway Conservancy $5.5 million from fees paid to the Registry of Motor Vehicles each year. The Legislature needs to think hard before earmarking fees collected in the western part of the state for the exclusive maintenance of a Boston park. How about a special fund for all the state parks, or a special assessment on commercial properties in the neighborhoods that benefit from the Greenway?

The Greenway, which runs through neighborhoods with different needs and tastes, is a tough place to manage properly. It needs an organization with special dedication, technical ability, and political skills. The Legislature should give the conservancy the authority, within reasonable time limits, to do the job right.

Copyright © 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.

Contact:

Nancy Brennan
Rose Fitzgerald Kenney Greenway Conservancy
617-292-0020
info@rosekennedygreenway.org