The report in Jamaica Plain News as to the Neighborhood Council’s decision at the suggestion of the Jamaica Pond Association to direct $5,000 of the 161 South Huntington Ave. litigation settlement funds to the Fund for Jamaica Pond Park, is not accurate as it does not mention the good works of the fund, which is under the supervision of the Park Department.
(“The $5,000 voted for the Fund ... would double [its] assets ... In its past four IRS filings it has never had a balance of more than $5,000”).
The question neither investigated nor answered by the reporter of the story is: Why is there a relatively low balance in the fund? The answer is that the money in the fund has been spent by the Park Department. Examples since 2012 are the $18,000 that funded studies by engineering consultants to the Park Department for the repair of Pine Bank; the $11,000 that funded plantings and the substitution of stone dust for asphalt at Pine Bank; and, the $15,000 grant to the Emerald Necklace Conservancy for a “Green Team” of young people to do maintenance and repair work on the Boston side of Jamaica Pond, Ward Pond and Leverett Pond The Fund has also provided the funds for new signage at Pine Bank.
Kevin F. Moloney
Rambler Road