The Franklin Park Kite Festival May 1987. The interior of the entire park was free of motor vehicles in the summer 1985.
Forty years ago, on May 9, 1975, I decided to become involved in Franklin Park. Nobody asked me. I just wanted to.
I walked down to Freddie's Market at the corner of Williams and Washington Street and bought a box of plastic trash bags. I spent nine hours cleaning the Williams Street foot entrance to Franklin Park opposite 269 Forest Hills St. where my wife, Martha, and I then lived.
Then I called the Parks Department to pick up the piles of rubble, trash, tires and car fenders that must have been at least six feet high. When the Parks Department did not respond after about a week, I dragged it out to the curb and called Public Works to pick it up. Public Works was not happy with me but they picked it up.
That's usually how it happens; a person decides to get involved. Alexis de Toqueville recognized this phenomenon in Book Two of "Democracy in America," published in 1840: "Americans of all ages constantly form associations."
People become involved usually to just say no. (I've never known a community group in support of anything). So it's:
Stop The War.
Stop I-95.
Stop Whole Foods.
My activism began in the anti-war movement with 
The first clean up of Franklin Park. The Boston Herald, Oct 21, 1975. People need to stop complaining and start DOING.[/caption]
Criticizing the Parks Department was not my goal. Franklin Park was. Treating the Parks Department like the Pentagon didn't work. But it took me a while to understand that just saying no to the wreck of Franklin Park was not going to restore that great space.
My second piece of advice should be the 11th commandment: "Thou shalt not be self righteous."
I learned that suddenly one morning when I barged into the maintenance department at the Franklin Park yard and demanded they fix this certain problem in the park. The superintendent of maintenance, the late George Boutillier, told me in no uncertain terms that I was obnoxious, rude and out of line. (George and I went on to become friends and he went on to do all he could to help, which shows he was more of a gentleman than I was).
This leads me to advice number three. Understand how government works. One of my first mentors was Park Commissioner Bob McCoy. I met him in 1979 when he was assistant park commissioner. He told me soon after when I was on one of my usual park rampages: "Richard! No one made you park commissioner."
No community activist or neighborhood council member is elected or appointed or anointed by anyone. They are not accountable. They only become legitimate when they form a relationship with government. Bob and others in City Hall helped me understand how the parks department worked within city government. It was an invaluable education. Government respects those who take the time to understand its culture and restraints. I learned how the budget cycle works. How service contracts are let out. How unions operate.
Government does not share power easily. And Boston since the Flynn administration resents power-sharing with community groups unless they sense political profit. So advice number four is to recognize that government has dozens of constituencies from Day Square to Cleary Square competing for its time and resources and it does not like outsiders - no mater how bright- interfering with its work.
Keep your goals and your methods consistent and to-the-point. Never give up but know when to back off. Don't blindside government and never embarrass them in print or in public.
Activists love to criticize government and show what's wrong; I have a PhD in that field.
No one in the Boston Parks Department of 1975 denied that Franklin Park was in shambles. They just had no idea what to do about it with one of the lowest line budgets of any agency in city government. I learned early on that I needed to find some answers. I needed to generate positive action. This is a very important fact often overlooked. So I organized clean ups. I gave walking tours and slides shows to promote the park and how how important it was. I built the park's first constituency with a small group I formed, the 
Lt Governor John Kerry came to Franklin Park on June 16, 1983 to announce that the Land and water Conservation Fund had granted $250,000 to Franklin Park for phase two work. At right is Park Commissioner Bob McCoy. These funds were matched by$150,000 raised by the Franklin Park Coalition from the Browne Fund for the restoration of the Valley Gates. (John Kerry went on to other things). Richard Heath photo.[/caption]
The greatest community based achievement in the history of Boston is the Southwest Corridor. Almost 50 years ago a group of people said No to I-95. They were successful. But then they had the genius to say Yes. They built a new coalition - which I joined in 1977 - to turn that destruction into a submerged transit line with a fine linear park and sparkling new stations above.
If my experience has shown me anything, it's that activists and advocates today have to stop saying NO and work with government and other members of the community to say YES.