Jamaica Plain News (https://www.jamaicaplainnews.com/tag/franklin-park-coalition)
Untangle those kites and pump up your bicycle tires because the Franklin Park Kite & Bike Festival is on May 18. The annual tradition gathers hundreds of people for kite flying, bicycling, picnicking, music, food trucks and more. There will also be bicycle advocates and local nonprofits. "It’s a great community event! It’s a place where many neighbors come together and enjoy being in the park and enjoy spring.
The Landscape Design Council (LDC) of Massachusetts has recognized Jamaica Plain's Christine Poff, the director of Boston's Community Preservation Committee, as a 2018 awardee for excellence in the field of landscape design. Poff is the 2018 recipient of the Landscape Design Council Award for Excellence, given in recognition of outstanding civic accomplishment. “Throughout her career, Christine has worked in many ways to make life better for citizens,” said LDC chairman George Papavasiliou, via press release. “We particularly applaud her efforts on behalf of Boston’s Franklin Park and the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, which stand out as supportive of the Landscape Design Council’s mission.”
As political director of the National Association of Social Workers, Poff advocated for economic and social justice bills at the Massachusetts State House, but she is likely better known for her 14 years’ service as executive director of the Franklin Park Coalition, a nonprofit organization that gives a community voice to Boston’s Franklin Park. She worked to bring back such beloved park institutions as the Elma Lewis Playhouse, the FPC Youth Crew, and the annual Kite and Bike Festival.
Boston has an additional $20 million this year to fund affordable housing, parks, open space and historic preservation thanks to the Community Preservation Act. On April 3rd, the Jamaica Plain community is invited to a public forum to share their ideas on how to spend that money. The Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation (JPNDC) organized and will lead the forum with a host of elected officials sponsoring the event and local organizations as co-sponsors. Boston adopted the Community Preservation Act (CPA) by voting in support of it in November 2016. More than 170 Massachusetts municipalities have adopted the CPA, according to the Community Preservation Coalition.
As part of Imagine Boston 2030, the city held a meeting last week to gather feedback from residents on what they want for the future of Franklin Park. But don't worry: If you couldn't attend the meeting, there is an online survey you can fill out. The Feb. 16 meeting was organized by the city as part of its Imagine Boston 2030 initiative, in conjunction with the Boston Parks and Recreation departments and the Franklin Park Coalition. Representatives from the Emerald Necklace Conservancy were also in attendance and tweeted a photo of the meeting showing it was a packed house.
It was glorious mild spring Thursday at Schoolmaster Hill in Franklin Park for the Third Annual Fairy House Building Workshop sponsored by the Boston Parks Department and the Franklin Park Coalition. Over a hundred boys and girls scampered over the drumlin collecting branches, leaves and cones to build houses for the magical woodland creatures that reappear in the springtime in New England fields and woods. Storytelling and books from Read Boston and the MassHort plant education tent were also on hand as well as face painting. The workshop showed kids of all ages how to have fun simply using natural items that are just lying around on the park floor under trees and shrubs.