Tim Love was invited by the City of Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development (DND) to moderate a design charrette for a proposed open space on a City-owned parcel that spans West 2nd and West 1st Street in South Boston. The lot, which includes a boarded-up Department of Public Works building, has been abandoned for years.
There was an impressive turnout of neighborhoods residents (thanks to Gary Murad’s “get-out-the-word” campaign). As a result of the excellent prep work by John Feuerbach and Jay Lee at DND, an impressive range of drawing and drafting supplies provided by Gretchen Schneider (Community Design Resource Center of Boston), and the design talents of Shauna Gillies-Smith (Ground), David Gamble (Gamble Associates), and David Warner (Warner Larson Landscape Architects), the workshop produced several thoughtful and viable alternatives for a park design, including a passive lawn, a community garden, and areas for informal neighborhood gatherings.
