Park System

By Chelsea Kendrick, Boston University News Service When Frederick Law Olmsted began designing Boston's Emerald Necklace in 1878 he envisioned the park system as an opportunity for Bostonians to escape the dirty, overcrowded city streets for the beauty and tranquility of the natural world. Today, the seven-mile stretch of nine parks and four ponds that make up Olmsted's famed Emerald Necklace remains one of Boston's most popular features. Starting in April 2012, part of Olmsted's park system will undergo its first major restoration in decades.

Facing the possible end of state funding, the nonprofit group that manages the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway is seeking more contributions from private sources as well as soliciting the public's suggested improvements to the 15-acre park system. Directors of the Greenway outlined plans Tuesday to eventually increase its annual budget to $6 million, a 36 percent increase from its current $4.4 million. But how they will fund that increase remains a work in progress, with directors hoping much of it will come from a voluntary tax on commercial landowners along the downtown parks.

Facing the possible end of state funding, the nonprofit group that manages the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway is seeking more contributions from private sources as well as soliciting the public's suggested improvements to the 15-acre park system. Directors of the Greenway outlined plans Tuesday to eventually increase its annual budget to $6 million, a 36 percent increase from its current $4.4 million. But how they will fund that increase remains a work in progress, with directors hoping much of it will come from a voluntary tax on commercial landowners along the downtown parks.

Facing the possible end of state funding, the nonprofit group that manages the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway is seeking more contributions from private sources as well as soliciting the public's suggested improvements to the 15-acre park system. Directors of the Greenway outlined plans Tuesday to eventually increase its annual budget to $6 million, a 36 percent increase from its current $4.4 million. But how they will fund that increase remains a work in progress, with directors hoping much of it will come from a voluntary tax on commercial landowners along the downtown parks.

WHAT STARTED as a gaffe by the director of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy has turned into a bitter debate about the future of the park above the submerged Central Artery. Should the 15 acres be maintained and programmed solely by private funds? Should it be absorbed into the state or even city park system? Or should it continue as a nonprofit hybrid, with almost half of its $4.7 million budget coming from the state? State Transportation Secretary Richard Davey seems to have made up his mind.

WASHINGTON — In honor of Veterans Day, national parks will not be charging any entrance fees on Nov. 11. It’s one of several fee-free days the park system has offered this year. Some outfitters, shops, and lodges based in the national parks offer two-for-one deals and other discounts in conjunction with the fee-free program; details can be found at parkpartners.org/Special-Offers-for-2010.html. If you’re planning ahead to next year, fee-free days in 2011 will include April 16-24, Sept.

By Matt Rocheleau, Town Correspondent While there is no count of the number of trees and tree limbs downed along Boston's Emerald Necklace park system from this past weekend's storm, officials today called the damage significant and cautioned parkgoers to watch for loose hanging branches. "They can come down very quickly and can be lethal," said Emerald Necklace Conservancy senior project manager Ray Olaeado-Johnson by phone after touring much of the park space to get an initial idea of Tropical Storm Irene's aftermath.

Here on a peninsula that is so densely developed, Boston takes its open space pretty seriously. After all, this is a city that is home to the Emerald Necklace , Frederick Law Olmsted's masterful system of linked parks, though it's more of a continuous, meandering strand than a necklace, because the planned return trip from Franklin Park to South Boston along Columbia Road was never completed. The Olmsted park system is the gold standard for public space, and it's very much on the minds of Bostonians right now, because some 288 acres of new parklands are...

BANGOR -- The number of visitors to state parks in Maine declined this year, although park revenues have increased. The park system took in $2.61 million from park pass fees in 2005, compared with $2.37 million in 2004, said David Soucy, director of the state parks and lands bureau. "That's got to be due to the fee increase," Soucy said. Entrance fees to state-owned ocean and freshwater beaches were raised $1 this year to offset the cost of hiring lifeguards, he said.

Reader John Avini asked GlobeWatch why the state decided to make over parts of his Fenway neighborhood while others that could also use some upgrading were overlooked. About 18 months ago, the Department of Conservation and Recreation replaced a large number of park benches in the greenway opposite Emmanuel College and along sections of Park Drive, Avini wrote in an e-mail. But old benches across from buildings belonging to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and Simmons College did not get replaced.

WHAT STARTED as a gaffe by the director of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy has turned into a bitter debate about the future of the park above the submerged Central Artery. Should the 15 acres be maintained and programmed solely by private funds? Should it be absorbed into the state or even city park system? Or should it continue as a nonprofit hybrid, with almost half of its $4.7 million budget coming from the state? State Transportation Secretary Richard Davey seems to have made up his mind.

By Chelsea Kendrick, Boston University News Service When Frederick Law Olmsted began designing Boston's Emerald Necklace in 1878 he envisioned the park system as an opportunity for Bostonians to escape the dirty, overcrowded city streets for the beauty and tranquility of the natural world. Today, the seven-mile stretch of nine parks and four ponds that make up Olmsted's famed Emerald Necklace remains one of Boston's most popular features. Starting in April 2012, part of Olmsted's park system will undergo its first major restoration in decades.

Reader John Avini asked GlobeWatch why the state decided to make over parts of his Fenway neighborhood while others that could also use some upgrading were overlooked. About 18 months ago, the Department of Conservation and Recreation replaced a large number of park benches in the greenway opposite Emmanuel College and along sections of Park Drive, Avini wrote in an e-mail. But old benches across from buildings belonging to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and Simmons College did not get replaced.

By Matt Rocheleau, Town Correspondent While there is no count of the number of trees and tree limbs downed along Boston's Emerald Necklace park system from this past weekend's storm, officials today called the damage significant and cautioned parkgoers to watch for loose hanging branches. "They can come down very quickly and can be lethal," said Emerald Necklace Conservancy senior project manager Ray Olaeado-Johnson by phone after touring much of the park space to get an initial idea of Tropical Storm Irene's...

IN “PAYING for the parks on Greenway’’ (Op-ed, June 10), Paul McMorrow laid out the funding history of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway. Increased property values near the Greenway have led to increased taxes, which go to the city’s general fund but do not benefit the Greenway’s maintenance and programming. The Boston park system as a whole, not only the Greenway, has been underfunded for generations. Improved management by the Boston Parks Department has averted a citywide park crisis such as the Greenway is facing.

New Jersey-based foodies Laury and John Bakie sampled 750 meals in Las Vegas and then penned a book to help visitors enjoy eating in Sin City. The 280-page coffee-table book, “The World of Las Vegas Dining’’ (NJR Publications, $48) contains 700 photos and the inside scoop on local restaurants and the world-renowned chefs who run them, such as Bobby Flay, Todd English, Emeril, Mario Batali, and Tom Colicchio. You’ll find out how they made it to the top and where you can savor their creations.

New Jersey-based foodies Laury and John Bakie sampled 750 meals in Las Vegas and then penned a book to help visitors enjoy eating in Sin City. The 280-page coffee-table book, “The World of Las Vegas Dining’’ (NJR Publications, $48) contains 700 photos and the inside scoop on local restaurants and the world-renowned chefs who run them, such as Bobby Flay, Todd English, Emeril, Mario Batali, and Tom Colicchio. You’ll find out how they made it to the top and where you can savor their creations.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - A soon-to-be-implemented policy for scientists who are permitted to conduct research in national parks will give the National Park Service a share of any profits from their work. The policy is expected to go into effect early next year after more than a decade of concern and a lawsuit over “bioprospecting’’ in Yellowstone National Park. Bioprospecting, a hybrid of the words “biodiversity’’ and “prospecting,’’ is the search for organisms that promise scientific breakthroughs in medicine...

THE INTRODUCTION of a proposed business improvement district for the Rose Kennedy Greenway didn’t go as planned. The Greenway’s sponsors thought businesses would leap at the chance to throw money at the 15-acre park system. Fistfuls of cash failed to fly through the air, though, and the group charged with the parks’ upkeep, the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, retreated into a quiet period. The Conservancy is currently tweaking numbers, in hopes of finding a voluntary payment system that will be palatable to the large landlords who will ultimately decide the district’s fate.

WASHINGTON — In honor of Veterans Day, national parks will not be charging any entrance fees on Nov. 11. It’s one of several fee-free days the park system has offered this year. Some outfitters, shops, and lodges based in the national parks offer two-for-one deals and other discounts in conjunction with the fee-free program; details can be found at parkpartners.org/Special-Offers-for-2010.html. If you’re planning ahead to next year, fee-free days in 2011 will include April 16-24, Sept.