EXPLANATION

Two new threats have arisen to Lechmere Canal Park:

1. Lamp Posts. Cambridge Dept. of Public Works is deciding whether to rip out the historic Bishop’s Crook lamp posts and replace them with ordinary lamp posts. The Bishop’s Crook lamps play a key role in creating the atmosphere of the park and connecting it with nearby Centanni Park. Hold New England Development (NED) to its promise to “restore existing historic lighting” in the park.

2. Lower Path.  NED is also reneging on its promise to put “integral colored” reddish asphalt on the lower pathway, both (a) to preserve the terra cotta design scheme of the park, and (b) to keep the lower pathway from looking like a dedicated bike path. NED now proposes a temporary dark grey plastic coating with only a one-year warranty that excludes damage from snow plowing. Hold NED to its promise of permanent embedded color that matches its own rendering of the lower path.   

Please sign the petition below, by clicking the "Support now" button at upper right, and also send your own personal email message as soon as possible, but no later than 5 pm Monday afternoon, to planningboardcomment@cambridgema.gov. Your own words are best, but here is text you can cut and paste:

I’m writing about the ‘Informational Update’ concerning Lechmere Canal Park by New England Development on the agenda for January 23, 2024. Please do not allow NED to go back on the promise it made last February of ‘integral colored bituminous concrete’ on the lower path. A thin coating of plastic won’t be plowable and will have to be recoated multiple times during the life of the path. Also, the color proposed by NED is much too dark; they should use a lighter reddish color that matches their own rendering. A black asphalt surface will clash with the terra cotta theme of the park and will encourage bicyclists to treat the lower walk as a dedicated bike path.

The Bishop's Crook lamp posts aren't on the Planning Board agenda for the upcoming meeting, but you can add something about preserving and restoring them if you feel the need.

Thanks!

PETITION

To: The Cambridge Planning Board and Department of Public Works.

The undersigned residents of Cambridge ask you to protect Lechmere Canal Park by holding New England Development to the commitments it has made: (1) to preserve and restore the historic Bishop’s Crook pole lamps, and (2) to pave the lower pathway with integrally reddish colored bituminous concrete, as shown in its rendering, not with a dark plastic coating.