Tenorio: Lynn Woods could use more attention from Parks & Rec

Last month, I visited Lynn Woods for the first time. My friend and I walked along its paths, passing trees stretching into the sky and testing our knees to walk up to Dungeon Rock. The climb might have taken our breath away, but so did the views, and my friend quipped that you wouldn’t think you were in Lynn.Unfortunately, the city government seems to share this view, for it doesn’t do a good enough job promoting the 2200 acres that comprise Lynn Woods. And this hurts the city’s image.Case in point: Last week, the Department of Parks and Recreation began its six-week ski and snowboard program for children. Parks & Rec head Lisa Nerich said that the program is popular and fun, and I’m sure that it is for the 50 youngsters enrolled. The only problem is its location: Bradford, a 45-minute bus ride away. Why not introduce youngsters to cross country skiing at Lynn Woods as well?Nerich said that there are activities planned for Lynn Woods, including a program involving the outdoor sports chain REI. That’s encouraging, but I still wish the city would make more of an effort to introduce residents to skiing opportunities at Lynn Woods. Dan Small, the supervisory park ranger employed by the Water and Sewer Commission, said there are probably about seven miles that are “really suitable” on the fire roads, and seven to eight miles more for the particularly adventurous. Chances to go downhill might be out of the question – Small said there isn’t enough of an elevation change – but he called Lynn Woods “not too steep or rocky, a pretty good place to ski.” Still, he said, “There’s really never been any great push to promote recreation here.”It seems like there is a demand for skiing in Lynn based on the increasing popularity of the children’s program. In addition to possibly complementing the children’s program at Bradford with cross country sessions at Lynn Woods, Parks & Rec could do what the Facility Management Corporation does at Connery Rink with ice skating, and hold public skiing nights at the reservation.Promoting recreation at Lynn Woods would benefit the reputation of a city that needs defense. Within the past few years, talk-radio hosts have sneeringly called Lynn a “dump,” and politicians have chuckled that it yields no captains of industry. (Given how many current captains of industry have run their companies aground lately, maybe Lynners should consider this a compliment.) More recently, studies intoned that Lynn is the third-most dangerous city in Massachusetts.Granted, people do commit plenty of crimes in Lynn. But they do the same in Cambridge. Last August, a robber punched a woman in the face and grabbed cash from her in Harvard Yard. The next month, five people assaulted and robbed a grad student on Cambridge Common, not far from Harvard. (One of them, it must be said, came from Lynn.) That same week, also close to Harvard, a robber knocked a woman to the ground and stole personal items. Yet people continue to praise Cambridge for being the home of Harvard, while they disparage Lynn, home of some prime skiing territory. (As for crime at Lynn Woods, Small said there have been no incidents in the 10 years he has been there, and no forest fires for two of the past three years.)I hope Parks & Rec does more to promote cross country skiing at Lynn Woods. It would help the image of the city for its residents to view the reservation not as a puzzle piece that doesn’t fit, but as something worth visiting and defending.Rich Tenorio is an Item sports copy editor.