Neighborhood networks in Lynn sprucing up city

LYNN – Two hypodermic needles sat next two dead plants on the Olive Street traffic island last Friday, but Williams Avenue resident Eliana Runyon knows one telephone call is all she needs to get the dangerous debris cleaned up and the island converted into a green attraction.Runyon is part of a loose network of neighborhood residents and local businesses committed to keeping local streets and other public areas clean.”It’s part of building community. It doesn’t take anything but a little time,” she said last Friday as she swept up trash in front of her home. Runyon has been active in keeping her neighborhood spruced up for almost all of the 10 years she has lived with her husband, John, and two young sons on Williams. Along with about a dozen other neighbors, Runyon contacted the city several years ago and asked if the Olive and Fayette traffic island could be cleaned up and planted.”The next thing I knew, it was done,” she said.City Community Development Department coordinator John Kasian said local businesses, community groups and individuals have helped maintain traffic islands and flower boxes across the city for 25 years.Plantings and flowers, including ones that will adorn the Olive Street island, are grown in the city greenhouse in Pine Grove Cemetery. Runyon said sprucing up relatively small public spaces like the Olive Street traffic island helps show residents and people driving through the city that neighbors take pride in their streets.”We do it for everybody,” she said.Jack Garrity said his fellow Goldfish Pond Association embrace that same spirit. The association launched its annual cleanup last Saturday with additional efforts planned for the next two Saturdays leading up to Memorial Day plantings. The beautification effort kicks off summer activities around the pond including a planned July 17 movie night.”We do quite a bit in the neighborhood,” said Garrity.Kasian said businesses, including Solimine Funeral Homes, Cuffe-McGinn Funeral Home, Old Neighborhood Foods, Annmarie Jonah Realtors and DiVirgilio Insurance, hire landscapers to maintain traffic islands.Local landscapers also maintain islands, and Kasian said firms, including A. James Lynch Insurance, Eastern Bank, General Electric, Weld Management Company, Mayo Group and Waste Management, pay the city for traffic island landscaping services. The city advertises bids for the work, seeking out local landscapers to maintain the plantings.Shortly after moving to Williams Avenue, Runyon said she decided to help keep the street clean after complaining about its upkeep.”I said, ?Why don’t people do anything?’ Then I asked, ?Why not me?'” she said.She bought small brooms for her children to use and worked her way down Williams from Fayette to Chatham Street. Cleanup efforts dovetailed, she said, with an ongoing neighborhood commitment to improve Williams Avenue playground.”It’s outdated and not very inviting to the kids,” she said.Runyon said the city spent money to fix up the small park, but neighbors have a variety of viewpoints on focusing the playground around its basketball court or play equipment. Goldfish Pond Association is celebrating its 35th year of cleanups and neighborhood activities.”We have a hard-core membership of about 40 people – it’s why I’ve stayed in Lynn,” Garrity said.