LYNN – The city is seeking contractors for an estimated $580,000 project to demolish the concrete bleachers lining Waterford Street in Barry Park, marking the beginning of the second phase in a three-prong initiative to improve the park.
The project, funded through PARC grants from the state Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs along with the City’s Community Development department, will demolish the concrete bleachers, and replace them with new aluminum bleachers, shade trees, and fresh landscaping.
Community Development Director James Marsh said that the current bleachers take up an unnecessarily large portion of the park, and remain a safety and security concern for residents and law enforcement.
“They seat over 500 people. 500 people will go to Manning [Field], but 500 people are not going to Barry Park. I mean, there’s youth soccer and some football, and now the splash pad, but people aren’t sitting on the bleachers watching the splash pad. We may now put in some smaller bleachers,” Marsh said. “Police officers and public safety people can now get in there and they can see what’s going on, if there’s something bad that might be going on, and the concrete is just failing. This is the hazard for kids.”
City Council President Jay Walsh said that the bleachers are simply too old, too graffitied, and too hidden from street level, to keep in the park.
“They’ve been around a long time, there’s no way to save them, they get graffitied a lot in the neighborhood over there, I really would like to see them removed,” Walsh said. “Right now, we’re looking to basically put a grassy hill there after taking the bleachers out, and then maybe some plantings, with some trees and things like that. That way, you can actually see into the park from the street.”
Marsh said that once the bids are approved, the bleacher demolition should be complete in October or November, and the landscaping should be ready in the spring. He also outlined the larger plan for Barry Park’s reconstruction, pointing out that Phase Three, which includes new playground equipment, and universally accessible pedestrian walkways, is right around the corner.
“I’d like to do a grand re-opening at some point. Phase Three, which is to replace play equipment, remove existing playground features and benches in their foundations, remove existing playground surfaces and pedestrian walkways, install new universally accessible playground features, and ventures installing a new pedestrian walkway,” Marsh said.
Walsh said that since Barry Park is connected to the rail trail bike path, it is especially important to improve the location. He said that the pandemic put an emphasis on the importance of keeping public parks and green spaces clean and safe, since it brought more families and individuals outside.
“I’m just happy that it’s happening. I’m a big advocate to fix the parks in the city, not just Barry, but all around the place. It really has had little major money put in them for a long time. We’re eating them away little by little, because people have got a right to have nice, safe, clean, enjoyable parks for their family,” Walsh said. “When you look at the pandemic, it really made the case for this even stronger. People didn’t go away, they didn’t look at things, they weren’t in their local parks, and then when they had no place to go, and they went to their local parks, they realized how underfunded and really just not usable, in some cases, how unsafe they were. That’s why we’re really trying to spotlight this and make it better for the community.”
Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at [email protected]
