LYNN — Salvy Migliaccio, former City Council president and owner of Salvy the Florist & Steve’s Greenhouses, was surprised to get a letter in the mail on April 28 from the city saying his property at Broadway was going to be temporarily used for a Massachusetts Department of Transportation construction project.
The last he had heard of this project was at a public hearing on December 14, 2021, when he found out that the street parking in front of his business would be replaced by a bus lane, forcing him to pave his own parking lot. In order to do this, he will have to remove a fountain that has been on his property for more than 40 years.
“I received the letter on a Friday afternoon … there was nothing I could do Friday afternoon, because City Hall was closed,” Migliaccio said. “So I had an anxious weekend, and a few neighbors came over because they had received letters also and they were anxious and upset about that, and I said, ‘Well, we’ll have to wait till Monday and let’s see what this all means.’”
The intersection-improvement project at the corners of Broadway and Jenness Street has been in the works since 2018 when, according to the project information page on the state’s website, a project need form was entered that October.
“The proposed project will reconstruct approximately 0.3 miles of Broadway, from Wyoma Square to Jenness Street. The project is intended to provide safety and operational improvements at two high crash clusters; the intersections of Broadway with Euclid Avenue and with Jenness Street,” the project description said.
After that meeting, Migliaccio said he did not hear anything about the project until the letter showed up at his doorstep two months ago.
The letter said to call Department of Public Works Commissioner Andrew Hall if he had any questions.
“So Monday morning, I called the number and I got the DPW, but if you don’t know the person’s extension, you can’t get through,” Migliaccio said.
Since he couldn’t get in contact with Hall, he called City Councilor Brian LaPierre, who was able to help him reach Hall.
During a meeting with Hall, Migliaccio said it was confirmed that his property was going to be temporarily used for the project.
In a statement to The Daily Item, Hall said that the “important” improvement work being done at Broadway and Jenness Street is a $5.4 million state-funded project.
“In order to execute the project, the state, which handled the design work for the project, will need occasional access to several privately owned properties in that area. It is the city’s responsibility to provide that access,” Hall wrote. “The property owners who will be impacted by these temporary takings will be compensated by the city.”
This area in Lynn has been identified by the state as one that needs “significant upgrades,” according to Hall.
“We understand that concerns have been raised by residents in that area and we are working to address those concerns as part of the planning process for this important project,” Hall wrote.
Now, Migliaccio is on a mission to save his fountain.
“I’m going to have to remove the fountain, which is not a small project, and this front corner that we’ve been maintaining beautifully for 40 years I would have to turn into a parking lot for my business,” Migliaccio said. “At this point, I’m trying to at least shed some light on what this project actually is. And it’s very difficult getting any information [from the city].”
