Believe it or not, this process won Planning Board approval way back in 2007. But resident Maria Pellum, a champion of the project, had to keep up the pressure to make sure the original design was kept. A large sign crediting the mayor for the project was the only indication of its viability for years.
Kudos to those who held officials to their word! It is now the innovative, visually pleasing project that residents dreamed up so many years ago.
--Bernice
Bernice,
ReplyDeleteI wonder why there are no benches, as a part of this design. It must be about the "risk" to "reward" aspect? Just keep everyone moving...
This was a great effort by Maria and benefits the Crecent Historic District and greater Plainfield. If you had ideas I'm sure Maria would have been open to them. She was out there planting and doing the work.
DeleteThanks Maria. You rock!
It's beautiful.. the traffic change still screws me up on occasion for which I will laugh at myself for forgetting.
ReplyDeleteIt's a nice addition to the Park Avenue Corridor..sadly though..probably the nicest part of Park Avenue.
Bernice, I am all for improvements, just not in my backyard ... or rather how come not my street is the correct response.
ReplyDeleteI'm all for improvements. If you want improvements on your street I'm sure the process Maria followed can be replicated. Get engaged!
DeleteThis "peninsula" sticks out too far, is too bright and big and blocks access to Prospect, which most people, police and buses, ignore. I wish I knew why it had to be so big. It was never a dangerous intersection and seeing the mayor's name on the sign for so many years just doesn't seem worth it. I don't care for it, no matter how nice the flowers are.
ReplyDeleteThe traffic pattern is a bit "screwy". Heading north on Park at Ninth, you move to what could be the parking lane and then a move left to get back into the traffic lane. This to accommodate the left turn lane onto Ninth from Park. Also if you are traveling north on Prospect, you have to make a right turn and go around the block to get to Park ave.
ReplyDeleteI think bright is right. We don't want the corner to become a hangout. I think it is a vast improvement from what it was.
ReplyDeleteNice job Maria. Glad the space is finally completed. I wonder if the Superintendent of Public Works will put the two benchs in? I think the design works either with or without them. All you need now is to get PSE&G to lower the lamp wattage and it will be perfect
ReplyDeleteit looks wonderfull.
ReplyDeleteBackground: The initial plan for a change in the intersection was a Union County project. Park Ave is a county road.
ReplyDeleteFrom the very beginning Maria (and Edgar) were vigilant about doing something with the space. Thank goodness! The County's "design" for the peninsula would have been a huge eyesore that we would have been stuck with forever. Their concept was to just roll out cement and a couple of grass strips. No trees. No garden.
As a former homeowner on the block, I am happy to have had a part in the redesign. Eventually April Steffel participated while she was working at the City Planning Office, further developing the details. Councilman Storch was also involved helping to make it happen.
But it was still Maria who watched over it year after year and did the planting. (Probably paid for entirely out of her own pocket.)
I had other ideas about the lighting (lower, casting the beam at the sidewalk). For me, what was eventually put in is way too bright. I don't like the traffic flow either, but that issue is a county one.
The mayor, of course, had nothing to do with any of this other than to make sure she got her name on the sign for a couple of years.
This is a superb example of a neighborhood coming together. For all it's faults, it's a darn great achievement for Plainfield residents.
Kudos to all.
Barbara K.
This looks awesome!
ReplyDeleteThis is the type of "scape" and effort that should be move further into the downtown area.
I hope more of this will be coming soon, very soon!!
This is so much better than that blah cement island. It's a beautiful entrance into the Crecent Historic District and many thanks to Maria for donating and planting all the wonderful flowers. I heard benches will be installed soon which should complete the area. Alot of hard work and follow up went into this project from neighbors to ensure the success of this project and all those involved should be commended for a great job. Hopefully this is a start of more good things to come from the Crescent Historic District.
ReplyDeletePlease note: The mayor had NOTHING to do with this except making sure our tax dollars were spent to put HER name up on the sign.
ReplyDeleteAgain - SHE, THE F****ING MAYOR, HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS.
Just goes to show that citizens have power when they take action. Thank you Maria and all others.
Benches, do you all live in LaLa Land? just a block up, heck, right across the street has turned into a hang out for all those up to no good. Why do you think they moved the benches from the bus stop area? It looks nice the way it is and no we do not need benches there. You would be inviting trouble.
ReplyDeleteHi Bernice and All;
ReplyDeleteFirst, thanks for blogging about the peninsula, the project has certainly improved our area as it is, by far, way more appealing than it was before. The credit of the landscape design, I won't ever get tired of saying it, goes to Barbara Kerr and April (see BK's comment above). Thanks also to Barbara we were able to get the attention of Adrian Mapp and Cory Storch back in 2005-06 (we arrive to Plainfield mid-2005). The project became known to Edgar (my husband) -who is quite chatty, that's how he found out about the project from one of the area's surveyors- but that without Barbara's help we would be staring at cement right now since we had no idea back then of who was who in Plainfield's political wheel. The rest is history.
To answer the question on the benches: they will come one day as the design calls for 2 benches and those of us who live around this area believe that the benches will be more of a benefit to the area than a negative. I already heard few requests from older folks and parents that would like to see the benches put up so they can have a place where to sit while the children play in the area - and yes, we are aware that the benches could also invite trouble but so does waking up every morning, one just has to have faith that things will work out for the better, if not, the benches can always be removed -just like all those benches that were removed from Library Park.
The lighting: It is BRIGHT! And as far as I know there are plans to remove one overhead light, but that is PSE&G and we all know how long it takes PSE&G to do anything around here.
The traffic pattern: While some folks are annoyed by the traffic change there is a good reason for the change: Pedestrian Safety. We are a major corridor for students and all sorts of pedestrians that use this intersection. I'll see what I can do to illustrate later on -at my blog- why the changes were made.
The plantings: Yes, most of the plants I did out of my pocket, but the corner Church, Science Church, also has donated some. The church is also helping with the care of the grass. Few neighborhood kids have been helping with the planting and keeping of the area and there plans to perhaps form a gardening club for our area, we shall see. The planting this year was a test to see how good the soil was and to allow room, timewise, to see what kind of weeds we were getting, I also wanted to see how the plantings were going to be respected, the major test is when school resumes and our area becomes once more a major pedestrian hub, but so far so good. Once Fall arrives-and with it wonderful nursery sales!- we will be planning for "real plants"; ideas and suggestions are always welcome.
With this said, again, thanks to Bernice for giving our corner the time and effort in your blog and to all readers, thanks!
Maria Pellum
By the time the self-congratulatory sign went up, presumably the project had been funded. This pre-dated the Obama administration, yet the peninsula was built with stimulus funds. Question is, what happened to the original funding? Did someone drop the ball and lose the money? Was it at the county level, or the city level? It's only money, right? Other people's money.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that they're no benches. We must keep the riff raff from setting up a camp site. Look what happened to Park avenue and Seventh street until the wisdom of the city to remove the benches and even the brick wall
ReplyDeletePark and Seventh is downtown surrounded by businesses, the Penisula is surrounded by a residential neighborhood in a historic distric and the benches will be a welcome addition. Two completely different envrionments
DeleteWhy not put pictures of parks up all over the city? Then we can get rid of the parks entirely. Everyone who is happy there are no benches probably don't even use the parks, so a picture might do.
ReplyDeleteWhere are the police to move the riff raff along? Where is the economic development so there are employment alternatives to hanging out? It may just be that the real riff raff is in City Hall, on the City Council, and on various boards and commissions.
No benches, out of sight, out of mind.
Just thought I'd mention the pet name that Maria and I have used all these years instead of saying "the peninsula;" it's the "parquecito" (PAR-KAY-SEE-TOE: little park).
ReplyDeleteBarbara
I like that Barbara...
DeleteI think you and Maria actually made a good name for the new park...
We should have the name be officially made "Parquecito Park"...
It's gotta have a name.. and that's a good one for many reasons!
Congratulations on the beautiful plantings! As fellow community gardeners, we applaud the effort. The Ladies of the Plainfield Garden Club
ReplyDelete