Residents Maria Pellum and Barbara Kerr won recognition by the governing body and a round of applause from all present at Monday's City Council meeting for creating an oasis of beauty at a key intersection where a plain, bare concrete structure had been planned.
The peninsula, as it is called, links traffic from Park Avenue, Prospect Avenue and East Ninth Street and gives pedestrians, including hundreds of students, safe passage across the wide intersection. Pellum and Kerr, both neighbors to the site in its planning stage, decided it could also be an esthetic location as well. They met with city and Union County officials to come up with a design that incorporated plantings and historic lighting, as the peninsula abuts the Crescent Area Historic District.
Years passed, often with little visible progress, but the pair kept up the heat to make sure the project was completed as promised.
Today it is a glorious burst of colorful flowers under handsome, historic-design lamps and the dream of "El Parquecito," as the pair came to nickname it. is a reality.
Councilwoman Rebecca Williams read aloud the resolution that hailed the finished project as a shining example of public-private partnerhips to achieve a goal.
Pellum said her family and neighbors maintain the flowers and shrubbery at the site, which is a stand-out on Park Avenue, a main north-south route linking Middlesex, Union and Somerset counties.
Plaintalker adds congratulations to Maria Pellum and Barbara Kerr!
--Bernice
I just passed a resolution requesting information concerning why it was built with stimulus funds, and asking what happened to the original funding? In one respect it is like paying double, or losing out on undertaking another project.
ReplyDeleteWE ARE LUCKY TO HAVE THEM!!
ReplyDeleteThe penninsula looks beautiful. And is an example of the type of landscape we should have all around Plainfield (which we desperately need). Thank you Ladies! Perhaps you are up for another project in Plainfield?
ReplyDeleteApril Stefel of the Van Wyck Brooks Historic District deserves credit too--she was on the city's Planning staff at the time and helped get this project done.
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