A group of North End residents gathered this week with city officials to talk about how to make the North End more age-friendly as people get older and want to stay in the neighborhood.
“Age-Friendly Boston” is an initiative of Mayor Walsh in partnership with AARP and UMass Boston Gerontology Institute. The city wide effort is geared toward adults age 50 and older.
As part of the listening session, residents listed the following strengths, challenges and recommendations to make the North End more age-friendly.
Strengths
- Strong community cohesion
- Community groups like Friends of Christopher Columbus Park
- Everything is here that a resident needs to live, except a supermarket
- Access to world class medical care
- Strong cultural institutions
- Feeling of safety in the neighborhood
- Access to life long learning programs city-wide (i.e., OLLI)
Challenges
- Sidewalks difficult to navigate, especially with loose bricks, bicyclists on sidewalks and sandwich boards blocking the way
- No comprehensive citywide calendar of events; Suggested both online and paper calendar, through kiosk or listing/tv board at the library
- Need for more housing and assisted living
- Trash picked up too late under new contract
- Public restrooms
- More benches
- Need a nearby supermarket
- Inspectional services does not allow elevators to be installed in existing walk-ups
Advocates pointed out that North End neighborhood residents, as a group, and the overall city is getting older. Seniors are staying in their homes longer and need more accessibility around the neighborhood.
For adults 50 and over who missed the meeting, you can fill out the following survey to provide your own input by clicking the button below.
[button link=”https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/AgeFriendlyBoston” color=”silver”]Fill out the Age-Friendly Boston Survey[/button]
