North End community members came together with the Friends of Cutillo Park Saturday morning to clean up the park, located between Stillman and Morton Streets in the North End.
It was a damp and dreary morning, but that didn’t stop several local residents from grabbing a pair of gloves and a rake and tackling the many leaves that had fallen on the basketball court and playground at Cutillo Park.
City Councilor Lydia Edwards, North End Community Liaison Michael Bonetti, and Mayor’s Office Neighborhood Liaison Maria Lanza joined the volunteers in cleaning up the park. Officers from the Boston Police Department also stopped by to discuss safety issues.
With many helping hands, the leaves were quickly collected into large paper bags provided by the Parks Department. See before and after photos below for a sense of the progress these volunteers made in just one hour.
Friends of Cutillo Park organizer Kirsten Hoffman spoke enthusiastically about the event saying, “Many thanks to everyone who came out to help clean up Cutillo Park, despite the rain showers, and to Parks and Recreation, Councilor Edwards Office, and the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services for helping to organize.”
The Friends of Cutillo Park formed earlier this year to raise awareness about the neglected state of the park and advocate for improvements. Over 100 years old, Cutillo Park is one of the earliest and largest open spaces in Boston. It was taken by the city in 1917 for parks purposes, when the Stillman Street Playground was first created. Learn more about the history and sign up to become a member on the Friends of Cutillo Park website.
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Great job – thanks to all.
Congratulations and great job!
Well done! Please keep us posted on future clean-up opportunities. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make the rescheduled date.
These people should be applauded for getting involved. However I’m still left with the question of why the city chooses to neglect so many areas of the NE?
Kudos to everyone who showed up to pitch in on a truly miserable morning…hopefully the dedication of our neighbors will motivate BPD to police this area more dilligently and erradicate all of the illegal activities that plague this park. Not a week goes by where there aren’t beer bottles, cigarette butts, and the remnants of stolen packages strewn about.