Park improvements
April 27th, 2010I take my daily (I try for daily) morning walk through downtown and around Farm Pond, and it’s a way to get some exercise and see if any vacant stores have any signs of occupation or get a glimpse of nature. Sometimes I see things like this:
or this:
and sometimes I see things like…this:
and then sometimes I find out things I wouldn’t normally find out unless I took a walk, like this:
I didn’t even know about phases I-III of Cushing Park’s improvement plan but this sign was recently posted on the walking path there. You can see more detailed before and (what will be) after images the Parks & Recreations plan posted on the town website here. After looking at their site, I noticed they also posted they will be completing a new playground across the street at Farm Pond. You can see those plans here. I’m hoping they don’t get rid of the metal snail I used to enjoy playing on but maybe the town will put it up for sale(?) Just another thing to keep an eye on.
Your visual display of a morning in the life of South Framingham is an apt depiction of this side of town — starkly contrasting images and environments.
For those of us here, the trick is to relish in the simply positive while accepting the complex nature of its blight. In doing so, I’ve found that there’s a lot more to like about Framingham than not, and a manifest reminder to me about the yin and yang of suburban life.
You can’t find that anywhere else around here.
Comment by Matt — April 28, 2010 @ 4:42 pm
Love your pics.
Just what we need, MORE parking at the park!
Comment by joker — April 29, 2010 @ 1:48 pm
Sometimes I think the people that denigrate The Ham just don’t get it. We’re really a city disguised as a town. And yes, in all cities, there are unpleasant aspects that hopefully are balanced by the positives. But we’ve got it all; rural spendor, suburban convenience and affordability, and urban complexity and diversity and amenities.
I’m really not comparing NYC to The Ham, which would be silly, but there’s a lot of grime and crime in NYC and it’s one of the world’s great places, chock full of the rich and powerful. People don’t say they don’t want to live in NYC because there are homeless people and crime; they flock there because of the energy, opportunity, and excitement, and put up with the dirt and the hurt because the positives outweigh the negatives.
The people in some of the neighboring bedroom communities look down their nose at us, but where do they come for shopping, dining, entertainment? The Ham (and Natick, to be fair). Metrowest would not be anywhere as interesting a place to live if all the towns were boring, bucolic affluent havens of people who were basically all alike.
Comment by Brett — May 5, 2010 @ 8:10 pm
Framingham has it’s highlights, but there’s nothing exciting or interesting about what’s happened to the Coburnville area of Framingham in the last 10 years. I lived there for a long time and what started as a quiet, friendly little community turned into a rat’s nest of shootings, drugs, and incessant, loud weekend parties. It’s not a safe section to live in anymore.
I love the nearby Farm Pond area Michelle took pictures of, and used to walk there on a daily basis, but I would argue that Framingham is not any more interesting because of increased crime in certain areas. However, there are parts of Framingham, such as North Framingham and Callahan State Park, that are beautiful and probably not well-known outside of Framingham.
Comment by Chris — May 7, 2010 @ 10:13 am