By Rosalie Tirella

… Impressed! We spent some time talking about trees and beautification for Green Island – the streets where real people live. Families, kids, working people. People who deserve better than having their streets look like East Germany before the Berlin Wall came down. Yup. It is that stark on Lafayette Street, Ellsworth Street …. Weeds rule in many places. Flowers don’t exist in this concrete world.

So we got some folks working to make things better for the community! Including District 2 City Councilor Palmieri, whose district includes the Wyman Gordon area.

Totally impressed with Phil. He met me in his truck in the Water Street parking lot. I was in my car with my dog Jett. Off we went, Phil following me in his vehicle as I gave him a mini tour of my neighborhood streets. Along the way, we’d pull over and talk about such and such a corner. What could we do here and here and here?

Phil was great! He told me what could be done in a basic, down to earth style. But he was also very savvy in what the city could do, volunteers could accomplish, the kinds of resources he could bring to the table. Very smart guy! I was impressed by his knowledge, his experience – with all the names and agencies at the tip of his tongue. He told me he would call this person, that office, bring in that group. WOW I said. WOW. WOW!!!!

The guy knows how to make city streets pretty! LOOKING AT AN UGLY FENCE TOPPED WITH CYCLONE WIRE, Phil said, There’s one in my area and we had it painted black. Remove the weeds and over growth. It will look so much nicer. WOW !!! Spying an especially depressing looking spot, Phil said, I don’t know if it’s asphalt or concrete, but we can see, you can break up and dig down and plant in asphalt. He said neighborhood folks and businesses would have to be drawn in, so they could SUPPORT ALL THE GOOD WORK that was going to be done.

Paging BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS!!

Phil said it was a process and sometimes government works slowly, especially for folks like him. And me! But Phil, whose district includes parts of Green Island such as Lamartine Street, Wyman Gordon area, seems committed to the cause. He said he will be working with D 4 Councilor Sarai Rivera, who told me a few days ago that she will be working to revive a kind of Green Island masterplan with residents. Add Peggy Middaugh and her group (The Worcester Tree Initiative), which scoped out Lafayette Street a few days ago, looking for places to plant trees, and we just may have ourselves a softer, prettier Green Island. FOR THE KIDS. FOR THE MOMS AND DADS. FOR MY BELOVED GREEN ISLANDERS!