Channel 22 reported last night on the latest in a series of neighborhood walks organized by Mayor Domenic Sarno. According to the mayor’s office, the walks are a chance for Sarno and others (he was joined by members of the Springfield Police Department and the Hampden Sheriff’s Department, as well as workers from several anti-violence groups) to talk to residents about public safety and quality of life concerns in their neighborhoods.
Monday’s walk was in Forest Park, which has seen a number of violent incidents in recent months. But according to the 22 segment, by reporter Julie Tremmel, residents also expressed concerns about other issues, such as speeding and trash.
My favorite part of the report: Sarno (looking, as always, impossibly neat in his crisp white dress shirt, despite the stifling heat) calling into a house window to sternly ask a resident to clean up the garbage outside her house. Tremmel reported that the City Hall team also made up a list of code violations in the neighborhood.
But it’s not all bad news for the Forest Park neighborhood—its namesake 735-acre park (often referred to as Springfield’s jewel) was just named to a state Tourism Office list of “1,000 great places in Massachusetts.”
Other Springfield sites to make the list: the Student Price/Fort restaurant, the basketball Hall of Fame, the Central Library, Mattoon Street, the Smith and Wesson Museum, the Armory, the Titanic Historical Society and the Quadrangle (including the Dr. Seuss sculpture park).
