Keep parkways under the control of our parks agency!

URGENT ACTION NEEDED!

CRWA has joined with nine other advocacy groups to endorse leaving all responsibilities for care, control and maintenance of the parkways with the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR).

Please call your local representative and senator and ask them to contact members of the Budget Conference Committee to request adoption of the House Budget version which leaves all parkway responsibilities with DCR. Your representative will know who the conferees are.  You can find phone numbers and email addresses for your Senators and Representatives here.

For at least 5 years, there have been efforts made to transfer some or all responsibilities for the Parkways to the Mass Highway Department.  To date, all of these efforts have been opposed by neighborhood, environmental and advocacy groups who care about the Parkways, and to date they have always been defeated. 

CRWA has several concerns about transferring any role to Mass Highway, which include: the Parkways are part of a park system so their care should remain in a parks agency; Mass Highway road and safety standards might be required on Parkways, destroying their unique historic character; the Parkways require specially trained crews and equipment, so cost savings are not likely to be significant; Mass Highway is often not sensitive to neighborhood concerns;  and finally, there are significant Parkways issues that Mass Highway might not be willing or able to address as well as a parks agency, including bus, truck and equipment use of Parkways, road closures for events or summer recreation, potentially removing lanes, the volume of salt application, pesticide use, vista pruning, etc.

These concerns have always led Parkways advocates to oppose any transfer, and to date the legislature has always affirmed this in legislation.

After you have called your legislators, please let CRWA know by filling out this short form.  This helps us monitor the advocacy work that still has to be done.

We are happy to join with the following organizations in support of DCR's control of the parkways:  Arborway Coalition, Boston Greenspace Alliance, Charles River Conservancy, Environmental League of Massachusetts, Emerald Necklace Conservancy, Emerald Necklace Greenway Project, Esplanade Association, Friends of the Blue Hills, and Friends of the Middlesex Fells Reservation.