The state Department of Conservation and Recreation Department (DCR) Commissioner Leo Roy is slated to meet with the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council (JPNC) and others to discuss the long-awaited parkway improvement project, according to JPNC Kevin Moloney.
The meeting is expected to take place March 8, after the Gazette deadline. The gathering, which is slated to include Jamaica Pond Chair Rosemary Jones, comes after JPNC sent a letter to Gov. Charlie Baker asking him to show leadership in getting the project moving.
The parkway improvement project focuses on three different areas: Perkins Street and Francis Parkman Drive intersection; Centre Street, from VFW Parkway to Murray Circle; and the Arborway between Eliot Street and South Street, including Kelley Circle and Murray Circle.
DCR initially held a community meeting on the Parkman Drive and Perkins Street improvement during the summer of 2013. At that time, officials said that the project could be done within two year. One part of that project is a crosswalk for residents from Cabot Estate to have access to Jamaica Pond, which they have been advocating for since at least 1997.
DCR held a series of meetings on the full project in the fall of 2015. The meetings were co-sponsored by the Emerald Necklace Conservancy and state Reps. Jeffrey Sanchez and Liz Malia and state Sens. Sonia Chang-Diaz and Michael Rush.