Where: Mozart Park, corner of Mozart and Centre streets, Jamaica Plain
Time: 8:30 AM to 1 PM
Who: Anyone wanting a faded crosswalk painted or a tree trimmed! Bring your friends, see the improvements happen before your eyes!


The City of Boston's new "Street Improvement Team" has plans to tackle Jamaica Plain on Thursday, October 8 for a quick but intensive clean-up of local streets and outdoor equipment. Work will focus primarily on Hyde and Jackson Squares and the surrounding vicinity. Working from requests submitted to the Mayor's office through its Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) system that went into effect this past year, as well as from observations made by neighborhood residents and merchants, the Team expects to make improvements geared to both maximize traffic and pedestrian safety and enhance the area aesthetically.

"We're taking an aggressive and coordinated approach to the maintenance of our neighborhood streets and equipment, and we're using input from the community to decide our course of action," said Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino. "Focusing significant resources on this project, we will accomplish a great deal in just a short period of time."

The Street Improvement Team is a neighborhood maintenance initiative designed to provide immediate and significant upgrades to local streets, block-by-block. The Team kicked off in Grove Hall in August and has since then cleaned-up streets in West Roxbury and the North End. Following Jamaica Plain, visits will be made to East Boston, Mattapan and the Morton/Norfolk areas of Dorchester. Additional neighborhoods will be added this year, weather permitting, and the Team will start up again next spring.

Work to be accomplished by the Street Improvement Team in Boston neighborhoods includes the replacement of all old, faded, missing or vandalized street name signs, traffic and parking regulatory signs, and sign poles. Crosswalks and other pavement markings will be spruced up, and trees, shrubbery and weeds will be trimmed. In addition, traffic signals, traffic signal control boxes and street light poles will be painted, potholes will be repaired, streets will be cleaned, power washing will be undertaken and abandoned vehicles will be towed away.

Although the initial "To Do" list for each neighborhood is being compiled from requests received through the CRM system, the city is asking for community participation to complete each neighborhood's list. Prior to Thursday, residents are encouraged to call the Mayor's 24 Hour Service at #617-635-4811 to report problems. Local residents and merchants who would like to assist in identifying problems on Thursday may call the Office of Neighborhood Services at #617-635-3485 or meet with city staff at 9 AM on Thursday at the intersection of Centre and Mozart Streets.

Transportation Commissioner Thomas J. Tinlin said, "With the help of neighborhood volunteers, the Street Improvement Team creates an opportunity for city departments involved in some aspect of street maintenance to combine our efforts and concentrate on just one targeted area at a time. This allows us to complete as much work as possible in that neighborhood on that one day."

City staff will have materials on hand to complete as much of the work as possible immediately, although it may be necessary to schedule certain tasks for follow-up at a later date. Boston's Street Improvement Team is designed and equipped to manage the maintenance of existing materials and equipment. All requests for new signs, signals and pavement markings must continue to be requested through the Mayor's 24 Hour Service Office.