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Sunday Parkland Games
Sunday Games are well underway, and we want to thank all of you
who have joined us for fun and games along the banks of the Charles
River. This past weekend — for the first time ever! — we
expanded the program to include free yoga lessons, and we were
delighted by the number of people who participated. If you have
not yet had a chance to stop by the Sunday Games, we look forward
to seeing you soon! For more information contact sundaygames@thecharles.org or
visit
us on Facebook or download
details about the games.
| What: |
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FREE games and athletic activities — badminton, bocce, YOGA...and
more! |
| Where: |
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Upriver from Weeks Footbridge on the Charles River
off of Memorial Drive in Cambridge |
| When: |
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Games
and Activities: Sundays, July 4 to September 19, 2pm - 5pm
Yoga on the Charles: Sundays, July 11 to September
5, 5pm - 6pm
Folk Dancing: Sunday, August 8 and Sunday, August 15,
3pm - 4:30pm |
Charles River Conservancy
Celebrates 10th Birthday
Perfect weather and a riverside venue on the Charles greeted over 300
guests gathered to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Charles River
Conservancy. WBUR’s Tom Ashbrook interviewed Fred
Salvucci on ways
to transform the urban parkways and bridges to accommodate today’s
walking and biking commuters and recreation enthusiasts. Other speakers
included DCR Commissioner Richard Sullivan, CRC Founder and president
Renata von Tscharner, and luncheon honorees Carolyn
and Peter Lynch, and
park stewardship veteran Henry Lee. Among the guests were elected State
Officials Senator Sal DiDomenico, Representative Jonathan
Hecht and Representative
Marty Walz.
Third Charles River One Mile Swim
 Due
to heavy rains on July 11th, the Annual Charles River One Mile
Swim Race was postponed until Saturday, July 25th. Please visit
the Charles River Swimming Club web-site for more information.
Opinion Page
A river that’s fit for swimming
By Renée Loth | May
15, 2010
FICKLE MAY has been cool lately, but with the upcoming Memorial Day
weekend marking the unofficial start of summer Bostonians are starting
to dream about lazy days by the shore and taking a refreshing dip in . . .
the Charles River?
Believe it: swimming is coming back to the waters indelibly marked as “dirty” by
the Standell’s classic song. Loth herself felt vaguely ill when
she braved the waters of the Charles in 1983 for a story on cleanup efforts.
While challenges remain, the water is now far cleaner, and she wonders
what happened to the old canvas sneakers she wore to protect her feet
from broken glass back then.
Read
Loth’s full column.
Advocacy Updates
One of CRC's top priorities remains advocating in support of issues
that make the Charles River Parklands more active, attractive, and accessible
to all.
Here are some of the recent issues on which we have focused:
As the bridges across the Charles are being restored we are advocating
for additional underpasses ("Safe
Crossings: Pedestrians require bridge underpasses"). Conservancy
President also serves on the Longfellow Bridge Restoration Task
Force. One
goal is to give pedestrians and bikers more space.
In order for the state owned parklands to get their share of funding,
the adjacent municipalities need to play a bigger role and become partners.
("Green
spaces need boost of city clout").
As the City of Cambridge is considering amendments to the sign ordinance,
the Conservancy expressed its concern about building identification
signs, which could have a detrimental visual impact on the Charles
River Parklands. Click here
to download our testimony on the matter.
Another issue that the Conservancy has been working on is the Update
of the Bottle Bill. Find out more about this topic by clicking
here.
Swimmable Charles Advocacy Update
On March 18th CRC Board Member Mark Kraczkiewicz testified at an EPA
hearing in support of the EPA’s new proposed Municipal Separate
Storm Sewer (MS4) stormwater general permit. The Conservancy also
submitted a letter to EPA in support of the permit, which you can click
here to read. The proposed permit will require towns, state and federal
agencies to do more to reduce the amount of polluted rain water that
runs off paved surfaces during storms, through storm drains, directly
to our rivers, streams, lakes ponds, wetlands and coastal waters. This
is significant because while the water quality of the Charles is much
improved due to significant sewer infrastructure improvement, much of
the remaining water quality problems are due to pollutants in stormwater
runoff. The Conservancy urged the EPA to reduce the amount of implementation
time allowed so that positive impacts can be seen sooner, but otherwise
strongly supported the permit.
A Swimmable Charles River
The Charles River Conservancy is pleased to announce the availability
of a new publication promoting public access swimming in the Charles
River. A Swimmable Charles River is available on the
web-site as a PDF or a hard copy can be ordered for $5 through
Karen Patterson Greene, Swimmable Charles Coordinator at KPG@thecharles.org.
The Conservancy has also created a petition to show support for
the Swimmable Charles Initiative. Download
a copy of the petition and ask your friends, neighbors and co-workers to sign it and send
it back to the Conservancy.
Conservancy watercolor note cards
now available!
Charles River Skatepark
Read more about the Charles River Skatepark
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