Hmm. I got a little dressing down from one of my neighbors on the subject of Meaney Park.

I want to be clear: I love my little neighborhood in Dot. It’s very mixed and we all get along (although I did hear gunshots last night). And, I do get out and talk to my neighbors, by the way. I am neighborly with them, as they are with me. We have a very neighborly little neighborhood.

I’m not really sure what Owen (not Meany) is getting at. We know our neighbors and talk to them. We maintain this property, and take pride in our little one-way street. The triple decker is in tip-top condition. We keep the lawn and the hedge trimmed. We routinely clean up litter off the sidewalk and street, all up and down the street. We initiated tree-planting on our street. So whatever you’re getting at, you’re making assumptions that are just off-base.

Our aesthetic sensibilities are probably at odds, Owen. Because the park is sad, as the pictures below will testify (and I have more photographic proof I am willing to produce), and saying it’s not sad doesn’t change the fact that it is, and doesn’t do it any service either, it just makes the situation sadder.

Here are some scenes from Meaney Park:

I went out and took these pictures this morning. While the neighborhood gets an A for effort for its sad attempts to spruce up the park with painted placards affixed to the fences, this low-cost “rehabilitation” took place years ago. As you can see, now the paint is all peeling, the benches are broken, the weeds are overgrown, and the play equipment is outdated and uncared for.

You know, you don’t fix things by ignoring the problem, or by blaming the messenger. I don’t have any agenda except to call ‘em as I see ‘em. I’ve talked up Dorchester in my blog, and praised my neighbors for their conscientious rubbish disposal. But I’m not going to lie about Meaney Park. It may be used, but it isn’t loved. And that’s sad.

You want to prove me wrong? Instead of pretending it’s not a sadly neglected little parcel, organize a clean-up. heck, organize regular clean-ups. Do more than just talk to your neighbors, Owen, get out with them and maintain that little much-loved parcel. Saying “I don’t think it’s all that sad, except for the occasional drunk or junkie” and then contrasting it with the Common after midnight? Somehow I’m still not convinced that’s not sad.

Let me share a story with you. I was walking through the Common one day recently, and there was a young woman–a teacher or a social worker, I guess–with a group of kids, all around the ages of seven or eight, probably. They were using one of the ball fields there.

The teacher lobbed a ball at the kid in the batter’s box and he hit it, but it was way foul. Several feet to the left of the third base line. Still she screamed and clapped and encouraged the boy to “Run! Run!!”

But there is more to playing ball than just hitting the ball. And while it’s good to make contact, for the “coach” to pretend that a foul ball and a fair ball are the same does no service to the kids. If it’s batting practice, that’s one thing, but if you’ve got the players arrayed in the field, then it’s time to play by the rules of the game.

It was sad, because you could see that she wanted to boost the kids’ self-esteem, but she was setting the bar too low. Not only that. It becomes quickly patronizing.

My point is, Meaney Park is only a nice park by these patronizingly low-expectation standards. You don’t make a park beautiful by neglecting it and then pretending it’s beautiful. Let’s get back to reality-based politics, people. You can’t fix it until you admit it’s broken. And don’t blame the messenger.

And thank you, Charles Swift, for the background and the link–I was looking for information yesterday, but couldn’t find anything. It makes it even sadder to me, that this is a real piece of history that’s being neglected by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. I say it’s time to start writing letters and making phone calls.