“Child welfare ought really to cover all sorts of topics, such as better water and sanitation and good roads, and clean streets and public parks and playgrounds.â€
Marjorie Stoneham Douglas, noted 20th Century environmentalist and writer.
Included in FPNA’s Mission statement is “…to protect and enhance the quality of life.†FPNA believes that goal can only
be achieved through continuing beautification and furthering other environmental efforts, such as graffiti removal, pollution and noise control.
FPNA’'s Green Committee attempts to undertake these many tasks in a more orderly, pro-active way. To volunteer for this committee,
click here to email askfpna_cox.net.
On or near Arbor Day in April each year, FPNA donates a tree to a park or another neighborhood location. It routinely has supported clean ups at the Vartan Gregorian Elementary School and India Point Park. In the past, the association has provided mulch and maintenance assistance to street-tree spaces on Wickenden Street.
In 2007, FPNAs board voted to contribute $1,000 to an environmental intervention effort by the Vartan Gregorian Schools Parent Teacher Organization, (PTO). The PTO's plan to plant 24 trees between the school's auditorium and Interstate 195 was based on a tree's ability to reduce automobile carbon emissions, thereby benefiting the students.
Volunteers from the Fox Point Neighborhood Association also turned out on a rainy November weekend to help plant the 24 trees. The new grove provides a shady walkway in the summer for persons approaching the India Point Park Pedestrian Bridge from the east.
Working with the PTO, FPNA has taken advantage of Trees 2020, the citys program to plant 40,000 trees in Providence by the year 2020. Individual persons interested in planting a tree in their yard may also visit the web site, www.trees2020.org, to view, select and purchase from an extensive selection of large trees at roughly half the retail cost.
Fox Point's inspiration for maintaining its parks goes back to the 1960s when Mary Elizabeth Sharpe decided to turn a deteriorated, abandoned shipyard into India Point Park. She pulled it off by donating $153,000, persuading the city to put up a matching amount, and then spear-heading a drive for a HUD grant of $380,000. Decades later, residents and tourists alike enjoy the park that dominates Fox Point's Narragansett Bay waterfront. FPNA's involvement in park clean ups has been active throughout this volunteer effort. Ultimately Friends of India Point Park, www.friendsofindiapointpark.org, was formed to continue to maintain and improve the park.
FPNA also has formed an advisory committee, the Seekonk Shoreline Initiative at Gano Park, to assist with the long-term goal of giving this much-used park a single identity and a more functional eastern riverfront. The committee includes representatives from the Department of Environmental Management, Department of Transportation, the Narragansett Bay Commission, Save the Bay, Department of Parks, Brown University, Fox Point's three elected officials and leaders of the various groups using the park.
In 2010, two FPNA-sponsored clean ups of the shoreline April 17th and June 26th have succeeded in restoring much of the park's view of the river. Volunteers and personnel with the Providence Department of Parks, (PDP), have trimmed trees, weeds and removed litter along the shoreline and decades of illegal garbage dumping, adjacent to the bridge. The Parks Department has pledged to re-seed and maintain these newly exposed areas of the park.
Eventually, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation will join the Blackstone River Bikeway (on-road section) that ends at the Eastside Marketplace with the Washington Bridge by having a shoreline bike path. Officials and non-profit groups are also exploring a way to reclaim for public use the old railroad bed, which runs from Gano Street to the Crooks Point Bridge.
The FPNA initiative coincides with news that the proposed East Transit Street Boat Ramp, to be located at the southern end of the park, is back on track. Stymied for three years by the discovery of a former landfill on the boat ramp site, PDP and DEM have now lined up necessary funding for the project to be initiated. The boat ramp's targeted completion date is scheduled for May 2011.
FPNA has participated in many park clean ups over the years. It supported the formation of the Fox Point Community Garden in 2006 and has provided financial assistance to sponsor their successful annual fundraising efforts. The community garden in Gano Street Park provides a space for urban gardeners to grow flowers and vegetables in the summer. If you are interested in securing a plot or getting gardening tips, visit their web site at www.foxpointgarden.org.
FPNA works with the Providence Police Department and Security Police at the universities to catch graffiti vandals and has asked that they receive maximum penalties available by law. It also helps fund organized graffiti clean-ups in the neighborhood. The City of Providence has established a Graffiti Task Force, to assist with clean-ups, but volunteer participation is greatly appreciated. To fill out a graffiti removal request, visit their website, www.providenceri.com/graffiti.
What FPNA is seeking is its own Graffiti Task Force like the one formed by the College Hill Neighborhood Association. There are a lot of resources for information on how to set up such a committee, removal methods, and the real costs of graffiti to a neighborhood at http://www.graffitihurts.org.
What will they pick up?
New residents often find left-behind items on their sidewalks after garbage day because they don't yet know the rules on minimum cardboard size, garden waste requirements, or how to properly contain their recycled materials. To learn proper garbage preparation and to report infractions, go to http://providenceri.com/green/index.php. You can also report waste violations by calling 467-7950, extension 561.
When it comes to recycling, Providence residents have been getting a failing grade in recent years. In 2008, only 10.3 percent of all waste was recycled, meaning revenue sharing and municipal grants from Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation didnt happen. In past years, the city has received as much as $400,000 for its recycling efforts. (This figure also is market dependent because manufacturing demands influence the price paid for recycled goods.) Providence appears to have met a goal of doubling its recycled waste to 20 percent by the year 2010.
In 1907, Providence had an estimated 50,000 street trees. Most were already a century old, and over the following decades the population dropped dramatically. In the 1950's, 50 percent of what remained was elms. Then, the Dutch elm disease struck, resulting in elms comprising less than 4 percent of the tree population. A 1977 tree census showed only 16,630 street trees remaining. The City of Providence then aggressively pursued federal funds and began planting callery pear, sweet gum, and green ash trees. The effort provided a net gain of 5,000 trees by 1988, bringing the total population up to 22,230.
In 1985, Mary Elisabeth Sharpe at the age of 100 died, leaving an endowment for future landscaping to the city. As Providence's forestry budget had declined, her daughter-in-law, Peggy Sharpe, decided to allocate $100,000 to set up the Mary Elizabeth Sharpe Street Tree Endowment, and then raised matching funds through a fundraising campaign. Thus was born the The Providence Neighborhood Planting Program (PNPP), www.pnpp.org.
FPNA volunteers, in association with the Mary Elizabeth Sharpe Tree Endowment, have planted over 150 street trees in Fox Point. FPNA board member Maebeth Warner has coordinated the event for our neighborhood for many years. Personnel with the Providence Department of Public Works dig the holes and Fox Point residents plant the trees and mulch the spaces.
This bi-annual event not only contributes to the neighborhood's esthetic beauty; but also controls air pollution and water run off, while moderating high summer temperatures and noise. If you would like more information about having a tree planted on your street, visit www.pnpp.org. At the site, you can fill out an application to have a street tree planted in front of your house. Usually, their deadlines for spring and fall plantings are late May and late October.
If you are interested in volunteering to help the further greening of Fox Point, email us at askfpna_cox.net.
Trees not only contribute to the neighborhoods esthetic beauty; but also control air pollution and water run off, while moderating high summer temperatures. Street Trees need love and:
Water
Probably the most important way to help your tree, is periodic, sufficient watering. There is really no such thing as too much water, but the recommended minimum amount is eight to ten gallons per week. Without proper watering, trees may become stressed and develop diseases and susceptibility to insect infestation.
One way to measure the proper amount is by leaving a hose dripping into the space for at least 1.5 hours. Or, fill two five-gallon buckets that have a few tiny holes in the bottoms for a measured, slow drip. If there is a good, soaking rain then you can take a holiday from the watering schedule, which should continue until the ground freezes.
Mulch
A layer of mulch (pine bark nuggets, cocoa mulch, wood shavings, etc.) around your tree will add thermal protection, weed control and moisture retention. Use the donut technique---less than one inch of mulch at the trunk then increasing it to two to three inches a few inches away and finally at least four inches to cover all of the root ball. Salt applications resulting from snow removal from the street also end up on the mulch. The mulch should be removed and changed each spring.
Cleanliness
Remove all weeds and litter to increase curb appeal and discourage vandalism. Weeds rob your tree of water, while dog excrement is toxic to the tree. In the spring, get rid of sucker growth at the base of the tree. Add ground cover, if desired, but avoid plants that might require a lot of additional water.
Protection
Tree guards, including wooden or metal fencing or posts can help protect your growing tree from opening car doors and bumpers, bicycle locks, wayward garbage cans and dog litter.
Pollution and Noise Control
Two quality-of-life issues that are extremely important to many Fox Pointers can't be seen, but are in the air. In recent years, FPNA finds itself advocating more and more for controlling the amount of urban noise we hear and pollution we breathe.
At FPNA's Fall Membership Meeting in 2009, residents learned about the environmental problems for students at the Vartan Gregorian Elementary School. Bill Mott with the Parent Teachers Organization and Barbara Morin, supervising environmental scientist with the Department of Environmental Management, (DEM), presented disturbing information about air quality at the school, due to its proximity to the I-Way.
Morin, who has gathered air samples, says there are indications of high levels of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and black carbon particulate matter. The school campus lies within a "150-meter danger zone",
she adds, making students more susceptible to asthma and other respiratory diseases including lung cancer. Mott called for intervention efforts including a ventilation system for the school, a barrier between the highway and the school and more tree plantings to absorb the carbon dioxide.
Complaints of increased I-Way traffic noise from Fox Point residents escalated in the spring of 2010, prompting letters to the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, (RIDOT), from Councilman Seth Yurdin and FPNA's president, Ian Barnacle. During the I-Ways construction phase, the prevailing opinion in Fox Point was that moving the highway south and realigning it with the hurricane barrier would remove some of the traffic noise. Instead, what was once a six-lane highway below grade became eight-lanes at an elevated height, with little attention paid to sound prevention. The structure, which includes a new bridge, also has a different surface than the original asphalt, resulting in higher levels of noise.
The roar of the highway for some residents is worse now than it is for others, depending on their location. It seems the noise is magnified by prevailing winds off the water. As the warmer weather arrived in the spring, residents opened their windows, making the noise even more apparent. FPNA has received numerous complaints about this "new noise", which is almost unbearable to some residents at various times of the day.
At FPNAs Fall 2010 Membership Meeting, RIDOT listened again to residents and responded by announcing the hiring of David Coate Consulting, a consultant to address the problem.
FPNA seeks participation for a new subcommittee, Noise and Pollution Control, to address the noise problems of the I-Way.
Please email us at askfpna_cox.net
FPNA members and others have forwarded the following links, which address the issue and possible solutions. Click on each:
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/keepdown.htm
http://www.gotnoisect.org/index.php
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http://www.gotnoisect.org/facts/results-i95-sound-study.php
http://www.nae.edu/File.aspx?id=35631
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXtkridTN0k
