JACK BACK TO CARE FOR
BUCKINGHAM POND PARK

Last October, we asked Mayor Jennings to
restore Jack's position to the City budget
for 2009.

Monday, October 06, 2008

SAVE JACK'S JOB/SAVE OUR PARKBuckingham Pond Park caretaker, Jack, does a terrific job maintainingthe park.Jack tells me that Friday will be his last day, and he won't be coming back next season because of 62 seasonal workers will be cut from the city budget.The plan is for a city crew to follow a one day a month mowing-maintenance schedule next year.This in unacceptable!Buckingham Pond Park is the centerpiece of our neighborhood. We need Jack to stay on as a seasonal caretaker.Homeowners in this neighborhood pay very high property taxes, and in turn, receive minimal city services, as compared to many other city neighborhoods.Contact Mayor Jennings immediately. Ask him to restore Jack's seasonal position as caretaker of Buckingham Pond Park, and to supplement Jack's efforts with city parks crews, as needed.Call the Mayor at 434 5100, write him at City Hall, Albany, 12207 or call in on his Friday radio show, 9-10 AM . Talk Radio 1300 AM . 476 1300.
Thank you. J P Sullivan
posted by J P Sullivan 1:09 PM 0 comments


Mayor Jennings delivered. Jack will be
back taking care of Buckingham Pond
Park.

Thank you Mayor Jennings and Jack.

However, the pond park is in rough
shape after the winter.

It will take more than Jack cutting the
grass to restore the pond park after a
hard winter.

The archives of this site contain
numerous recommendations for improving
the park.

To recap, the City Parks and Recreation Dept
has some major work to do here, including:

1. resurfacing the pathways with coarse
crushed bluestone

2. repairing the Milner Ave foot bridge
split rail fence and pathway

3. restoring and replanting the planters
at both ends of the foot bridge

4. removing a number of dead trees
including the big cottonwoods that
overhang the path at the foot of
Lenox, S side of pond

5. cutting vines that are strangling
younger trees and clearing brush
from around young conifers and
hardwoods ,to permit their growth.
See the southern and western
parts of the pond park.

Several of the young conifers,
including the two Hemlocks closest
to Rafts Way, S side of pond park
should be transplanted to more
open spaces on the dredged fill site
so that the conifers might grow to
their mature shapes and sizes.

6. stabilizing pond shore erosion by
planting trees and shrubs that thrive
in wet conditions. (see lists of these
in earlier posts this site, this year).

7. building a stone bulkhead , adding
fill and plantings, such as Red Osier
Dogwoods, to stabilize the eroding
shore ad foot path, S side p0nd from
Euclid to Lenox

8. cleaning up litter and yard wastes
dumped along the southern and
western parts of the pond park

9. planting some suitable pond
friendly trees and shrubs, including
Black Alder,Willows, Sycamores
Red Maples, Wich Hazels, Silky
Dogwoods, Canaan Firs, White
Flowering Dogwoods, Burning Bushes
Rose of Sharon, Spice Bushes, Winter
Berry Hollys, Rugosa Roses, Lilacs
anf Butterfly Bushes.

All of these and more can be
obtained at reasonable costs
from the various Soil and Water
Conservation District sales this
Spring. Click on prior post
Plant a Tree.... for details.

These are a few of the more pressing
needs. Consult earlier posts for more
recommended actions.

Residents living within the pond park
watershed can help improve pond water
quality and save the pond, by reducing
applications of lawn chemicals and
fertilizers.

Not littering, or dumping yard wastes
and picking up after your dogs will also
contribute to a cleaner park environment.

Thank you.

Joe Sullivan