By Sam Peters
BU News Service
McLaughlin Park is expected to undergo a $430,000 renovation this fall to include updated pathways and a memorial site.
The renovations were enacted by The Mission Hill Neighborhood Housing Services (MHNHS), a community-based nonprofit housing and economic development organization that ensures the revitalization of the Mission Hill neighborhood and the restoration of its green space. Other major greeneries in the area that the MHNHS protects include Olmsted park, Thea and James M. Stoneman Centennial Park at Brigham Women’s Hospital, and Kevin W. Fitzgerald Park.
Since most of the open space in Mission Hill is privately or institutionally owned, however, development of the land is hard to prevent. Currently, only 6.2 acres of land are protected for preservation of public access, meaning that it can never be sold to a developer.
Still, most people in the neighborhood are content with their access to green space, and feel that it is superior to most other neighborhoods in Boston.
“There’s a pretty good amount of foliage,” said Skyler Pollack, 21. “They have trees and plants and they do put in effort to keep it looking more ‘suburban’ than the rest of the city I would say. There’s more nature than most towns.”