Rachel Kashdan
BU News Service
Kim Yeasir, 30, is out taking a stroll through the autumn leaves in Sennott Park between Central and Inman Squares in Cambridge on a drizzly Sunday afternoon. The park is empty, but cutting through the park is a path she’s taken many times before.
“I feel pretty safe walking through at night but I could also understand people not feeling particularly safe…It’s on the cusp…I feel relatively safe,” Yeasir said.
According to Yeasir, the area sometimes does become a gathering place for the homeless but she said she has not witnessed criminal activity so she feels as safe enough.
Though the park was empty this particular Sunday, according to Yeasir, members of the community frequently use it.
“This is one of the few parks that really has a wider open space in the area, and it gets used. People are always out here playing football, or frisbee, or soccer and I think that’s what this area needs most,” she said.
The playground in Sennott Park in Cambridge.
Between Central and Inman Squares is a residential area with single and multifamily homes with little noise and tree lined streets. The area’s two parks–Robert L. Paine Square off of St. Mary Road and Armory Street near Inman Square, and Sennott Park which is a larger main green space on the corner of Norfolk Street and Broadway–are a short walking distance from residents in this area.
Paine Square has a small grassy area, a playground with swings and climbing elements, a half basketball court and water features for children to play in during the summer.
Sennott Park, however, is the main green area for those who live in the neighborhood. The park stretches almost two blocks in size, and most of this taken up by empty fields of grass. There is a playground, water play features and basketball courts. The park also has a path that weaves through well-trimmed bushes on the its edge with benches and a small sitting area with picnic tables. Sennott is bordered by the Area IV Youth Center where locals from fourth grade through twelfth grade spend after-school hours, making it convenient for area youth to get outdoors.
