Beautification Committee

Salem Beautification Committee Meeting Minutes September 11, 2018 Chairman Lisa Lyons opened meeting at 7:10 p.m. Present were Ellen Talkowsky, City Liaison, members Sam Fiore, Sandi Power, Mary Ellen Halliwell, Giulia Bellofatto, Annie Scott, Bill Doane. Absent: Ty Hapworth, Stephanie Hagyard Guests: Scott Sheehan, Mark Roberts Minutes approved for July 14, 2018 with edits. No meeting held in August. Scott and Mark attended the meeting to learn more about BComm. Mark can be seen regularly picking up trash at Lafayette Park. CENTRAL STREET BUSINESSES – Ellen brought up a request from Giovanni Albanese, Emporium 32, Modern Millies for BComm support for bed on Central Street. Giovanni Albanese was supposed to come to the meeting and have a conversation with BComm about decorating the dirt patch on Central Street. The Committee was unsure about how to interpret the request (who is financing, doing the work, etc.). The Committee made several suggestions, including a giant pumpkin on display, whiskey barrels with plantings, bales of hay (fire-proofed) with buckets of Mums inserted in bales or surrounding; possibly a little garden fence on the outside to discourage people sitting on hay bales. Annie suggested planting plugs – and, if they take, could be an easy solution going forward. Ellen will email suggestions to Giovanni; conversations and support to continue. In recent years, BComm as talked about this particular spot, and suggested that plantings would be difficult because of tree roots. Ideas have included large urns, a row boat with plantings. BIG FOUNTAIN DECORATION – Ellen brought up the idea of planting and/or decorating the Big Fountain on Essex Street for fall. The Committee agreed that plant installations, etc. might be subject to trampling. Mary Ellen Halliwell suggested putting decorations/plants – ivy and mums on TOP of the fountain for a festive look, less prone to destruction. WICKED WEDNESDAY PUMPKIN DECORATING – Ellen brought up the idea of combining the pumpkin decorating contest with a new Haunted Happenings event, Wicked Wednesday. This new, family friendly event will include a pumpkin walk (Kevin Lynch – Salem Harborfest) and businesses will have Halloween themed activities. The Committee voted not to include the pumpkin decorating contest as part of this event, stating the tradition of the pumpkin trailer and judging during middle weekend in October is what people remember and changing course in September might cause confusion. LADY OF SALEM Mary Ellen Halliwell recapped the summer LOS happenings for the Committee (Maritime Festival, Antique Boat Show) and talked about September Trails and Sails weekends the end of September; self-guided tour. New this year, is a brochure that Giulia put together that gives each lady a maritime biography. The Ladies will be coming down in early October. WINDOW BOX RECEPTION A beautiful event at Greenlawn Cemetery. After a solid promotional effort with new window box competition signs scattered around town we had more entries than usual. Mayor Driscoll attended the event, too. Unfortunately, we didn’t get any press coverage for the event. TRAFFIC ISLAND WINNERS 2018 1st Salem Waterfront Hotel & Suites 2nd RCG 3rd Mully's Auto Repair 3rd R. Mullins Landscaping 3rd The Chimney Company Honorable Mention Rose Insurance Honorable Mention Rockafellas WINDOW BOX WINNERS 7 Sutton Ave. – Richard Roderick 1st Prize Residential 19 Columbus Ave. – Melissa Nowak 2nd Prize Residential 11 Orleans Ave. – Janice Charlton 3rd Prize Residential 21 Winter St. – Faith Cassidy Honorable Mention 35 Appleton – John Meyer 1st Prize New Entry Residential 15 Fowler Street – Joan Murphy 2nd Prize New Entry Residential 40 Essex Street– Kathy Strazblowski 3rd Prize New Entry Residential 13 Fowler St., Apt. 1 – Tristan Roberts Honorable Mention WINDOW BOX BUSINESS Mark Your Spot – 1st Prize Coon’s Gift Shop – 2nd Prize Alex and Co. – 3rd Prize J Mode – Honorable Mention 45 Lafayette St. – The Cheese Shop – 1st Prize New Entry 16 Winter Street - Amelia Payson House – 2nd Prize New Entry Derby Lofts – Sidewalk Plantings BEAUTIFICATION CHOICE - AWARD WINNERS Riordan Landscaping SAFE Periwinkles Stanetsky SSNA Dr. Fisher/Shaw Insurance  , Traffic Island Report – RCG Median Strip RCG – bushes have been whittled down a bit. Sam and Giulia continue to beautify. Conversation about painting the curb at intersection of Derby/Washington. Conversation about the new work done in the area of Barton Square (lines have been painted in front of restaurant to discourage illegal parking, new blocks were put on the RCG island so that if someone does drive up on the strip, it won’t leave deep trench). BCom T.I. Report for September 11, 2018 Sandi Power - Chair, Traffic Island Program Since our last T.I. report on July 10, it has been an intense two months of high heat and rain storms. We’ve struggled to rehab two islands and start anew with a third to accommodate the three sponsors who lost their islands to road construction. Erica Pelletier of APlus has given many hours to the planting and maintenance at Federal/North. Lack of soil required 1 ½ yds of loam and 1 ½ yds of mulch; also shade from two trees there limit the plantings. And I can’t say enough for DPW’s Ray Jodoin who has responded to every request for loam and mulch, and even went so far as to lay mulch himself on the old HMA median on Summer Street. This unsponsored median received most of the shrubs and grasses removed from the three removed islands at the Loring/Lafayette intersection. Planner Tom Devine asked us to maintain Lafayette Park’s new gardens of 200 catmint plants as they were to be sponsored. Our two attempts did not worked out as the gardens were huge, poorly mulched, nor were they sponsored. Tom has since informed me they will hire a contractor. Temperance Park is newly sponsored by The Seaport Hotel for $500 and we were surprised and pleased to place 1st in the Window Box and Traffic Island competition on August 9th at Greenlawn Cemetery. The lighting and acoustics there were very difficult, need to be upgraded if the event is to be held there again. The hosta islands have had a great deal of attention to replace and maintain the plantings. Another tree has died and at least one other is failing. An attempt is being made to find a sponsor. In late August the Walsh Ins. Island on Margin St. (SW of Riley Plaza) was run over, an urn destroyed and a rosebush and Karl Foerster grass damaged. I haven’t been able to contact Kathie Walsh to discuss with her possible corrections for the damage. The new RCG garden on New Derby at Bank of America has flourished with minimal attendance by us; it is a pleasure to see it. RCG’s gardener has taken responsibility for its mulching and maintenance. All the other gardens under our responsibility have had at least two full mornings each of maintenance and have held up well, especially with the amount of rain we’ve had. The Fisher/Shaw island on Hawthorne Blvd. were well planted by our volunteer but appears to have been since abandoned. I’ve made several visits to keep it respectable and need to reach out to the volunteer to find out what happened. In the spring I requested $150 to volunteer plants and time to On Point at the Point. I have reached out to the director Keith Willa twice with no response. On calling him he said another business had asked to help. My email address was correct. So maybe next year. Last but not least, a friend has made a donation of $100 to our cause, and I will need to establish another P.O.# at Marblehead Nursery to buy bulbs for a select few areas such as Temperance., Riley Plaza, and the hosta islands. The next meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m. on October 9, 2018. Respectfully submitted, Lisa Lyons Chairperson