Is there an area in your neighborhood that with a little care and removal of litter would increase property values? Do you enjoy gardening? Are you ready for a challenge? Do you feel a calling to make the place you live look better?
If any of these apply to you, consider joining Brightside, Haverhill’s citizen-volunteer effort to beautify the city.
Despite being decades old, Brightside is relatively unknown to people I talk to. It was originally designed for volunteers to plant flowers and take care of small plots of land. That mission has not changed.
When I moved into my new home in Haverhill, I had not noticed the rather large plot of land at the bottom of Cliffe Avenue and River Street. Suddenly I saw a decades-old neglected, but promising, area that with some care could be rehabilitated.
The task seemed overwhelming. After all, there were mattresses, all manner of empty bottles and cans, trash.
I thought, “Why don’t I try to enlist Brightside?”
I had done a similar effort on a much smaller scale 20 years ago at the entrance to Meadowbrook Conservation Area on the other side of Haverhill.
Lynda Brown, Brightside’s director, came to the rescue and helped get trash picked up and uncovered the sidewalk that was completely covered in dirt that had flowed downhill for years. Essentially, there was no sidewalk for about 200 feet, forcing people to walk on busy River Street.
“River Street is a major gateway to the city,” I would tell Lynda. “Is there a way to get someone to uncover the sidewalk? It is going to take a machine like a bobcat.”
I told Lynda that uncovering the sidewalk and cutting down invasive bushes would be a one-time effort. As long as I was alive, I was committed to maintaining the area. It was going to take a mighty effort in labor and money. But the payoff would be priceless. What I envisioned in 2018 has come to fruition.
Though Brightside’s budget is low, Lynda hired someone to “recover” the sidewalk.
Any big effort usually takes years to come to fruition. For, “It matters not how small the beginning may be: what is well done once is done forever.”
So said Henry David Thoreau, the mid 19th-century philosopher known for his stay in a hut at Walden Pond in Concord, Mass.
Besides good schools and pedestrian friendly infrastructure, making a city attractive with floral gardens big or small can have a big impact on real estate value. One walk through Amesbury or Newburyport reveals neighborhoods that are beautified. Both towns are extremely pedestrian friendly and floral arrangements dot the homes.
Many years ago, the late mayor of Boston, Thomas Menino, gave awards to small garden areas in downtown Boston. I remember getting ideas from walking along Newbury, Beacon, and Boylston streets concerning how to make small areas look beautiful.
That vision I had some eight years ago in Haverhill has finally been realized. I planted a pussy willow bush three years ago, just as the area at the bottom of Cliffe Avenue and River Street was taking shape.
I thought it would never make it.
This year the first fuzzy growths appeared and the bush is thriving so much I had to cut it back! So are all the hollies, tiger lillies, and other perennials I planted.
A runner stopped me recently coming down the sidewalk as I was weeding.
“I have been running by here for years watching this spot take shape,” the runner said. “It looks great!”
That was enough for me.
Michael Veves, 73, contributes frequently to the Eagle Tribune and is committed to making Haverhill a better place to live. Anyone interested in Brightside or who want to create a garden or help keeping one already established can contact him at vevesmichael@gmail.com.