Probationers Help Put the ‘Green’ in Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy
Greenway as Part of Trial Court Community Service Project

(See photos of this Community Service Project)

More than 80 probationers performed nearly 400 hours of work preparing the three-mile Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway recently as part of a Trial Court Community Service project which provides offenders the opportunity to work off court fees by cultivating Massachusetts Horticultural Society gardens such as the Greenway.

The offenders weeded the gardens and spread 150 yards of mulch at the Greenway, an expanse of land that now stands where the third artery tunnel used to exist. The landscaped garden and walkway extends from the South Station area to the TD BankNorth Garden.

“This project is equally beneficial to the Greenway and to the offenders. The Greenway benefits from the hundreds of hours of work being performed there and the offenders are able to pay off their court fees and complete work that everyone who walks along the Greenway will enjoy for years to come,” said David Skocik, Statewide Supervisor of the Massachusetts Trial Court Community Service Program.

Workers donned orange safety vests with two yellow stripes on the front and the back and worked in unison removing the mulch from a flatbed truck and storing it in a pile nearby. Another group of workers placed the mulch in wheel barrels and in black plastic barrels before carrying them over to the gardens and spreading the material with rakes among the exotic plants and flowers, most of which have never been planted in the Commonwealth, according to Joe Kunkel, Greenway Manager for the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.

The offenders were brought to the Greenway from ten courts and Community Corrections Centers based in Suffolk, Norfolk, and Middlesex counties. Among the Suffolk centers and courts represented at the worksite were the Women’s Resource Center, Suffolk County Community Corrections Center, Boston Municipal Court (BMC)-Dorchester Division, and BMC-Roxbury. Quincy District Court and the Quincy Community Corrections Center were among the crews from Norfolk County.

Also represented at the site from Middlesex County were Waltham District Court, Newton District Court, Cambridge District Court and the Cambridge Office of Community Corrections. Most of the offenders were placed on probation or are court-involved because of drug offenses, Christopher Cannatta, Assistant Statewide Community Service Supervisor said.

“I like this type of work. It is great. I’ve learned that it takes teamwork to be out here,” said a 27-year-old probationer from Dorchester. “Community service has also taught me not to litter.”

Horticultural Society Operations Director Clark Bryan said he welcomes the efforts of the Community Service Program and the offenders ordered to do the work in lieu of court fees.

“We’re very appreciative of the effort. It would be very difficult without their help. It is just excellent,” said Clark whose Horticultural Society sponsors the annual New England Spring Flower Show and maintains the grounds of Elm Bank, the Horticultural Society’s headquarters in Wellesley.

Kunkel said the greenway will showcase trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, and a huge bulb display